[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 59 (Tuesday, April 24, 2012)]
[Senate]
[Page S2654]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        TRIBUTE TO RICK MOSSMAN

 Mr. JOHNSON of South Dakota. Mr. President, today I wish to 
recognize and honor the public service of Rick Lee Mossman, who is 
retiring from the National Park Service after 35 years of dedicated 
service to protecting our nation's treasures and the people who visit 
them.
  Rick was born on April 30, 1955, to Dick and Carolyn Mossman in 
Topeka, KS. By the time he was 7 years old, Rick knew he wanted to 
become a park ranger. His life's work began in May of 1975, when he 
started his first job with the National Park Service as a seasonal GS 3 
general ranger at Buffalo National River in Arkansas. In a career 
spanning more than 3 decades, Rick Mossman served at nine National Park 
Service units from Washington, DC to Alaska. During this time, he was 
an interpreter, front country and backcountry patrol ranger, a district 
ranger, and finally a Chief Ranger at his current location of Wind Cave 
National Park in South Dakota.
  For the last 12 years, he has served on an All-Risk Incident 
Management Team tasked with responding to disasters such as Hurricanes 
Isabel and Rita or to managing the search effort for lost hikers. He 
has been the team's incident commander since September of 2009.
  Rick earned a degree in Wildlife Biology at Kansas State University. 
He and his wife Julie of 21 years have two sons, Thomas 18 and Jackson 
16.
  Rick has passionately protected many of the special places that help 
define the United States of America. He has done this with a strong 
sense of dedication to duty and commitment to excellence. His work on 
the Intermountain Incident Management Team speaks to this. When a 
disaster befalls a National Park Service unit in the Intermountain 
Region or elsewhere in the Nation, the first call from the Regional 
Office is to Rick and his team to respond and help park service 
employees in peril. It is this dedication to helping others at a 
moment's notice that defines Rick's work ethic.
  The focus of Rick's life work has been the protection of public lands 
and the resources contained therein. He has accomplished this duty with 
an intense love for the places he worked. It is because of the service 
of people like Rick Mossman that visitors, past and present and future, 
enjoy the scenic beauty and heritage that make up the National Park 
Service.
  I am proud to recognize and honor Rick's service to the National Park 
Service and am delighted to join with his family and friends in 
congratulating him on his retirement. I wish Rick and Julie all the 
best as they begin a new chapter in their lives.

                          ____________________