Former park manager to talk about public lands

By CHRIS PETERSON

Hungry Horse News

Like millions of other Americans, Walt Dabney considers himself a “proud public landowner.”

About seven years ago, the former director of the National Park Service put together a program that highlighted public lands and their history.

This month he will be taking a trip to Montana and will be giving a lecture titled “Our Public Lands – Their History and Future” on Tuesday, July 9 from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m. at Grouse Mountain Lodge in Whitefish.

Dabney grew up in Texas, one of the largest states in the union, but it has a shortage of public lands.

“Texas has almost no public land,” he said.

If you step off the sidewalk or street, there is a good chance that you will end up on private property.

So when Dabney hears that federal lands are to be sold or returned to the states, he worries.

However, he said his lecture was educational and historical in nature and not political.

“This is not a political piece, it is pure history and facts,” he said.

Dabney is no stranger to public lands management.

He graduated from Texas A&M in 1969 with a degree in recreation and park management. He began his career with the National Park Service in the summer of 1969 as a student intern in the Old Faithful District of Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming.

He worked his way up through the ranks of the National Park Service, including rangers at Yosemite, Mount Rainier and Grand Teton. He also worked in the Everglades, Alaska and Washington, D.C. In 1991, Dabney was selected as General Superintendent for the Southeast Utah Group of parks, which included Canyonlands and Arches National Parks and Natural Bridges and Hovenweep National Monuments.

Dabney began his tenured career with Texas Parks and Wildlife as director of State Parks in 1999, after 30 years with the National Park Service. He helped implement significant organizational changes at the agency. He retired in 2010 after 43 years in parks.

He has been touring the United States for several years giving his lectures on public grounds. He decided to come to Flathead to visit some old friends and former colleagues Fred Vanhorn and Robin Lange. His lecture is free and open to the public.