As Megan Mullowney was headed for her new position with the Lassen National Forest, she never imagined she’d soon have another opportunity to follow one of her life’s passions. But just weeks after transferring from the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit to the Lassen, the Almanor Ranger District Resource Officer was on her way to Pasadena to help support the U.S. Forest Service’s participation in the 2015 Rose Parade.
As part of a year-long series of events and festivals celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Wilderness Act of 1964, the Forest Service showcased a traditional skills entry, consisting of three mule pack strings, rangers, firefighters and volunteers, at the 126th Rose Parade on January 1st.
The entry highlighted the historic role of Forest Service pack stock in supporting wildland firefighting and other backcountry operations, as well as the outstanding contributions of national forest volunteers. In addition to about 35,000 employees nationwide, the U.S. Forest Service volunteer workforce numbers in the tens of thousands. These dedicated Americans contribute countless hours each year to the conservation of national forests in California and across the U.S. Employees and volunteers from nearly a dozen national forests throughout California assisted during the famed New Year’s Day parade.
Mullowney, who came to the Lassen last November, was one of the many Forest Service employees who volunteered to help with parade preparations. She served in a support role that included grooming the mules that comprise the Region 5 Pack Stock Center of Excellence, cleaning stock pens, staging with the stock and packers overnight on the 210 Freeway, and lending a hand to the break-down of temporary stock facilities erected for Forest Service pack stock at the Los Angeles Equestrian Center.
As Mullowney put it, “The mules needed to shine when they strolled past the crowds and TV cameras during the parade!” And she was thrilled to have the responsibility of seeing to it that they did.
Mullowney grew up in the Bay Area, completed an undergraduate degree in History at UC Davis, and earned a Master of Science in Integrated Resource Management at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. She began her Federal career with the Forest Service as an interpretive ski guide on a volunteer basis in 2002 and has spent most of her career in the Eastern Sierra, with both the Forest Service and National Park Service.
In 2007, Mullowney began working on a volunteer basis with Forest Service packers and program managers to save the Pacific Southwest Region’s (PSW) pack stock program through the development of a business plan.
“At the time, retirements, funding challenges, and a growing knowledge gap surrounding the history and importance of pack stock use in the Forest Service were threatening the viability of the program,” explained Mullowney. “The traditional use of pack stock as part of minimum tool practices in wilderness areas was facing an uncertain future.”
According to Mullowney, in the early 1900s, the PSW stock program boasted some 2,000 head of stock and more than 100 packers, which regularly supported timber, fire, and trail crews in both front and backcountry settings. Today, the program employs about 150 animals and seven permanent packers, even as fire suppression and wilderness management needs remain at the forefront of what the U.S. Forest Service does. Efforts to both maintain and build the program are ongoing.
Mullowney, who comes from an equestrian background, is passionate about the pack stock program and has made a lifetime commitment to both the packers and their mules, and she continues to support the program in whatever capacity she can. That support has also included parade preparations for Mule Days in Bishop, California.
Mullowney said she feels fortunate that she got involved with the pack stock. Over the years, Forest Service packers, including Michael Morse, Kenny Graves, and Lee Roeser, have been very generous with their time, allowing Mullowney to tag along on pack trips, lead strings, and learn the basics of packing. She calls them “legends, experts, the best of the best.” It was these three men, with an average of 37 years of experience each in the saddle, who expertly guided the mule pack strings during this year’s Rose Parade.
The Forest Service entry was unique in that it was an all-mule submission and the participating pack stock are also working pack animals, having come off the frontlines of supporting wildfires across Northern California for several months in the summer and fall. They are also the same mules who appeared in the 2014 Lassen County Fair parade and at the Wilderness 50th anniversary celebration in Red Bluff last October. The mules are used for long treks deep into national forest wilderness areas to resupply firefighters and wilderness rangers. They’re also uniquely suited to working at high altitudes and in the rugged terrain of the Sierra Nevada, Trinity Alps, and other mountain ranges in California.
“I can’t believe how fortunate I was to be a part of representing the Forest Service and its long tradition of the use of pack stock in this year’s Rose Parade,” said Mullowney. “It was truly an honor to be a part of this once-in-a-lifetime event.”
