Gerard Baker, whose tenure as superintendent at Mount Rushmore National Memorial has sometimes been marked by controversy, will be assistant director for American Indian Relations at the National Park Service.

“The National Park Service faces important cultural and natural resource issues with First Americans,” National Park Service Director Jon Jarvis said in making yesterday’s announcement.

“I’ve asked Gerard to represent me and the National Park Service with tribes across our country to work on issues I believe will further the goals of the National Park Service and goals of First Americans.”

Baker, who is Mandan-Hidatsa from the Fort Berthold Reservation in North Dakota, Baker was the first Native American appointed superintendent of Mount Rushmore, the Rapid City (S.D.) Journal reports here. Throughout his time in the Park Service, he’s worked to include Native American perspectives.

“This is really a natural next step in my career, and it’s what I’ve been doing all my life: learning about people, our history and culture, talking to others and sharing stories and learning to appreciate other perspectives. It’s an opportunity we in the National Park Service can’t miss,” Baker says.

As the Journal reports, Baker went through a rocky patch recently in his 30-year career with the Park Service:

Baker drew fire from his critics last July when Greenpeace demonstrators scaled the monument to unfurl a protest banner. Baker stepped in front of cameras and microphones the next day to assure everyone that the monument’s security systems had worked as designed. A Park Service investigation revealed that parts of the security system were either inoperable or not functioning properly.

Retired South Dakota Highway Patrol officer Terry Mayes of Rapid City said he holds Baker personally responsible for the security breach. Mayes was on a committee that recommended security changes after an earlier demonstration at the memorial. The committee made suggestions that led to the spending of several million dollars for security improvements that were not operating properly last July, he said.

Baker had a stroke last year and took medical leave. He returned to work in Mount Rushmore in January.

Gwen Florio

Tags: American Indian Relations, buffalo post, Fort Berthold Reservation, Gerard Baker, Greenpeace, Gwen Florio, Mandan-Hidatsa, Mount Rushmore National Memorial, National Park Servce, Native American news

Gerard Baker, the Mount Rushmore superintendent who came under fire after Greenpeace activists climbed onto the monuments last summer, is on a medical leave of absence, the Rapid City (S.D.) Journal reports here.

“He did go to the hospital last week because he was not feeling well, and he is at home,” says Chief of interpretation Navnit Singh “He has a lot of accumulated leave. And he’s going to be taking some time off. While he’s doing that, we have an acting superintendent.”

As the Journal reports, Baker came under intense scrutiny after July 8, when Greenpeace activists climbed up onto the presidential images and unfurled a banner with President Barack Obama’s face and a message urging action on global warming.

Although Baker said memorial security was functioning that day, it turned out that some cameras weren’t working.

Baker, who is Mandan and Hidatsa and whose past Park Service experience includes tenure at the Little Bighorn Battlefield in Montana and the Knife River Indian Villages in North Dakota, is well-known – if not always appreciated – for his insistence upon including presentations of Native history and culture at his various postings.

John Scott, superintendent at the Pea Ridge National Military Park in Arkansas, is in South Dakota and will serve as acting superintendent in Baker’s absence.

“Just because of the extraordinary activity the park has had, the decision was made to bring in an acting (superintendent) while Gerard was off,” Singh said.

Gwen Florio

Tags: buffalo post, Gerard Baker, Greenpeace, Mount Rushmore National Memorial, Native American news, Pea Ridge National Military Park

Tim Giago, editor of Native Sun News, today posts a spirited, knowledgeable and affectionate defense of Gerard Baker, a longtime National Park Service supervisor who now is Superintendent of Mount Rushmore National Monument.

Baker, who is Mandan and Hidatsa and whose past Park Service experience includes tenure at the Little Bighorn Battlefield in Montana and the Knife River Indian Villages in North Dakota, is well-known – if not always appreciated – for his insistence upon including presentations of Native history and culture at his various postings. Now he finds himself in the midst of a very different type of controversy, over the fact that a month ago, Greenpeace activists clambered onto Mount Rushmore’s famous faces and fastened an Obama banner there.

As Giago writes here, “When Greenpeace did its deed the locals came out of the woodwork looking for a scalp to hang on the wall. Baker’s scalp looked pretty inviting to those wanting to see blood.”

Baker was criticized for initially saying that all park security systems worked as they should that day. As Giago points out (for more details, see an earlier Rapid City Journal story, here) Baker has made plenty of enemies along the way, some of whom seem to be seizing upon this opportunity to suggest it’s time for him to go.

Giago isn’t the only one backing Baker, though. The column quotes both U.S. Sen. Tim Johnson and Congresswoman Stephanie Herseth Sandlin in praise of Baker’s professionalism, a viewpoint echoed by prominent people in Rapid City, S.D.

We’ll keep an eye on the rumblings over Baker and will post updates here.

Gwen Florio

Tags: buffalo post, Gerard Baker, Greenpeace, Mandan-Hidatsa, Mount Rushmore, National Park Service, Native American news