A Look Behind The Scenes

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The Montana State Parks staff is an accomplished crew, equally adept at welding and plumbing as they are at developing historical displays and brochures to tell a park’s story to visitors. These folks use everything from motorboats and canoes to backhoes and computers to get the job done. And, they work in some of the most scenic parts of Montana. They plan and oversee major, high-visibility projects--from large road improvement projects, to the design and planting of the flower display on the front lawn of the State Capitol. Some would say they have the best jobs in the world--others might wonder if it isn’t sometimes lonely and boring checking campsites, counting visitors, and trying to vandal-proof public latrines. Our staff is one of the smallest in the nation and while we love the work, we could use additional help with basic maintenance tasks and other jobs. We expect an increasing demand for Lewis and Clark interpretive programs and stress on our parks operations teams as thousands of additional visitors stop in Montana during the Bicentennial of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. During the upcoming legislative session, we will be exploring ways to address staffing needs, as well as innovative ways to protect historic and cultural resources and secure privately held parcels of land within existing parks.