| 3/29/2006 8:49:00 AM | Email this article • Print this article |
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| Salida District Ranger Charles Medina will retire Friday after 40 years with the United States Forest Service – the only employer he’s ever had. Medina said he’s looking forward to doing some personal things and has a working title for his memoirs: “Those 40 Summers – the life of a Hispanic forest ranger.” A retirement party and “roast” will begin at 8:30 p.m. April 8 in the Salida Golf Club restaurant. Photo by Jason Starr |
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Forty summers of service
by Jason Starr
Mail Staff Writer
Charles Medina still notices a hint of vanilla in the summer smell of Ponderosa pine.
The scent first struck him as a teenager in Alamosa and helped lead him to a career with the United States Forest Service. Four decades later, he is following his nose into retirement.
Medina spent the last 15 years as district ranger in Salida for the Pike and San Isabel National Forest. He was a district ranger in other forests in the region for seven years before that and began his career right out of high school in 1965.
He’s been a part of the forest service for 40 percent of its existence, he likes to tell people. On Friday, a half-year before turning 60, he’ll relinquish his seat in the district office on U.S. 50, leaving the only employer he’s ever had.
A retirement party – and roast – is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. April 8 in the Salida Golf Club restaurant.
“I was bound and determined to retire in my 50s,” Medina said.
An affable man with a passion for people, Medina followed a principle of collaboration in managing the vast acreage of the Pike and San Isabel National Forests.
His inclusive approach facilitated creation of the Banana Belt mountain bike races in Salida, the Midland Bike Trail in Buena Vista and the Greater Arkansas River Nature Association, he said.
“I’ve always been a manager who believed we need to work together – the government and the people – to do a good job managing the resources,” Medina said.
He’s worked under eight presidential administrations, weathering varied political philosophies while doing his best to honor his own beliefs.
“A lot of times we have to bite our tongues,” Medina said. “We can have opinions in our private lives (but not on the job).”
Medina is a racially mixed man with Spanish and Native American heritage. One issue he was never shy about was the situation of Hispanics within the forest service.
He battled during the 1960s and ’70s for equal hiring practices within the organization and received an award for his work from the head of the forest service in Washington.
Medina’s work helped pave the way professionally for his daughter, Katie, who works in the U.S. Forest Service office in Idaho Springs.
“When I started there was a lot of derogatory treatment of my group,” he said. “It has changed. It’s better for my daughter.”
Medina takes the forest service slogan, “caring for the land and serving people” seriously. Balancing the needs of the land and the people is the key to the job, he said.
One of the issues he’ll leave to his successors is the controversy about motorized vehicle use on public land. He said motorized users would benefit from controlling the few who disregard signs and rules to avoid a situation where permits are required.
“I’m appalled to go to St. Elmo today,” he said. “If people don’t start monitoring the amount of use going on, it’s going to get permitted.”
Medina is free to focus on more personal issues now such as his health, religion and business. He even has a working title for his memoirs: “Those 40 Summers – the life of a Hispanic forest ranger.”
“There’s just so much I went through I think should be remembered,” he said. “I can brag about a lot of things, but my success came from how I influenced people. That’s really my legacy.”
Medina would like to start a consulting business for entities such as land trusts, where his knowledge of government processes would be useful.
He also will continue his involvement with First Baptist Church and maybe take a trip to Israel – a place that’s always intrigued him.
The district ranger spot in Salida will be filled temporarily by Glenn Adams, a district ranger in Meeker on the White River National Forest.
Adams and other forest service employees will fill the job temporarily through October when the forest service will hire a permanent ranger, Medina said.
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