By KATHLEEN O’CONNOR/YachatsNews
Every once in a while a high school senior project works out perfectly.
As a senior at Waldport High School, Reba Ortiz volunteered for a year at the front desk at the Cape Perpetua Visitors Center, and when the year was over she had decided she was going to return to work there full time once she finished college.
Ortiz has done exactly that – and is now supervisor for the Cape Perpetua Scenic Area.
Ortiz grew up in Waldport, and from there she went on to the University of Idaho, earning a degree in recreation. Like almost everyone who works in this field, she spent several years as a seasonal employee before qualifying for a permanent position. During college this included two summer seasons at Cape Perpetua, two as a wildland firefighter in Wyoming, and one at the Appaloosa Horse Museum in Idaho.
After college she learned through her high school cross country coach that a seasonal position was again open at Cape Perpetua. She was rehired in 2016 and moved back to Waldport with her husband and their daughter. The visitor center was closed during the pandemic, so Ortiz and the rest of the staff and volunteers spent their time updating its displays to be more interactive and interchangeable.
The center reopened in June 2022, just about the time Ortiz was promoted to her dream job when supervisor Vicki Penwell retired. It is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily during the summer.
Question: What did you experience as you were doing your senior project to make you so sure you wanted to have this job?
Answer: I loved everything about it from the moment I started. The ocean/forest setting is so beautiful and unique, so intertwined, so complicated. I couldn’t believe that eventually I might be paid to be outside, to help manage this stunning place, to work with kids, and to spend my day talking to colleagues and visitors. Everyone knows I love to talk!
Q: How many people visit Cape Perpetua?
A: There are very few visitor centers in national forests. People generally know about ranger stations, but they’re not used to looking for visitor centers. We count 300-400 people a day on the weekend in the visitor center, but many more people come to see Cape Perpetua, either by driving to the top or by using one of the pullouts on Highway 101 or by coming to our location to start a hike but not coming into the visitor center.
Q: How do you staff the visitor center?
A: We have two seasonal field rangers this summer, four interns and a cadre of volunteers. The interns are in college or have just graduated. There is also a gift store manager and a manager for the volunteers. We have 10 travelling volunteer hosts who work four days a week. They park their RVs on one of our six RV pads. In addition, we have 15-20 seasonal local volunteers who work one day a week.
Besides working to make a visit to the visitor center a great experience, a big part of my job is helping our rangers, interns and volunteers customize their work here so it’s meaningful for them. The rangers and interns develop programs around their personal interests — endangered species, for example — and the volunteers get to choose work that interests them, such as caring for the garden.
Q: What summer programs does the visitor center offer?
A: We have two and they are both very popular — guided hikes and table stations. We have two to four guided hikes a day on weekends, lasting 30-60 minutes. They always have a focus developed by the ranger or intern leading the hike, the geology of Cape Perpetua, for example. Two popular hikes are “The Art Walk,” which focuses on nature journaling and “The Housing Market at Cape Perpetua,” which focuses on why certain animals choose to live here. The table stations are either outside the visitor center or at the top of Cape Perpetua and they always have a focus, too. They are manned by interns or rangers and offer in-depth information. Both programs allow people to engage and ask detailed questions.
Q: What programs do you have for children during the school year?
A: We will work with teachers and groups in whatever way is best for them. We have offered programs for preschoolers through assisted living residents. It often works best for us to go out to visit classrooms, but we do many field trips, too, and we can help teachers find funding for the trips.
We provide Every Kid Outdoors Fourth Grade Passes every year. This is a Department of the Interior program that was created so fourth-graders and their families can discover wildlife, resources and history for free.
Tell us a secret.
I think it’s important to encourage children in whatever interests them. Most recently my two daughters are very interested in wrestling. We all go to jujitsu together every week.
- Kathleen O’Connor is a Waldport freelance writer who can be reached via email at kmoc8916@gmail.com