Ranger’s passion for Lake Mead continues after retirement

A Boulder City resident and National Park Service ranger called it a career after 26 years at Lake Mead Recreation Area.

Jennifer Haley served her entire tenure with the National Park Service at Lake Mead, retiring Friday as chief of visitor services and education for the park.

Her list of accomplishments includes starting the park’s first vegetation management program, serving as a key figure in the formulation and implementation of the park’s current day policies, and directing and managing the protection of the park’s 900 plant species, 500 animal species as well as 10,00 cultural resources spread out across the lake’s 1.5 million acres.

Lake Mead Superintendent Lizette Richardson said Haley’s accomplishments were second to none.

“Jennifer has made such a lasting impact on Lake Mead National Recreation Area,” Richardson said. “We will miss her wisdom and experience, but most of all we will miss the encouragement she has been to all of us. We wish her the best in her next chapter of life.”

Haley said she is looking forward to enjoying retirement, but she will miss the multitudes of people she worked with over the past two and a half decades.

“It was such a blessing to work for the park service,” Haley said. “I think I am going to miss all the hardworking professionals who are so passionate about Lake Mead.”

Despite her passion for working at Lake Mead, Haley said it was the right time to retire.

“I loved my time with the park service till the very last second,” she said. “But I just thought it was time to retire. I didn’t have it in me anymore to go full throttle like I had been doing.”

Don’t feel bad for Haley though because she said she has been enjoying her first week of retirement.

“The first few days have been great and I can’t wait for more of the same.”

Haley said she will make frequent trips to the lake as a visitor and it is imperative that the park service continue to work on conservation of the park’s resources.

“It is so important that everyone working at the lake continue to strive to conserve the beauty of the park,” Haley said. “The park is so important to everyone that goes there and I know everyone working there will work their hardest to keep it as beautiful as it is now.”

In her retirement Haley said she is looking forward to traveling, sleeping late, walking the dog and doing artwork with her husband by her side.

Contact reporter Max Lancaster at mlancaster@bouldercityreview.com or at 702-586-9401. Follow him on Twitter @MLancasterBCR.