After 18 years, budget cuts end park ranger's run

TAHOE CITY - The one constant in Heidi Doyle's life the past 18 years has been her job as a Lake Tahoe park ranger.

Married to an Army civilian, Doyle has lived in two foreign countries and four U.S. states in the past 20 years. But every summer, Doyle would return to North Tahoe to resume her post as a seasonal ranger.

That is, until this year. With California State Parks facing drastic budget cuts, there is not enough money to pay for Doyle's position.

With an almost $20 million shortfall, last year State Parks laid off 50 seasonal employees in Lake Tahoe. The cuts will cost Doyle a job she loves and a significant part of her family's finances.

Doyle, 49, began work for State Parks in 1980 as a full-time ranger in Ventura and Half Moon Bay. When her husband was sent to Germany in 1986, she transferred to Lake Tahoe as one of four part-time rangers.

Each summer, she and her three children lived in the gatehouse at the Tahoe State Recreation Area near Safeway. Her kids attended summer school and Camp Skylandia, while Doyle patrolled the six parks, supervised their visitor centers and campground operations, and oversaw educational programs.

"The job was very beneficial for myself - I got to keep the best job in the world - and beneficial for State Parks since they had a ranger working in the busy season," Doyle said from her home in Sierra Vista, Ariz.

She knew her position was in jeopardy when she was let go a month early last fall. Usually working through the end of September, Doyle and the other seasonal employees were abruptly laid off after Labor Day.

State Parks' operational budget, which pays her salary, was slashed by 40 percent last year. Due to the budget cuts, Tahoe's parks are down to one supervisor and four rangers from two supervisors and 11 rangers when Doyle first came to Tahoe.

In the last 20 years, visitation to parks like Sugar Pine Point, D.L. Bliss and Emerald Bay has increased three-fold. A total of 700,000 tourists visit the North and West Shore's six state parks.

Doyle feels the loss of the seasonal staff is a negative for State Parks.

"When people come to the parks now, they won't see anyone at the entrance to answer questions and give directions," she said, noting that this lessens State Parks' ability to be proactive, like reminding visitors about leash-laws for dogs and preventing illegal camping.

As badged peace officers and trained medical technicians, rangers also respond to emergencies in the parks and providing back-up for Placer County and El Dorado sheriff's deputies. Since it's not uncommon to have only one ranger on duty at a time, Doyle said she has had to drive from Tahoe City to Emerald Bay to respond to a lightning fire, which can take more than half an hour. That response time could become even longer with fewer rangers.

The maintenance crew has also been cut. This means bathrooms will be cleaned less, and needed structure repairs will be delayed or not done at all.

"It saddens me greatly to see the degradation of the State Park system," said Doyle. She also laments the educational and recreational loss for youth. "I grew up going to the campfire programs - people no longer have that. It is needed so much in a society where our kids are bombarded with technology."

Doyle's family will be hard hit by the loss of her $27-per-hour wages. Her oldest son, Ben, is a junior at the University of California at Berkeley. In the time he's been enrolled, tuition has almost doubled, and a 10 percent fee hike is set for this fall. Without Doyle's income, the family is forced to turn to student loans.

With another son bound for college next year, Doyle is considering taking a full-time job in Arizona. This would mean giving up her much-beloved ranger position.

"With another kid going to college, I need to look at something more stable, but that would mean severing ties with State Parks," said Doyle, who has turned down job offers in the past because of her commitment to the park system. "That's not a win-win situation for anybody."