Roger Reisch

Park ranger Roger Reisch on horseback in the Guadalupe Mountains

NPS Photo

Quick Facts

Significance:

Roger Reisch, the first employee at Guadalupe Mountains National Park, served a critical role in the early operation of the park.

Place of Birth:

St. Louis, Missouri

Date of Birth:

February 6, 1924

Place of Death:

Edmond, Oklahoma

Date of Death:

February 12, 2013

Roger Reisch, the first employee at Guadalupe Mountains National Park, served a critical role in the early operation of the park, improving relationships with park neighbors, and assisting visitors in learning about the rugged West Texas landscape. 

Roger Eugene Reisch was born in the Richmond Heights area of St. Louis, Missouri, on February 6, 1924. He was the second of five children of August and Hilda Reisch. Roger enlisted into the United States Marine Corps as a radar operator on December 15, 1942, during World War II, reaching the rank of Technical Sergeant. He served until November 29, 1945, then rejoined the Marine Corps on April 7, 1951 as a radar instructor. On April 8, 1952, Roger was reclassified to Inactive Reserve and was honorably discharged on June 18, 1952. He enlisted in the Marine Corps volunteer reserve in July 1952 as a Technical Sergeant. In 1947, Roger enrolled in the University of Dayton, graduating in 1950 with degrees in English and History. 

In May 1960, Roger received a Career-Conditional appointment as a Tour Leader at Carlsbad Caverns National Park. During his career with the National Park Service, he would work at Carlsbad Caverns National Park, Padre Island National Seashore, and Guadalupe Mountains National Park, where he would become known as "Mr. Guadalupe Mountains," from December 28, 1969 until his retirement in 1998. 

Roger was a Park Ranger at Carlsbad Caverns National Park at the time that Guadalupe Mountains National Park was established on September 30, 1972. He had such a good feel for the land, was skilled in backcountry foot and horse travel, and knew and understood the natural resources of Guadalupe Mountains National Park and in 1964 was asked to go to the new park to begin considering how the park should be available to the public. For several years, Roger was the only employee at Guadalupe Mountains National Park, which was then administered by Carlsbad Caverns National Park until October 1987. On August 23, 1981, Roger moved to Dog Canyon, where he would be the Dog Canyon District Ranger until he retired. 

Roger had good relationships with all of the ranching families neighboring the park and, along with Guadalupe Mountains Ranch foreman Noel Kincaid, helped and guided visitors and did search and rescue. Mike Capron, who ran neighboring Nickel Creek Station and Aston Ligon Ranch, said that "all of the locals called the new park 'Roger's Ranch,'" and stated that Roger was "on call all day and night, always on duty and never missed a call." Capron described Roger as a "man of the outdoors" with a "quick laugh and short, witty wisdom." 

Roger worked diligently to protect the land, learn more about it, and help visitors appreciate its beauty and importance. Roger enjoyed the solitude of the new park, and loved the fact that the park did not have any through roads and was a hiking and horseback riding park, a characteristic of the park that remains to the present day. Roger pushed for the construction of a trail to the top of Guadalupe Peak to provide visitors with a safe and enjoyable hiking experience and to prevent them from becoming lost, as there were tricky and dangerous places on the old routes up to the peak. Roger's first priorities at the new park were resource management and care of the park. Although law enforcement was among his duties, Roger preferred to use education as his primary means of enforcing park regulations. Roger was described as "a bridge between early and modern rangers" and as a "ranger's ranger."

Guadalupe Mountains National Park was authorized by an act of Congress and signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson on October 15, 1966. Don Dayton, who was Superintendent of Carlsbad Caverns National Park at the time Guadalupe Mountains National Park was formally established on September 30, 1972, originally wanted to designate Roger as the Area Manager of the new park. However, Roger refused that assignment, preferring to remain a field ranger rather than an administrator "tied to a desk". John Chapman would be brought in as the park's first Area Manager in 1971, and worked closely with Roger. By that time, Roger knew the park very well and, as he and Chapman hiked and rode the park, Roger had well-developed ideas on where public trails should be, where signs should go and where to establish designated backcountry campsites. Among his pioneering efforts at the park were conducting the park's first vegetation survey and resulting vegetation map, development of old land use information, such as the history of livestock grazing, through years of conversation with ranchers and field observation, and completion of basic inventories of park resources. 

Chapman described Roger as a "real" ranger, who "stayed on the ground, loved and learned the ground, and without the advantages of today's professional resource research or planning, just "knew" his area. Chapman stated that "Roger listened to people who came and studied [the park], and had the internal wisdom and common sense to come up with the best ways to protect and preserve the area for the long term." Roger spoke slowly and evenly-paced, and was straight forward in what he said. Roger would oversee several seasonal employees during the summer months, and Chapman described him as being a "very good mentor for young seasonals. Roger led them in the field and never asked them to do anything he would not, himself, do. He trained them and looked out for their well-being. At the end of a long day in the saddle working in the backcountry, Roger would often greet his charges with the horse trailer and refreshments." 

Roger was proud to be a National Park Ranger, himself, and was dedicated to his work. He owned two horses, Alejandro and Blackjack, which he always rode at the park because he trusted them, and was almost always seen on horseback. Roger bought tack for his horses and the three park horses, out of his own pocket, from a saddle maker he knew in El Paso, and never asked for reimbursement from the government. In 1985, Roger, then stationed at Dog Canyon, submitted an award nomination to the park's Incentive Awards Committee for his "faithful assistant" for transplanting some native wild turkeys which had become "overly aggressive and bothersome to campers and picnickers" to an even remoter area of the park. The Incentive Awards Committee, after some deliberation and thought, unanimously recommended approval to Superintendent Bill Dunmire. The award nomination read 'I hereby put my horse, Alejandro, in for the Superintendent's Triple Cleaned Oats Award, '100 lbs.' On February 7, 1985, Alejandro carried me and three young turkeys up to our release site, some four miles out and up to the 8000-foot level. We rode through snow and mud all the way with no stumbles or falls and without tree bumping the birds in their burlap sacks. Upon reaching our goal, the turkeys were released in good shape. They are now another wonderful site to remember. Alejandro and I headed off the mountain to home feeling good about how things worked out for us. Without the horse, the job wouldn't have been done by one man. But with him, it was. So here is to the long line of good horses." 

Roger learned all of the ins and outs of the canyons, trails and pools, and the "secret" places of the Guadalupes, and was instrumental in the wilderness designation for Guadalupe Mountains National Park in 1978. Roger provided logistical support to Sierra Club and Wilderness Society sponsored trips into the park's backcountry, which brought policy makers and others to the Guadalupes to push for wilderness status and gain national publicity for the idea. Roger would haul water to them on horseback so that they could stay in the backcountry longer and served as a guide. Roger shared his insights with them regarding the Wilderness Area Proposal for the park. Roger would write the Wilderness Area Proposal, although he had it credited to Dr. John Baker, then Wilderness Areas Task Force Chairman of the Sierra Club and Wilderness Society and Bob Burleson, then Chairman of the Citizens Advisory Committee to the National Park Service. 

On July 28, 1989, Roger was awarded the Department of the Interior Meritorious Service Award by Secretary Manuel Lujan, Jr. in recognition of his contributions to Guadalupe Mountains National Park and for his legacy of stewardship to the National Park Service. The citation stated, in part, "Mr. Reisch's career exemplifies meritorious devotion to park resources protection…Mr. Reisch has brought and continues to bring to the job not only his dedication and enthusiasm for the park and its resources, but a history acquired over many years. This history has accumulated and been passed along to all who have worked at Guadalupe since its establishment. Through his intimate exposure to every inch of the mountains of the Guadalupes, Mr. Reisch has learned about the geography, history, plants and animals - the foundation for present day resource management efforts…These and many other projects would have taken much longer to accomplish without Mr. Reisch's in-depths knowledge of the area, its culture and its people. For his dedication to Guadalupe Mountains National Park and for his legacy of stewardship to all past, present and future park employees, Roger E. Reisch is granted the Meritorious Service Award of the Department of the Interior."