I just want to share my joy with the Mudcat comunity over receiving a high award for a park service interpretive ranger, the Freeman Tilden Award, for the Western region. There are 10 regions in the National Park Service, and one ranger from each region is chosen. in November, a national awardee is chosen from the ten regional winners.

The award is named in honor of the godfather of nature and historic interpretation, Freeman Tilden, who set down some compelling guiding principles of interpretation in his book "Interpreting Our Heritage." By "interpretation,'" I mean the field of interpreting the meaning and significance of natural, historical, and cultural resources to park and museum visitors.

Why I want to share this with you all, is that this award was given to me based on my work organizing a sea music festival at the park I work at in San Francisco. This award is not just a personal accomplishment, but a statement and affirmation, I think, of the park service recognizing the importance of preserving and presenting our traditional sea music heritage.

My many thanks to the musicians who made this festival possible!

Chanteyranger