News Release

Yosemite National Park Ranger Jack Hoeflich Receives the 2018 Harry Yount Award

Date: August 27, 2019

Award recognizes excellence in rangering

Yosemite National Park is pleased to announce that Jack Hoeflich is the 2018 recipient of the National Park Service’s Harry Yount Award for Excellence in the Art of Rangering. Named after the world’s first-known park ranger who patrolled Yellowstone National Park in the 1880s, the Harry Yount Award annually honors a National Park Ranger who consistently excels in the performance of duties that serve park visitors and protect the natural, historical and cultural resources of parks.

Ranger Jack Hoeflich serves as a park medic, structural firefighter, wildland firefighter, technical rock rescue instructor, law enforcement officer, emergency services manager, supervisor, and helicopter and swift water rescue technician. Jack’s incredible intellect, physical fitness, stamina, climbing prowess, and passion for helping others align perfectly with his career of providing assistance to visitors to Yosemite’s beautiful and rugged landscape.

Park visitors may encounter Jack Hoeflich directing traffic, patrolling Yosemite Valley on a bicycle, taking ambulance calls, serving as a search and rescue Incident Commander, performing a rescue on Half Dome, giving directions to a lost visitor, or mentoring new Rangers in the field. Other Rangers look at him and often wonder, “how is he so good at all that stuff?”

“We are proud to honor and recognize Jack as the recipient of the 2018 Harry Yount Award. He is one of the most dedicated and skilled Rangers in the National Park Service,” stated Yosemite Superintendent Michael Reynolds. “In addition to being an exemplary Ranger, Jack also serves as a mentor to other Rangers throughout the Park.”

Ranger Hoefllich has participated in and led some of the most challenging and time critical rescues ever undertaken by the National Park Service. This includes rescues on El Capitan, Half Dome and other technical climbing areas throughout Yosemite National Park.