Hola Ranger ~ A Discussion With Author David Vela
The next conversation on the Joy Trip Reading Project
Please join The Joy Trip Reading Project for our next online discussion with former acting National Park Service Director David Vela, author of “Hola Ranger: My Journey Through the National Parks.” We’ll gather on Thursday July 20, 2023, at 5PM Central Time.
Register for this online conversation via Zoom:
https://uwmadison.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJwvceyvqjMvHd2tbwWw0AMBOypyir5TRt8e
David Vela is the former superintendent of Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming. He has also worked as the National Park Service's director for workforce and inclusion; director of the National Park Service Southeast region; and superintendent of the George Washington Memorial Parkway, Palo Alto Battlefield National Historic Site and Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park. Vela has held other positions at San Antonio Missions National Historical Park in Texas, Appomattox Court House National Historical Park in Virginia; Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Nominated as director of the National Park Service in 2018, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee voted to advance Vela's nomination, but he was never confirmed by the Senate. Vela joined the National Park Service's Washington office as acting deputy director of operations. In September 2019, Interior Secretary David Bernhardt announced that he was promoting Vela to director on an acting basis. Vela is the first Latino to lead the National Park Service.
In his book “Hola Ranger”, Vela shares his personal story of a long career spent in service to the preservation of public land. As a Latino working in spaces where he was typically in the minority of staff representation or leadership, his experience as shared in this memoir serves as a role model for aspiring young stewards of the natural environment to follow.
“This is a book that provides a road map for how a Latino country boy from Southeast Texas realized his dream,” Vela writes. “In addition, it honors the achievements and sacrifices of all NPS employees as well as colleagues of color who made their journey through the national parks and opened the door for my own journey. Whether they realized it or not, their work over many decades helped to open doors of opportunity for future generations in the National Park Service.”
Author discussions on the Joy Trip Reading Project are made possible thanks to the support of the Schlecht Family Foundation, the National Geographic Society, and The National Park Service in partnership with the Together Outdoors and University of Wisconsin Madison Nelson Institute of Environmental Studies.