? What: 2010 Marshall Lecture.
? Who: Jon Jarvis, director of the National Park Service.
? When: 11:30 a.m., Thursday, May 20.
? Where: Hudson’s Bay High School, 1206 East Reserve St., Vancouver.
? Admission: Free, but tickets are required; call 360-992-1800. In April, a link will be available at http://www.fortvan.org.
Jon Jarvis will be pretty close to his own turf May 20, when he visits Vancouver to deliver the 2010 Marshall Lecture.
Jarvis is director of the National Park Service, an agency that includes the Fort Vancouver National Historic Site.
The 11:30 a.m. event at Hudson’s Bay High School is part of the Fort Vancouver National Trust’s “Celebrate Freedom” program.
? What: 2010 Marshall Lecture.
? Who: Jon Jarvis, director of the National Park Service.
? When: 11:30 a.m., Thursday, May 20.
? Where: Hudson's Bay High School, 1206 East Reserve St., Vancouver.
? Admission: Free, but tickets are required; call 360-992-1800. In April, a link will be available at http://www.fortvan.org.
“We are extremely pleased to have Jon,” said Elson Strahan, president and CEO of the Fort Vancouver National Trust.
“He has strong ties to this region, having been superintendent at Mount Rainier National Park and Pacific West regional director. He has been a great advocate for our site in general,” Strahan said.
Jarvis has recognized Fort Vancouver as a site that offers a good model in putting together effective community partnerships, Strahan said.
Jarvis became the 18th director of the National Park Service in October. Jarvis started with the agency in 1976, doing seasonal interpretive work, and moved up to be a protection ranger, resource management specialist, park biologist and chief of natural and cultural resources at several parks.
His first superintendent position was at Craters of the Moon National Monument in Idaho.
Organizers of the Marshall Lecture series look for speakers who have strong links to Gen. George Marshall, who served at Vancouver Barracks from 1936 to 1938 as commander of the U.S. Army’s 5th Infantry Brigade. Marshall and his wife, Catherine, lived in the house on Officers Row that now bears his name.
Marshall went on to become Army chief of staff during World War II and won the Nobel Peace Prize for his postwar European recovery program known as the Marshall Plan.
As head of the nation’s park system, Strahan said, Jarvis has a strong link to Marshall.
“When Marshall was here in Vancouver, he was responsible for overseeing the Civilian Conservation Corps camps in the Northwest,” Strahan said. “The CCC played a very important role as a catalyst for development of the National Park System itself. It’s a tie that has been mentioned in the past, but Jon is in a unique position to speak of Marshall’s role in the CCC.”
Marshall supervised at least 27 CCC camps in the Northwest, putting men to work during the Depression. Their projects included Timberline Lodge on Mount Hood.
The recent airing of Ken Burns’ six-episode documentary on PBS — “The National Parks: America’s Best Idea” — also makes Jarvis a timely speaker, Strahan said.
The last Marshall lecturer was Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who spoke on Feb. 21, 2005.
