Staff, friends welcome Tumac‡cori Park chief

The National Park Service formally introduced its new chief ranger at Tumac‡cori National Park Wednesday as her parents, co-workers, friends and Park Service brass looked on.

Shaded by mesquite and pomegranate trees, Lisa Carrico said she was “honored and excited” at her selection to head the park, site of a Spanish mission that dates to the 1690s.

Standing behind a dark brown wooden lectern on a patio of worn, red adobes in what’s known as The Garden near the visitor center, the new chief recognized her 14-person staff, and spoke of her new assignment at what she called, “a beautiful place.”

Staff members were dressed in Park Service gray and olive uniforms wearing straw Smokey Bear hats

When she was a child, Lisa Carrico’s father Jim worked at the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument in Arizona. She grew up at other national parks.

Her mother Ginny was present at Wednesday’s ceremony.

Tony Schertzle, the Park Service’s deputy regional director from Denver, congratulated her and said she is committed to public service, “to serve members of the public” as they enjoy their park “as she has done elsewhere.”

Schertzle called the national park system “one of America’s best ideas, up there with baseball and jazz.”

Carrico has been on the job here about six weeks and in that time, she said, there has been one wedding in the aging mission church, and school groups have visited.

She said that shows that Tumac‡cori is “an integral part of the community.”

During the ceremonies, ranger David Yubeta, the master of ceremonies, recognized two previous superintendents, Jim Troutwine, 1986-93, and Pat Thelan, 1994-1996, the first woman chief.

Superintendents from the Saguaro National Park, Sarah Craighead, and Organ Pipe, Lee Baiza, were also there.

Earlier, Carrico said Tumac‡cori’s history and culture “intrigue her.”

She added: “Its proximity and ties to missions in Mexico are an added attraction.

“I’ve lived a large part of my life in parks along the border—Big Bend as an adult and Organ Pipe Cactus as child, and I look forward to learning about a new area and to working closely with the park’s staff, visitors and members of the communities on both sides of our border.”

The first Spanish mission here was established by Jesuit missionaries. Later, Franciscans started the familiar mission church in about 1800.

The mission and surrounding lands became part of the United States with the 1853 Gadsden Purchase. President Theodore Roosevelt established it as a national monument in 1909.

jlamb@gvnews.com | 547-9749