Geoffrey Smith:  

After graduating in 1966 from BCCHS I went to Ferris State College for a few years and then on to Oregon State University before receiving a BS in Fisheries Management at Utah State University in 1971. After being drafted, I joined the Navy where I was a submarine hunter in an aircraft carrier based plane called the S2-G. I was in for four years before heading back to Utah State to study photography, writing, and outdoor recreation. I received a second BS in 1978. I was a canoeing guide for the Boy Scout High Adventure program at Lake Matagamon, Maine during the summers of 1977 and 1978. After this I volunteered at Joshua Tree National Monument (now a National Park) in the Fall of 1978 which started my National Park Service (NPS) career. I was a NPS seasonal for about 13 years, including stints as a general ranger in Isle Royale NPS and Fort Clatsop NM (got to dress up in buckskins and shoot black powder rifles) and as an environmental educator in Joshua Tree NM (paid position), Indiana Dunes NL, and Everglades NP. Everglades was where I met my wife Kristi Link in 1985. While completing a canoe trip across Alaska's Brooks Range (book completed in 2023), I coincidently met our future boss in the middle of the vast arctic wilderness. He hired me and independently hired Kristi for the same environmental education team at the park. I worked several parks in Alaska as a law enforcement/backcountry ranger or Park Interpreter including Katmai NP...Expand for more