Randy Swick: No turning back

COEUR d'ALENE — Randy Swick said that he became enchanted with the idea of being a National Park Ranger as a child, while on summer camping trips with his parents in places like Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons.

That feeling continued to bubble up in the Midwest-native, causing him to pursue a degree in forestry from Michigan State University. He said, at the time, he didn't realize that a degree in parks and recreation was more in line with a career as a park ranger.

"But once I started tracking down forestry, I wasn't turning back," Swick said of his time earning a bachelor's degree in forestry, and a master's degree in forest management.

In 1979, Swick accepted a job with the U.S. Forest Service in Oregon's Willamette National Forest. While working in timber management — which Swick said entailed everything from timber sales to contract preparation — he met his wife, Sandra.

"She was actually working as a Youth Conservation Corps. leader in the same district," Swick said. "Her family was out West and mine was in the Midwest. So we kind of decided to live at one end of the spectrum or the other and the way my career path took, we ended up staying in the West. We just always wanted to be close to family."

Swick spent his first decade with the forest service working in timber management before becoming a district ranger. For the next 27 years, Swick served as a district ranger at nine different national forests throughout the Western United States.

"You're responsible for all facets of the piece of country you're assigned to," Swick said. "So I was a jack-of-all-trades and a master of none."

After 37 years with the Forest Service, Swick is now spending his retirement in Coeur d'Alene with his wife and family. But that hasn't slowed him down at all.

Was there a particular national forest you've worked in that's your favorite?

No matter where we went, it's just some of the most fantastic country on earth. Each one had its own unique elements.

Certainly the big forests of North Idaho and cascades of Oregon are up there. Even down in Nevada working there in the Bridgeport District, which span the California-Nevada line with the High Sierras on one side and the high desert on the other end, had its own unique beauty.

I can't say I had a favorite, they all presented a wonderful opportunity.

Why do you think it's important for us to have these National Parks and forests in the United States?

It's one of those real valuable pieces of public land that is truly set aside for the benefit of all Americans.

Whether that's from some of the commodity products that come from them, like timber and mineral resources, or just the aesthetic values that come recreationally. They just have so many unique features and managing those properly is just a blessing for all.

Is there a memorable experience, funny or otherwise, that really sticks out to you?

When I was ranger at Bridgeport, I was responsible for leading a number of pack trips with horses and mules into the backcountry of the High Sierras. We took anyone from congressional staff to state legislators and others to help apprise them on the national forests and there value.

On one of those particular trips, we had packed up to leave and gotten everyone mounted up. We were ready to leave and when we got a little bit down the trail it dawned on me that I had forgotten some of the gifts we gave out at the end as a thank you for coming. So I rode back to the cabin and picked those up. I was on a horse named Pokey, which was kind of a misnomer, and I wrapped the reigns around the hitching post out front but did not really secure them.

As soon as I come out of the cabin, here's Pokey already headed back down the trail to join up with the rest of his pals. So here's the ranger, in full uniform, running down the trail after his horse.

I passed a couple of hikers along the way who were laughing and I just had to say 'Have you seen a horse without a rider?' Finally I caught up with Pokey and the rest of the gang, who were a little worried to see the horse without his rider.

Anything else?

I hosted President Clinton in the McCall District of the Payette National Forest, in the midst of what was bad fire season in Central Idaho. He made his National Fire Plan Proclamation right there in the fire camp. It was a pretty unique situation having the Secret Service come in, clear out the fire camp of all personnel, and set up metal detectors and screen everybody to go back in before having the president show up in the middle of nowhere. So I got to meet him and shake his hand.

2010 was another unique experience as a ranger in the Coeur d'Alene River District. We did the 100 year commemoration of the 1910 fires. It was pretty unique to be the ranger in the same district Ed Pulaski was on when they had their big run down there toward Wallace and took refuge in a mine tunnel. To walk on the same ground, to have the responsibility for the same land he administered, and to oversee that 1910 commemoration, was pretty humbling.

There's an ever-increasing discussion on wildfires, especially with the cost associated with fighting these fires every summer. Is there a particular factor you see? Is there an increase in them lately?

Just in reflecting over the years on how things have changed, we are seeing longer fire seasons. In this part of the country, fire season would have been running from mid-July on through mid-September. Now you see them starting much earlier in the season in June and extending on into through October. A lot of that we do attribute to climate change, just the general drought periods we've gone through. There's more potential now for a catastrophic wildfire, which is a big concern.

It's also a natural thing — forests burn. But when you have humans starting to live so close to these areas, that's when you have to fight them. Are there any front-end ways that could prevent some of the large scale fires?

You're right, more and more people are building right up to what we call the wildland-urban interface. They're putting themselves in an area that's much more prone to wildfire. So there have been a lot of cooperative projects between the Forest Service, the state, and local efforts to go in and get private land owners to treat the vegetation on their property — to keep it healthy, to keep it thinned out — to reduce the likelihood of fire right around their home.

We've done similar treatments on the national forests, where we've had the opportunity to use commercial logging, prescribed fire, and other techniques to try to establish a buffer to create more defensible space. But a lot of our focus has to become then what we would refer to as point-protection. Fires can get so large that it is difficult for us to contain and control that fire on all fronts. So you have to start focusing on where your values at risk are and putting your effort there while hoping you have enough defensible space to be able to work there without putting the firefighters at undue risk.

Forest Service firefighters have always struck me as pretty special individuals, and you've obviously worked a lot closer with them than most people. What kind of qualities do you see in those firefighters?

I have been blessed to work with the finest cadre of professional firefighters in the world over the course of my career. In Coeur d'Alene, I was blessed to have the Idaho Panhandle Hotshot Crew, probably one of the more elite groups of firefighters. But those folks that staff our engines and serve as hand crews, they are just people who are fully dedicated and well trained to put themselves in some very difficult circumstances. While we try not to subject them to things that would put them at undue risk, there's no doubt that anytime you're engaging Mother Nature on that kind of front it's difficult.

I admire these people above all others, they are just outstanding. I can't say enough good things about them.

In the email The Press received suggesting you would be a great subject for this piece, this individual said you spent about five minutes in retirement before you got called upon to serve again. Was there any hesitation when it came to making that decision?

About five days after I formally retired I got a call from the Idaho Panhandle National Forest asking if I would come and assist them because they were starting to have a number of fires across the forest. In our agency, the line officers who oversee the management of any individual incident are certified at certain levels. We only had one advanced certified manager, which was the forest supervisor, and she just knew it was well beyond her ability to cover all of those forest fires and still manage the forest as a whole.

She knew I had been an advanced agency administrator and asked if I would come back to serve again in that capacity to help her cover the myriad of fires that were there. So I spent a little time up at Priest Lake and then some time in Avery on the St. Joe trying to mentor, coach through, and guide the incident management team and the other fire crews that had been brought there.

There was no hesitation on my part. It's a need and you go to where the need is.