Veteran ranger Moses honored with Harry Yount Award

By CHRIS PETERSON / Hungry Horse News

Veteran Glacier Park Ranger Gary Moses is the recipient of the Harry Yount Award, which honors a single ranger in the National Park Service each year for exceptional service.

National Park Service Director Mary A. Bomar presented Moses with the peer nominated award at a Washington, D.C., ceremony on May 7. Named after the 19th century outdoorsman generally credited as the first park ranger, the prestigious Yount Award is presented annually by the NPS and made possible by the National Park Foundation through a gift from Unilever.

Moses, the Lake McDonald Sub-District ranger in Glacier since 1991, is a law enforcement officer, bear management coordinator, park medic, structural and wildfire firefighter, SCUBA diver, mountaineer and college wildlife management instructor. He has extensive experience with special event and tactical teams, backcountry operations, concession relations, and search and rescues.

Contacted Monday, Moses credited the many colleagues he's worked with in Glacier and Yellowstone throughout the years. He recalled a portion of his acceptance speech:

"I stand before you upon the shoulders of many fellow rangers who have inspired and guided me through the examples they set. Examples rife with integrity, courage, perseverance and dedication to preserving the resources held in trust for the American public. I am especially indebted to the long-term staff, both permanent and seasonal, at Glacier and Yellowstone with whom I have served through many incidents and events."

Moses grew up in rural northeast Ohio and said he wanted to become a ranger when, as a young man, he was visiting Yellowstone on vacation. He saw a Park Service employee filling his gas tank and the man explained what he did for a living. Moses decided he wanted to do that, too, when he got to college.

He got a job in Yellowstone with the Yellowstone Park Co., "making beds."

But while working for the concessionaire he also volunteered for duty with Park rangers and later got a degree in criminal justice from Bowling Green University. His first Park Service job was as a ranger in Yellowstone. He came to Glacier in 1989.

Moses, 47, is married to Amy Vanderbilt, a longtime public information officer at Glacier National Park. The two met in Yellowstone.

Moses said he particularly enjoys working with bears and bear management details in the Park. He said there were too many bear stories to recount just one, but noted that bears are particularly smart animals. For example, when they feed along the Camas Road in the spring, they will ignore tourists, but when a ranger vehicle pulls up, they run. Or better yet, even when the ranger drives a civilian-looking car, as soon as he steps out in uniform, the bear recognizes it and runs.

"The images you see… You can't put a price tag on that," he said.

Moses was also instrumental in the rescue of Johann and Jenna Otter, who were badly mauled by a grizzly bear in Many Glacier in 2005.

But he deflects the praise.

"I didn't save them," he said. "The rescue team did."

Moses has also delivered a baby, responded to a myriad of medical emergencies, coordinated helicopter and technical rescues, and organized mass casualty responses. His ability to remain calm under pressure even came in handy for his wedding, which was crashed by the intense Yellowstone Fires of 1988. His wife, Amy, recalled dime-sized pieces of ash falling on and around the Nomex clothing-clad wedding guests. About a month after the wedding, Moses was on the structural fire crew that saved the historic Old Faithful Inn from destruction.

Moses said he has no plans to leave Glacier.

"I'm where I want to be. It's such a tremendous resource… I have no desire to leave this area," he said.