Here’s the entire story from Kevin Woster of the Rapid City, S.D., Journal:

Former Mount Rushmore National Memorial superintendent Gerard Baker has retired from the National Park Service, less than three months after he was named assistant park service director for Native American relations.

Hugh Dougher, acting superintendent at Mount Rushmore, said Tuesday that Baker retired effective July 3 because of lingering health concerns. Baker suffered a stroke in November but returned to his job as Mount Rushmore superintendent in January. At that time, he said during an interview with the Journal that he was “more fired up than ever” and hoped to stay at Rushmore until he retired in 2016.

But Baker left the superintendent’s job in April to take the assistant director’s job. He had planned on splitting his time between Washington, D.C., and an office in the Black Hills. But Baker’s health concerns increased under the workload of his new job, Dougher said. He said Baker was wise to put his health first.

“I think he made the right decision,” he said.

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Tags: Gerard Baker, Greenpeace, Mandan-Hidatsa, Mount Rushmore National Memorial, National Park Service

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

Mount Rushmore National Memorial Superintendent Gerard Baker, who is Mandan and Hidatsa, has been on leave since having a stroke last year. His past Park Service experience includes tenure at the Little Bighorn Battlefield in Montana and the Knife River Indian Villages in North Dakota. Baker is well-known – and sometimes controversial – for his insistence upon including presentations of Native history and culture at his various postings. Here’s the whole story from Steve Miller in today‘s Rapid City Journal:

Mount Rushmore National Memorial Superintendent Gerard Baker said Wednesday that he is fully recovered from a stroke he suffered in November and has felt great since he returned to work full time last week.

“I’m back and I’m more fired up than ever, in a positive sense,” he said.

Baker, 56, is a 31-year National Park Service veteran and said he plans to make Mount Rushmore his last career stop.

“I have no intention of going any other place,” Baker said. “I came here five years ago with the intention that this is my last national park site.”

Baker wants to remain at Rushmore until 2016, the 100th birthday of the National Park Service.

“What better time to retire than that birthday year.”

Tags: buffalo post, Gerard Baker, Knife River Indian VIllages, Little Bighorn Battlefield, Mandan-Hidatsa, Mount Rushmore National Memorial, National Park Service, Native American news

While many places around the nation commemorated Columbus Day on Monday, at the Crazy Horse Memorial in South Dakota’s Black Hills, it was Native Americans’ Day.

As part of the celebration, the memorial announced a new partnership with the University of South Dakota, according to this Rapid City (S.D.) Journal story.

Courses could be offered there as soon as next summer, when a classroom and residence hall now under construction are to be completed, Jack Marsh tells the Journal.

Marsh is a board member of the Crazy Horse Memorial Foundation, which will cover tuition costs for as many as 40 Native American students when the program is fully

Monday’s celebration was also meant to be a step toward racial reconciliation in South Dakota. It featured the recorded words of the late Gov. George Mickelson as he spoke about the state’s 1989 decision to replace its observance of Columbus Day with Native Americans’ Day.

Traditional singing, drumming and dancing entertained a large audience who also heard from several guest speakers, among them Mount Rushmore Superintendent Gerard Baker, who is Mandan-Hidatsa.

Baker told schoolchildren in the audience that he dreams of the day he can stand before a group of students and ask them what prejudice or racism is and “nobody would know the answer.”

To watch a video of yesterday’s event, click here.

Gwen Florio

Tags: buffalo post, Crazy Horse Memorial, Mandan-Hidatsa, Native American news, Native Americans' Day

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