NPS photo
Lisa Hendy has held the Smokies’ top ranger job since April 2019.
When Lisa Hendy arrived at the Great Smoky Mountains National Park two years ago, she became the park’s first female chief ranger and brought a wealth of experience from what at that time was a 27-year career with the National Park Service.
That career included a pair of impressive accolades from the agency she represents—the 2007 Intermountain Region Exemplary Service Award for saving a life at the Grand Canyon and the 2011 Harry Yount National Park Ranger Award, one of the highest recognitions a ranger can receive for excellence in protecting resources and serving visitors. Hendy came to the Smokies from Big Bend National Park in Texas, where she also held the chief ranger job, but the move represented a homecoming for the Lookout Mountain, Tennessee, native.
How did you first get interested in law enforcement?
My father was the kind of guy who really believed in making sure that we were comfortable around the police. We grew up in Lookout Mountain in Chattanooga and the police department was small and super friendly. I remember being little bitty and he would say, ‘Let’s say hi to the nice police officer.’ I think his intention was really to make us comfortable with going to talk to a police officer if we needed them someday. Slowly but surely that led to a career in law enforcement.
What do people not understand about your job that you wish they did?
I think that generally people don’t understand everything the average ranger does, period—not just me. Just the depth of what our folks are actually trained to do is impressive, and the fact that they’re capable of being able to respond in any of those capacities on any given day, it’s what makes the job fun. I used to say my best days were measured in how many times I had to change clothes—wetsuits, technical climbing gear, structural fire turnout. I think they see us in a law enforcement capacity, but that same ranger could easily strip off that belt and button-down shirt and be the one running up that trail with a litter and a paramedic kit and be able to extricate people from the backcountry, and that could be half an hour from now.
What has been most surprising or challenging about your time in the Smokies thus far?
I think it’s challenging but not surprising that the pandemic has been tough. We’re the playground people can go to when nothing is open. They can feel safer here, and yet they come in such numbers that social distancing becomes problematic and then it becomes difficult for us to interact with the public—because it’s a crowd—and stay safe ourselves. As a park manager and part of the management team, we see everything from how do we sterilize our buildings to how do we sanitize the dispatch center between shifts and how do we take care of the visitor center between shifts. We have a lot of volunteers, many of whom are retired, so do we get them back, and if the answer is no, can we run those programs? We have a fantastic team here, and it’s been an absolute privilege to watch that function so well.
What are you most proud of accomplishing over the past two years?
We’re working really hard to look forward with where we want this division to go. There’s a little bit of reorganization happening and just sort of creating a scenario where we can maybe manage the enormous workload more efficiently. What that does is, it creates morale boost in our folks. I think in spite of COVID, in spite of a lot of the challenges that they faced this year, on the whole I feel like the division’s personnel morale is higher than it was a few years ago. If you can come in as a leader and make people feel more confident and better about their workplace, that’s a win.