Host: Ben Long Co-host: Canvas Lovesee Guest: Kevin Eads Description: As the fort’s Superintendent, Kevin Eads’ job revolves around looking into the future of the park to not only ensure it remains for future generations, but to improve it as well. Join us as we dive into the uncertainty that is Fort Larned’s future and the role visitors, volunteers, and staff play in it.

[Footsteps intro music plays]

Ben Long: Welcome to Footsteps: The Fort Larned National Historic Site Podcast, I'm your host Ranger Ben and this season we are taking a look at Fort Larned's past, present, and future. Today is part one on Fort Larned's future. Today I'm joined by our volunteer Canvas Lovesee. How's it going today?

Canvas Lovesee: It's going pretty good. How are you?

Ben: Doing well. Now as we get started why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself, what drew you to volunteer at Fort Larned, how long you've been doing it.

Canvas: My name's Canvas, obviously. Grown up in Kansas around this area my whole life. Started volunteering at Fort Larned through a high school fax club that comes out every year for our October event: Candlelight Tour. Really started becoming a primary volunteer last October of 2022. I mean really just the history, the people out here keep coming me back I've always learned something every single time out here. So, just learning and being able to represent something from history and help preserve it is really something that I've tried to strive for especially moving forward in my life. That's something I want to do so I mean coming out to the fort is going to help me with that as well and help push me towards a career in the National Parks or towards conservation. So, looking forward to it.

Ben: Absolutely and not only like you said that you learn something new every time you come out here but especially as you've taken a dive into learning about the Hospital Stewards, which we talk about a little bit on the episode, my interpretation of the Hospital has expanded quite a bit, just from learning from you. So that's been awesome.

Canvas: Well you're welcome.

Ben: Thank you! So yeah as we get into the episode one of my favorite parts as with all of our guests this season was just taking a dive into what it takes to do the jobs around here. Today's guest is our Superintendent Kevin Eads. He's been here for about a year and a half now. And so taking a look at his job how he has to look to the future and sort of forward management as he says, that was really cool and that's a big part of what I enjoyed about this episode.

Canvas: I mean definitely that and hearing about how the employees of the park are really what make a park, a park. I mean obviously everything there the historical aspects, the things that make it a national treasure, definitely what make it the actual park but what brings it to life and helps people understand it truly brings people crawling back is definitely the employees. So hearing that too and we definitely dive into that a lot in this episode, so.

Ben: Yeah it was a fun episode, it was a great interview and we hope you enjoy taking a listen.

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Ben: So welcome Kevin.

Kevin: Good morning.

Ben: How's it going?

Kevin: Good, going good.

Ben: Alright, so as we kick it off as we have with our other guests this season, why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself, your name title, and what other parks you might have worked at.

Kevin: Okay, you bet. So Kevin Eads, I'm the superintendent here at the park and I've been with the National Park Service for right at 33 years. I've been here, it's been a year and a half. Some of the other parks that I worked at has been George Washington Carver National Monument, George Washington's Birthplace, Arkansas Post National Memorial, Pea Ridge National military Park, and then I did a stent at Badlands.

Canvas: More experience than I have, just by a little!

Ben: That's for sure! Yeah so I don't you tell us a little bit about what got you into the Park Service originally and some of your highlights along your journey.

Kevin: You bet! So I first-- I grew up on a farm and didn't know really anything about the Park Service and when I was getting my undergrad there towards the end of that degree, there was a job fair. Several of my friends had gone and they were telling me about it, and there were some job openings. And initially I went they had the Core of Engineers, the US Fish and Wildlife, and the National Park Service. Well I knew about the Core of Engineers and I knew about the Fish and Wildlife. And so we went and all other jobs had already been filled. The National Park Service had a couple of jobs left there and so me and another gentleman went and visited with them and signed up and that's how I got started with the Park Service. So and started off at Carver.

Ben: So you sort of stumbled into it almost.

Kevin: I did, I did. I'm glad I did. You know, 33 years later looking back, it was one of the best decisions that I've made. So, really enjoy the Park Service, the staff.

Ben: So you kind of stumbled into the Park Service in a way, obviously there's something that's kept you here, like you sort of touched on is that the staff or is there is there more to it? What has sort of kept you in the in the National Park Service?

Kevin: Again my background, grew up on a farm my degrees are in Biology: Wildlife Biology, Forest Resources. So the parks that I went to you know it was a new world whether it was at Carver, George Washington's Birthplace, Arkansas Post, each one had their own unique resources whether that was natural resources, cultural resources. But you know along the way, meeting the people and being able to work with and learn from them was the most satisfying. And that's kind of what kept me in. I had people all along the way that took me under their wing, they mentored me I learned from them and it's been a wonderful experience.

Ben: Yeah and that was something that we sort of touched on in the last episode with Tyler our Carpenter and our Volunteer Lynn mentioned that she sort of realized that the National Park Service is not this-- not only this great place for these great resources, be that cultural or natural, but it's also this gathering place of historic techniques and I'm guessing in that scientific techniques as well. And all these different things that you might not necessarily find elsewhere but then you can learn from while you're working in the Park Service, so.

Kevin: Absolutely, yeah.

Ben: That's really cool. So have you had in your time going through these different parks, I know it's tough to find one of your I guess favorites or highlight park but would you say you have one?

Kevin: I love being here, I love this park. Just as I loved each of the other parks, each one is unique -- that's why they're a National Park. You know with them being unique in their own right and then at the time of life that I was at each one of those parks, each one of them special. They're all my favorite park.

Ben: Now when visitors come in and ask me if I have a favorite park that I've worked at, I give pretty much a similar answer that. Each one has its own gem that you start to appreciate after working there for even for a few months. As we sort of continue in to the episode, into your work here what sort of drew you to the position here and what is been your highlight since you've started working here for a year and a half now?

Kevin: I've always kept an eye on Fort Larned. Part of the reason it's closer to where I grew up. Right out of college, got married the same day we graduated and then shortly thereafter we went to Virginia. It's been a journey the whole way. With Fort Larned, with Kansas itself I really enjoy the landscape, the history that's here. Growing up when I did, you know you see all the western movies. And so I think that was ingrained from birth pretty much. And getting to work in an area that has the history that Fort Larned does as well as the natural resources is this what first drew here. It's one of the things that I really like about the park about the area. The other thing that I really like about this area is the people -- very friendly, they help you out, they visit with you. I mean it's that's a wonderful component.

Ben: Now when I initially asked again going back to Tyler, I had asked him when he came back under his project funding initially, I asked him what drew him back to Fort Larned, he said the people. Yeah we have a very friendly work group here and not only that, the community too.

Kevin: Yes.

Ben: Very welcoming.

Canvas: Very small town community like everyone's willing to help everyone so, definitely a good thing.

Kevin: Yeah. The other thing I like about this area is the amount of dirt roads you can drive and not have to cross pavement for a very long time if you want to.

Canvas: Or you'll come cross pavement way quicker than you think you are going to.

Kevin: Well yeah that too. Or you end up in a field where the road just dead ends.

Canvas: Is there any park in particular that if you would want to work at you would prefer to like work at there. Not really prefer but is there a park in general that if you could get the chance to work at, you would take it.

Kevin: You know, being able to work here like I said it's, I've kept my on Fort Larned for a very long time. This would have been one of those parks-- is one of those parks. You know, I've never really wanted to work at the Grand Canyons or the Yellowstones or-- I like the small parks, I like the staff. Everybody's got to work together -- there are no strangers. No single park comes to mind. I like it here, I really do.

Ben: That's interesting, in talking about small parks and you did at Badlands. I myself personally enjoy the small parks and I've loved my career and especially working here. So how was that going from your experience in small parks, how is that going to a bigger park and was that much of an adjustment?

Kevin: You know really it wasn't. So the stent there it was a-- I was acting Deputy Superintendent, lived there on a park. But the staff were from, for the most part, from the area or they lived on the park. I still got that same sense of Park Service community. So in that respect no it wasn't it wasn't different. The time of year in which I was there I was there through the summer and then the fall. The visitation was extremely high. That I had to get used to. But the evening and the mornings, the landscape is very similar to here, minus the hills, but other than that no. The visitation would have been the biggest difference. But the staff they were amazing, just like they are here and they've been at every other park I've worked at. My entire career for the most part has been small parks.

Ben: And that's something I've noticed too even working seasons at big parks is you sort of-- it may not be the whole park that has a sense of community but you definitely have these pockets of maybe your work group or those that you live around that you definitely sort of form that little community and that that small town mentality almost for a little bit. So getting into what you do here for someone who doesn't necessarily have experience in the Park Service or the command structure if you will, how would you explain what you do here in your position?

Kevin: So I view my position here as primarily trying to facilitate and help the staff do the various functions of their jobs, whatever that may be. Whether it's you know let's identified training so that staff can grow in their position or in desired future positions. It's helping out where I can, whether it's with getting the processes complete, like compliance, working with program managers, things of that nature. And all of that is in an effort to continue to preserve the park and its resources. As we were talking and before we started recording, really if it wasn't for the staff here, we wouldn't be able to for one maintain the buildings and even improve them as they need to be improved, and then to be able to tell the story of Fort. While we do have the resource and that is sort of what we're going towards, that the staff is part of the resource really.

Kevin: Oh yeah, absolutely. You know and I've been asked that question a few times as far as what the most important resource. In a way, it's hard to answer because answer is not what most people expect. You've got your-- every park has got the natural resources, your fish, fields, fur to manage. Every park has its cultural resources to manage. For example, at this park you know we've got part of the cultural resources are the facilities: the buildings. That's what people see initially whenever they come. But you know just in line in my opinion just in line with the natural resources and the cultural resources of any park I've ever worked at another resource that is on par would be the staff -- the employees of that park. Because if they don't care you know if they don't continue to strive to improve that park to tell the story of the park, incorporate their perspectives, then what do you have? Yeah you've got the cultural, natural resources but nobody's protecting them, nobody's preserving them, and so are they going to remain significant and a National Treasure? So the employees are right up there with the natural and cultural if not in my opinion the primary resource.

Canvas: So I mean even going-- adding on to that, having employees too who are willing to help share the story because I mean you could definitely could have some who are still interested in keeping the history and wanting to help preserve it and everything but just getting out and actually telling people this is what happened is definitely something too. And I feel like here we have a very good staff team that does that and volunteers too that are willing to actually come out and say this is what happened in this building, this is the people who were here and actually willing to share it with people whether they want to listen or not, so.

Kevin: Right. I made some notes I'll share with you along these lines. Canvas this is something that you and I had talked about previously. I think one of the questions you had asked is, you know in what ways can the employee change the way people feel and learn about the parks? And to me this is tied into the question you just asked, Ben. You know for employees, it's important that they bring creative and new ideas that engage all components of society and that they consider and present all cultures viewpoints both current and past so that the stories are told from all perspectives sort of that 360 view. And that they strive to identify and then incorporate new technologies whenever possible, because they're continuously changing. I mean look at what we're doing now it's a creative brilliant idea -- a good way to get the stories out and for people to learn to pique their interest.

Canvas: I feel like that's definitely true out here too especially at Fort Larned where the reason why the post is here at all is to help protect people travel on the Santa Fe Trail. And I mean it's against natives except why were the natives being hostile? So when you're looking at that, it's not just don't just tell it from one perspective as to why we're-- oh these people are being hostile towards us we need to build a fort. Look at why are they being hostile towards us which--

Kevin: Right.

Canvas: is really key out here.

Kevin: You know being invaded things of that nature. It's-- you need to be able to tell all perspectives. One of the other things for employees, for me, is it's easier said than done because you can get in a rut right, but never settle for you know, "we've always done it that way." You have to stay self-motivated and continue to push yourself to stay relevant with the changing times. The only constant is nothing is constant. And to you know to push yourself to come up with new ideas. Just like I said with the podcast here but not come up with those ideas only but implement them also, And then just like in life realize that not everything is going to be the way you think it should go. In other words, everything that you try is not going to be successful. That should Inspire us to-- and make us keep pushing, keep moving forward, trying harder, push ourselves beyond what we think we can do. If you're not uncomfortable, just like this, you know I'm uncomfortable in this, but if you're not uncomfortable in in some of the things that you're doing then you're-- you know my question is are you really growing? So it's important for the staff to keep that motivation and keep moving forward for the park to grow, for it to be preserved so and for the staff to grow. Like I said I've been in the Park Service for 33 years, at some point I'm going to retire. The existing staff are going to be in roles of leadership. You know, it's important that they realize that there are a lot of things that they can do and it's-- the key is to stay self-motivated and push themselves.

Ben: I like what you're were saying about if you're not uncomfortable, you're not growing that's something that I try to do that's why I try to do new things. And certainly as we started this podcast I wasn't comfortable doing that but hopefully getting a little better at it. Following that vein of what you do in your role here, of course the theme of this episode is Fort Larned's Future. A lot of what you do deals with what's down the road.

Kevin: Right.

Ben: So I mean while we have the staff here well we have the resource here we want to make sure what we have that's here, here to tell the story of the past but there's obviously things that we need to look to the future for in order to like you said keep improving, keep staying relevant and become better. Still telling in essence the same story, but hopefully tell--

Canvas: In a new light.

Ben: Yeah, telling it a new light. So if you're privy to say some of the things that you're looking for or just in general in the future that that you have to deal with on a daily basis.

Kevin: You hit on one key topic and that's you know to preserve history you have to manage forward and that's not only in buildings, the cultural resources, the natural resources, but also again primarily the staff. For the future of this park, of any park, you know you look to your staff. I do. I have learned more from the staff here than I ever thought I would and that's been the case pretty much in in every park that I've gone to. In my mind, the future of the park is the staff and if that's true then look to the staff and find out you know, what areas do they want to grow in? Do we have enough staff? What needs to be done at the park and then start working towards that. You've got to plan sometimes 3 to 5 years out or further in order to do that. And often times what I'll do is you know think down the road okay what do I need or what do I think the park needs in 5 years or what should it look like in 5 years and then step back. Or at least identify a component and not put a time frame to it. For example you've got a broad question what does the park-- what should the park look like in the future? You've got to identify okay are we going to-- are we talking about buildings, are we talking about staffing, are we talking about budgets? So you identify each one of those components and then you walk it back. Well if, for example, we want the Visitor Center to look this way, remodeled. We want to have the best Visitor Center in the Park Service. Okay well what does that look like? And you start identifying those components. Well we could have the latest technology, we could have a new movie, we could have you know all of these things, but then you-- when you break it down into components and start backing it up there are things you have to do in order to get there. Whether that's, you've got to fix things first and you back it up. And then from that process you get a timeline as well as projects that need to be done in order to realize that picture. More often than not that includes as a primary component your staff.

Ben: Obviously, I know you're usually very busy with meetings and things like that. So would you say that all those sort of revolve around that one of those components of what does the Fort look like a month from now, a year from now, 5 years from now, 10 years from now?

Kevin: Yes, every bit of it, Every bit of it, yeah. Because it's-- you know it's multifaceted. So for example, a question would be you know is the park as accessible as it should be? Well what does that mean? So let's go back let's identify exactly you know what does that mean, and then let's get the staff involved, and let's start getting ideas. But then also we need to incorporate outside groups as well, so that we have a more robust and creative process to identify those things. In this example, with accessibility, you're going to be touching on everything. Whether it's interpretation, how you interpret the park, facilities, how do you maintain them, and you start getting that planned out and work towards implementing it and in order to do that you've got to have a lot of meetings and talk to a lot of different groups.

Canvas: Working just at Fort Larned in general is there one particular aspect of work that you prefer over-- I mean I know Ben loves the reenactment part. Which I'm sure we all do to a sense. But it's like desk work, there's organizing, there's planning for the future, getting events set up, is there a particular thing that you have that you prefer to do workwise compared to just everything else there's just one thing that you're like oh this is my cup of tea?

Kevin: So I get a sense of accomplishment and most people do you know when you-- when you're able to look back and see something get done. And for a lot of people and me in a lot of respects that something that gets done is physical. A new roof, a new structure, a new road. But for me yes, those do give me a sense of accomplishment and they are very important, but more so what I really like to see is for the staff to grow. Grow in their skill sets, grow on their creativity, identify things and implement them. You know one of the things that I think, for myself a lot anyway, is I may come up with a 100 different ideas and try to implement 50 of them and if five of them work I'm happy. Because those five never would have been accomplished had I not identified 100. And so whenever you see staff and volunteers doing things and coming up with ideas and you see all of the excitement around that and you see them actually get the physical things done but you see the growth that's to me the most rewarding part of the job.

Ben: Seeing successes, I mean some sometimes you have you have failures in there too but then you learn and able to adjust and make it better the second time around.

Kevin: Right.

Canvas: Is there anything in the park future that you're looking forward to specifically?

Kevin: Mhmm. The Old Guard, our friends group, Fort Larned Old Guard, is-- they're an amazing group, and because of that and their work ethic, their professionalism, their creativity, they've done a lot of things for the park over the years. One of which is they purchased a village site with the intent of you know at some point being able to transfer that to the to the park which would be wonderful. As part of that process, they've been working on getting it listed as a National Historic Landmark, which would help to preserve it into the future. I mean they've put in a parking lot, they're talking about putting in waysides, holding events there. So to me that's-- for the future of the park that's very exciting you know let's get it listed as an NHL and let's see what we can move forward with.

Ben: So do you think eventually that may potentially be a satellite site to the Fort here?

Kevin: I'm hopeful, yeah.

Ben: Sort of like how the rut site is, but just a little further out.

Kevin: Yeah, yeah. It's a wonderful area it really is and it ties in with the fort. I mean it's--

Ben: 'Cuz that's where Handcock burned the Cheyenne Village, right?

Kevin: Right, right.

Ben: So have-- and the place he left from a couple days before was right here.

Kevin: Mhm, yeah. And then you've got all of these characters that were here, passed through that are tied to the village and then after that as well. So there are a lot of stories, a lot of perspectives.

Ben: That's one thing that again when I talk to visitors I had tell them I love about this place is we know for a fact that there's over 270 officers here. That doesn't count the enlisted men that were here, the civilians who worked here, the travelers on the trail, the Plains Indians that were here. When you add that in you have thousands if not maybe close to a million stories that you can tell and so it's really cool to have the prospect of having something that we can add to the story and add to the interpretation here even though it's not necessarily right on site but it does add to the whole story of Fort Larned.

Kevin: Right. And ties in.

Ben: So I mean there are a lot of friends groups, in our in our next episode we are actually going to hear from the chairperson of The Old Guard. Friends groups aren't they're not mutually exclusive to Fort Larned, so what are your experiences working with cooperating organizations like friends groups, or like Western National Parks Association who runs our bookstore, and things like that? Because I assume you have a lot of relationship with people like that in your position.

Kevin: Right. I've worked you know at other parks I worked-- we had a friends group there as well and there were other at various times organizations that we worked with depending on you know if it was for hiking trails, bicycle paths, land acquisition things of that nature. Out of every park that I've worked at there have been groups, but I would have to say you know that The Old Guard is right at the top as far as what they've done you know for the park, for the history, and what they're currently doing, the direction they're going.

Ben: I mean they're always looking in the future and that's why we have that interview in this in the Fort Larned's Future because that's-- while they do help us keep what's here, here they do also help us for future projects and for future acquisitions and things like that. As we were talking about I think in the first couple episodes of this season we were talking about some of the things that they've been able to acquire for us. We have a Trapdoor Rifle that was used here, Captain Nolan's revolver, Frank Baldwin's sword, just really cool things that we wouldn't otherwise be able to get our hands on-- we're able to help tell the story of the fort and that's all thanks to really the volunteers with The Old Guard.

Kevin: You know one of the things and Canvas had asked me and I'm going to turn it around on you Ben, make this an interview about you. You know canvas had asked me previously uh about volunteers you know how do you grow volunteers, what future do you see for volunteers here, future growth? You know I know that you've been a driving force here at the park with volunteers, whether they're living historians, I know you're working on getting a band going, but also long-term volunteers like we just had and like your working on coming up. That's a big accomplishment. You know what do you see for the future?

Ben: Yeah, so--

Kevin: Put you on the spot.

Ben: Yeah, well taking it back a little bit 'cuz I mean I do focus on history quite a bit so it's easy for me to look in the past, I got my start in the Park Service as a volunteer. My goal, my career goal when I was in Middle School was to become a National Park Service Ranger so I set my sites on that early found the path that I could take and that was starting out with volunteering. So I volunteered at my local National Park, had lots of new experiences, was uncomfortable many times, but was able to grow through that. And so my goal is to involve as many volunteers as we can, because the National Park Service can't do what we do without volunteers.

Kevin: Right.

Ben: And giving the volunteers new experiences. As I'm sure Canvas, have you ever been on a podcast before?

Canvas: I've never been on a podcast.

Ben: There we go.

Canvas: There's a new experience unlocked.

Kevin: Yeah, same here.

Ben: Yeah, so--

Canvas: We're all in it together.

Ben: Learning new things and doing new things. I know for especially our younger volunteers, public speaking is not necessarily something they're comfortable with but here we have a great stage for them to just have conversations have-- talk with people and get in that interpretation and tell the story and give that visitor a positive experience. So not only including more volunteers to help us out, but help them out as much as possible, give them new experiences help them along the lines that they enjoy. For example Canvas you have done a lot of research into Hospital Stewards and things like that which has grown my knowledge and my interpretation of the site. And then we had our long-term volunteer Lynn, who's a co-host on the last episode, she loves researching so she did a lot of research for us while she was here. She added oh I don't know it was like a good 5 inch stack of papers to our files of things that she found. So finding out what the volunteers enjoy, for one, because if we're not giving them something that they enjoy or something that they can use to grow, they're not necessarily going to keep coming back.

Kevin: Right.

Ben: And so finding ways to do that so-- and along the lines of growing the staff of what are their goals what do they want and help them that way.

Kevin: What would you want or need for the Superintendent at Fort Larned to do to help you?

Ben: That's a question I haven't really thought about, so you're putting me on the spot.

Kevin: I am.

Ben: But no, I guess just the support you've already given has been fantastic and I know any interaction that you've had with the volunteers has been, they always come back with you're just an awesome person. I think when they see someone of your leadership status caring about everyone be that a visitor, volunteer, staff member, I think that goes a long way. I can definitely tell that your ears are always open.

Kevin: I have learned more from the staff just listening to them. That's going back to your question earlier Canvas, that's one of the things that I really like especially-- and it's been my whole experience with small parks, but being able to interact with with all of the staff, all of the volunteers, you can have the opportunity to learn so much from them.

Ben: Yeah, we have a lot of knowledge here and not just one person has it.

Kevin: No, no.

Ben: That's what's that's what's been extraordinary about this podcast too is being able to dive into George's knowledge, into Mike's knowledge, into Bill Chapman's knowledge, into Tyler's knowledge, and yeah and into yours too and your prior experiences. That's been really eye opening into what goes on that I don't necessarily worry about on a day-to-day but is being worried about by other people in the park.

Kevin: Right. We wouldn't be able to have the time or the luxury to worry about that and look at planning for the park's future if not for the staff. And the volunteers doing what they do. So it's a-- it goes both ways, it's a give and take.

Canvas: Moving on into the future of the park, we're currently working on a couple things for it including this building. I mean really just when-- 'cuz I mean this building, been here forever and no one's really had access to it from the public so when do you think-- I mean people should come out here because everything's constantly changing of course and every time I come out here I learn something new. So the chance of people have never been out here before learning something new is very high. So I mean even the people have come out here before, when should they come back out here to expect to see this building open?

Kevin: So you know we're looking at right now we're doing-- and you can see from the interior some of the work that's been done. Right now essentially we're making an assessment. What kind of shape is the building in? What needs to be done to the building? And then from that they'll start putting together some documents for construction. And so we're-- so you got a phase one and a phase two, right now we're in phase one and it's not that nothing is going on, there's a lot. I mean if you go down into the bottom floor, you can see where they've taken up the modern floor and you can see the historic floor. We're taking an assessment in this example of the historic floor, how much of it can be saved preserved and what needs to be done in order to do that? The phase one assessment should be done this year. Soon thereafter we would start the construction. So you know if everything goes according to plan couple, of years 3 years and this building will be renovated and opened up hopefully. But there are a lot of other things right now we've got a mess behind the Visitor Center. Putting in you know-- when we talk about facilities it also includes things like water and sewage. For the most part, any park is like a city unto itself, because you've got water, sewer, electric, utilities and all those have to be managed and at times they have life cycles that need to be replaced and so right now we're replacing a septic system. You know we're very fortunate to have Bill Chapman, our Facilities Manager, he's very forward thinking and very proactive in identifying projects, things that need to get done, and then going after the funding to get them done. Some of the other things that we're looking at in the next 3 to 5 years are roofs. Re-roofing most of the buildings if not all. Painting several of the buildings, fixing the plaster work inside you know with the cracks and things of that nature. We're looking at maintaining our roads, signage, waysides. So everything again is in a constant state of change. It's Bill Chapman's job to arrest that change or repair it as soon as possible. And so things are always changing and you know in the same respects that's true with telling the stories of the park. Different ways of telling the story again these podcasts. Ben I know that you and another Park Ranger, Celeste just worked on a project and are hoping to get funding for it. Can you tell a little bit about that?

Ben: Yeah so the Park Service is working on finding some pilot parks for augmented reality. Although it will take some money to do it, it's going to take a lot less money than say rebuilding a whole structure. So what we're working on right now is the beginnings of the project to hopefully add augmented reality so you can see the Cavalry Stables through the Park Service app. And so you'd be able to go to around the location of where the stables were and though it won't actually be there, you can see what it would look like in the landscape which would be awesome.

Kevin: Yeah, that would really be neat. And that's through looking through your smartphone.

Ben: Yeah. And again a lot cheaper than right and a lot easier to maintain. And then I also know that that y'all are working on another Window to the Past for the laundresses so that should be done. I would say come to the park as much as possible, because things are constantly being worked on, improved new things are being done. Whether you can physically see them or not it may be like the band Ben is working on getting that going. It may be new programs, it may be new stories that are being told, but you know this park is growing consistently and that's one of the things I've noticed since I've been here. Not only through projects on facilities but interpretively as well through those types of programs. So I would say come often.

Ben: And if I can add to that, personally I've of course I've worked here for a little over four years now, so I've been here on a daily basis pretty much that whole time, and I am still always learning something. So even if you've been out here 10, 20 times--

Kevin: Right.

Ben: There's always something to learn.

Kevin: Absolutely and you know, I would encourage people to visit with the Park Rangers. The amount of knowledge that is-- that the staff has at this park is amazing. I at times sit and just try to think of questions to ask you know George for example to see if I can stump him and I've yet to do so.

Ben: I've had the same experience. Alright so as we wrap up, another thing we've been asking all our guests this season is how can our listeners help? Whether they're local whether they're not, what are some more ways they can help either your job or just help the park in general?

Kevin: Come to the park, you know absolutely if you can, if not you know come to the park through digital means. With today's technology, there are apps, we've got our website I know, well, Ben you're always putting up new things on the website like you did with the Blacksmith last year. I would learn as much about the park as you can and then and tell people about it. If you've got the time and the inclination please come out and volunteer. If you can't physically be here, there may be volunteers options where you can do it offsite, remotely. You know we appreciate the interest in the park and help us continue to grow that through whatever means we can.

Canvas: What event that's coming up are you looking forward to most?

Kevin: Mess and Muster!

Ben: That's going to be a fun one.

Canvas: It will be a fun one.

Kevin: And I think I told you this earlier, Canvas, but you know last year literally and figuratively I had an absolute ball.

Ben: That was fun.

Kevin: It was fun! Got to dance, yeah.

Canvas: I mean we have lots of events throughout the year too that people can come out for but I mean don't just come out for those. We got a lot of things that you can learn about out here and things going on constantly.

Ben: Well thanks for coming on and sharing a little bit about what you do and giving us some insight into the park's future.

Kevin: Oh you bet, thank you. I appreciate you having me.

Ben: Alright, have a good one.

Kevin: You too.

[Whoosh]

Ben: Alright well thank you for taking a listen, we certainly appreciate it. If you haven't already, check us out on social media, we're on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. And also check out our website we have some great resources for you on there be sure to leave us a rating and review.

Canvas: If you already follow us on social media, be sure to check out Nicodemus National Historic Site as well. They have great resources and things that you can learn about there too.

Ben: Wonderful and thank you again for taking a listen.

Canvas: And we will see you next time on Footsteps: The Fort Larned Podcast

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