News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
The community celebrated with Bill Anthony as the District Ranger retired from the Forest Service.
Friends and colleagues of retiring Sisters District Ranger Bill Anthony packed Aspen Lakes' Brand 33 Restaurant Saturday evening to share stories, memories and some ribbing with "Ranger Bill" as he moves into the next phase of his life.
The 60-year-old ranger announced his retirement last fall and closed the books on his Forest Service career at the end of last month. Rod Bonacker is serving as interim district ranger until Anthony's successor is determined.
Most of the folks who came out for Anthony's retirement party were affiliated in some fashion with the Forest Service or other natural resources agencies, but there were many others as well - testament to Anthony's broad participation in the Sisters community.
John Allen, Deschutes National Forest Supervisor, served as master of ceremonies as, one after another, Anthony's associates shared their thoughts on working with the man they affectionately called "Ranger Bill."
Allen himself cited a statement from Forest Service founder Gifford Pinchot emphasizing the importance of people and natural resources.
"Probably no district ranger has done a more elegant job of integrating these into his job," Allen said.
Perhaps Anthony's signal virtue is his ability to form partnerships, often turning adversaries into allies.
Doug Hancock of Friends of the Metolius (FOM), recalled that there essentially was no relationship other than that of adversarial litigants between the conservation organization and the Forest Service when Anthony came on board. Now, FOM works closely with the Forest Service in numerous projects in the Metolius Basin, thanks to a change in culture implemented by Anthony and his staff.
"He's got an amazing ability to get people of vastly different perspectives into a room, sit them down, and find common ground," Hancock said, presenting Anthony with a framed photograph of the Metolius River as a parting gift.
Anthony's passion let him in for some good-natured ribbing as fellow Forest Service leaders joshed about the Ranger's speaking ability, which was often, apparently, as impressive in duration as it was in content. Anthony also took some grief from Red Sox fans for his ardent support of the New York Yankees, although all were willing to give him a pass for one evening - long enough to collect on some nice gifts of Yankees memorabilia.
There were also emotional moments, as colleagues recalled the difficult times of dealing with the series of massive and destructive fires that plagued the Sisters Ranger District for much of Anthony's tenure here.
Mark Rapp, who now heads up an incident response team, talked about learning and growing with Anthony as the district struggled with repeated fires.
"He is the fire ranger in the region," Rapp said.
Anthony expressed his appreciation to all those who turned out and singled out his wife Tracy for her years of support for him in an often all-consuming job.
"I want to thank my wife publicly for being there for me through the time that 'Ranger Bill' defined what I did and who I was,"
he said.
Anthony said he's had to work through a lot of emotions as he wrapped up his career.
"It's really a process of letting go of something that's been so much of you for so long," he said.
He said he was very fortunate to be able to "link heart and head" and do something he loved for a living.
"I'm really very thankful for the fact that I got to have the career I've had," he said.
And those gathered at Aspen Lakes were thankful for it as well.
Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.
Reader Comments(0)