Many thanks for the good work. Unfortunately, after a generation of hiring and promotion by the Peter Principle, instead of good old Civil Service stiff exams, many NPS managers seem now to lack the enthusiasm for such matters. Fortunately, there are many others who do, so your work is succeeding. The Mather family is interested in such matters. Somewhere - here? - there's a photo of thby rangerdon - General Discussion
Pipe Spring National Monument, established as Stephen Mather's "Pet Project" in 1923, has a Mather Plaque. I believe that it was Mather's personal interest in a place which determined where the plaques would go. By the way, this site may list all plaques: http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=27206 Ranger Donby rangerdon - General Discussion
also, I don't know that Burns did much with the UC connection, although I've not seen the entire program.... if not, he missed a critical part of NPS history... A good idea for an article, indeed! RDby rangerdon - General Discussion
Yep. In the UC Berkeley Botanical Garden, in the Mather Grove. Left side of Centennial Drive as you head uphill toward the Lawrence Hall. You missed it because both UC and NPS seem to keep the UC-NPS connection somewhat under their hats. But if you go online and look for the proceedings of the first NPS Naturalist Conference, in 1929, which was held in Berkeley, you should find a photo of tby rangerdon - General Discussion
The plaque at Pipe Spring National Monument (NOT "Pipe Springs" by the way) is beautifully located on the Monument's short trail up the Vermillion Cliffs. No wondering about why it's here -- Mather was very impressed with the historic old fort, and actually helped buy it with his own money. From the plaque, you look out over an area larger than Yosemite NP, and can see the North Rby rangerdon - General Discussion