Plains — He's been president of the United States, won a Nobel Peace Prize, and is still a pretty good pull-no-punches- political pundit .
Now Jimmy Carter is about to add something else unique to his resume:
Honorary national park ranger.
National Park Service director Jonathan B. Jarvis will bestow the title — and the iconic Ranger’s hat that goes with it — on Carter here this afternoon. The ceremony will take place in the auditorium of the old Plains High School, now the visitors center and museum of the Jimmy Carter National Historic Site, which the park service operates.
As president, Carter created 39 different National Park Service units, ranging from the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area and the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site in Atlanta, to the Women’s Rights and the War in the Pacific National Historic Parks located in Seneca, N.Y, and Guam, respectively.
In 1978, Carter used the Antiquities Act to designate some 56 million acres in Alaska as National Monuments. The decision initially sparked protests there, but ultimately ensured that such national wonders as Denali (formerly Mount McKinley) and the important native traditions of that vast region would be preserved.
"President Carter showed enormous courage in using the Antiquities Act to do that," Jarvis said in a phone interview last week before heading to Georgia for three days of special events that are part of the park service's centennial year celebration. "In many ways, he exemplifies for us the kind of conservation and preservation leadership that is found within the National Park Service."
Indeed, Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, continue to have an up-close-and-personal relationship with the NPS. From the high school they both attended to the old train depot on Main Street that served as his presidential campaign headquarters, much of little Plains is included within the Jimmy Carter National Historic Site and Preservation District that was established by Congress in 1987. They apparently wanted today's ceremony to have that same intimate feel, as most of the guests at today's ceremony are expected to be family, friends and fellow residents of Plains.
In essence, Carter’s about to become Plains’s honorary head park ranger. But does the job come with any special rights or responsibilities?
“No, but he gets the hat,” Jarvis chuckled. “And he’s allowed to wear it anywhere he wants!”
About the Author
