Blue Ridge Parkway District Ranger Brent Pennington is leaving after 12 years here.

District Ranger plans to leave Parkway

After 12 years of service to the Blue Ridge Parkway, District Ranger Brent Pennington has accepted a promotion that is sending him to the Death Valley region of California.

Pennington's last day of employment with the Parkway is Aug. 1.

Years on the Parkway

Reminiscing of his years on the Blue Ridge Parkway, 88 miles of which he has been responsible for, Pennington said he has been on the scene of hundreds of wrecks and taken part in several searches, including last year's four-day search for Boy Scout Michael Auberry.

When addressing his work duties through the years, he noted they have "evolved quite a bit." Pennington explained, "When I first got here, I was responsible for everything but maintenance operations." The jobs included supervision of resource management specialists and interpretive and education operations.

Eight years ago, the aforementioned evolved into more specialized operations and the positions were no longer under Pennington's supervision.

He said, "I still work with these people pretty closely, but my focus then became entirely focused on the law enforcement and public safety aspects."

With a smile, he added, "We've become more focused and have actually gotten more done in that arena that we were doing before. It seems I've gotten busier and harder to get out of this office that I was earlier in my career." Pennington's 88 miles of "territory" begins at mile post 217 at the North Carolina state line and ends at the U.S. 221 turnoff to Grandfather Mountain. The coverage area includes sites such as Cumberland Knob, Doughton Park, Jeffress Park, Moses H. Cone Memorial Park, Julian Price Memorial Park and "the biggest part of the Grandfather Mountain corridor up to and including the Linn Cove Viaduct."

When the offices are fully staffed, the Alleghany office has three rangers, including Pennington, and the Blowing Rock office has four, including Dave Bauer, who will be serving as the acting district manager at the Alleghany office after Pennington leaves and until Pennington's replacement has been named.

Recalling lessons learned while working on the Parkway, Pennington stated he has learned how to manage a district budget, how to "be creative and make things happen within legalities and administrative boundaries" and in general has learned a great deal about the Blue Ridge Mountains.