A look at the Women of the Indiana State Parks
Indiana is home to 24 State Parks and 8 reservoirs which play host to more than 15 million {yes, you read that correctly} visitors annually, and 2020 may be a record year due to increased traffic because of Covid. Overseeing an operation of this size, is no small undertaking, especially when you consider the varied roles the State Parks play- conservation, education to the public, customer service to guests, emergency response, maintenance, event planning, and more. Though parks work is historically a male-dominated profession nationwide, the Women of the Indiana State Parks are doing significant work protecting and promoting our most beautiful Hoosier treasures.
DNR
Ginger Murphy, Deputy Director for Stewardship
There may be no bigger cheerleader for the State Parks, than Ginger Murphy. While sharing her story, she regularly peppered in personalized recommendations for our own enjoyment, clearly loving connecting Hoosiers to the wealth of opportunity at our very own State Parks. A Kentucky native, Ginger grew up on the edge of the Daniel Boone National Forest and spent much of her time outside. “I climbed along the cliffs on the edge of Lake Cumberland looking at wildflowers and chasing snakes,” she laughed. “I had a love of the outdoors for fun since I was in elementary school.” She had a dream of one day working with the bears in Yellowstone National Park which led her to pursue a degree in Wildlife Management. Though her path didn’t end at Yellowstone, it ultimately brought her to work as a seasonal naturalist in Kentucky and North Dakota before coming to Clifty Falls State Park for a summer. “The training sessions {for naturalists} in the Indiana Parks are the best I’d seen and I thought I might want to stay.” And 35 years later, she’s still loving Indiana. Since that first job at Clifty Falls, Ginger has worked her way up through the Indiana State Parks department, working as an Interpretative Naturalist at the Upper Wabash Reservoirs, the Chief of Interpretation, and 15 years ago began her work as the Deputy Director for Stewardship for the States Parks system. During her tenure with the State Parks, Ginger has enjoyed watching the number of women in leadership positions grow. “I have always encouraged women, where I saw that spark of leadership,” she said. “We now have at least as many women as men serving as interpreters and two women are serving as Property Managers.” Ginger says the State Parks leadership has made a concerted effort to train and provide opportunities to a diverse array of staff, and always hire the most qualified individuals. “Quite often, I am the only woman in the room,” she said. “I have just always had the attitude, ‘We are not men or women in that room, we are park leaders. It is up to each one of us to make our voice heard.’” Ginger’s leadership and mentorship style was heavily influenced by the support and confidence her parents instilled in her, and that filters down to how she supports other women of the State Parks. “My parents said you can do whatever you want to do and be whoever you want to be, and that’s the voice that’s always been in my head.” She admits she has struggled as a woman in this profession and seen others struggle, but asserts your attitude is important to managing that struggle. “You have to be able to say ‘my voice matters. ’”Ginger believes as more women are in conservation roles across the country, it gives young girls the opportunity to see themselves in those roles, thus increasing the number of women pursuing the profession. “I believe we [the State Parks] are doing pretty well at that piece. ”In her more than three decades with the Indiana State Parks, Ginger knows each park intimately and loves them for different reasons. “I have a touchstone part at each park that is important to me.” She takes the opportunity to visit the parks regularly and when she can’t, she gets out in her backyard every day to stop and watch nature. “I make a point, wherever I am, to get outside so that I don’t lose sight of the purpose of my work. ”In her free time, Ginger takes her father out to visit the State Parks, she loves to read, plays guitar and piano, and as a birder her binoculars are never far from her hands. She also volunteers with the Johnson County Community Meals program through Under the Son Faith Community, helping to provide free meals to anyone in need. Though Ginger never did get to Yellowstone to work with the bears, she’s made an indelible impact in Indiana and has no regrets about the direction her life took. “There might be bears back in Indiana one day!” she laughed.
Nikki LeCrone: Property Manager, Summit Lake
Nikki LeCrone may have the dream job living and working at Summit Lake State Park as the Property Manger. Nikki lives onsite with her husband and two small children, Josie {2} and Mikey {3} where the park has become a part of their daily lives. “I get to take my kids into nature young, and they learn so much more,” she said. Nikki loves the balance working at the State Parks has offered her as a mother. Not only is she able to raise her children in a stunning and educational environment, but the park staff has become an extension of her family. “My park family has been around my kids since they were born.”An Indiana native, Nikki grew up in Florida visiting the State Parks as a child. During college, while pursuing a degree in environmental science and policy , she did an internship at a State Park and the rest - as they say - is history. “I knew I wanted to do something outside, I just didn’t know exactly what,” she explained, sharing there are many career choices with that degree. After that internship she moved on to become a park ranger in Florida and then returned to Indiana and worked at Mounds State Park and Fort Harrison before being named the Property Manager at Summit Lake in 2015. As Property Manager she oversees most aspects of her 2,600 acre park including budgets, staffing, major projects and resource management. She spoke excitedly about monitoring osprey and eagle nests, saying that the presence of and reproduction of these large birds is a good indicator that conservation efforts are working and the park is a good source of food. Although she is one of only two female Property Mangers in the State Parks, Nikki says she’s never felt a glass ceiling and has been supported through her tenure. “A lot of women may not think of going into this type of field,” she explained. “There is a lot of work with equipment, maintenance, electrical work.” The daughter of a maintenance man, Nikki grew up helping her dad work on equipment. Even more importantly, her parents encouraged her to follow her passions. “My parents always said you can whatever you want, you just have to go for it.”In addition to her parks work, Nikki has her associate's degree in paramedic science and holds her EMT certification, a skill set she's able to use at the State Parks by providing CPR training to all the staff. “It's been great to have a medical background, because we have so many visitors,” she said, explaining she can quickly tend to emergencies. “When training the parks staff, I can put it into real-life terms. ”Nikki’s hope is that people experience the State Parks, sharing they’ve seen many first-time visitors this year due to Covid. “It is that new experience, that awe you get, those memories last,” she said. “If you want a place to recharge, go to a park. ”When she’s needing to recharge, Nikki heads to her garden. A self-proclaimed hobby gardener, Nikki and her kids are growing produce to can and freeze for the winter and this year they are growing 2 giant pumpkins {550 and 400 pounds respectively!}.
INSPIRED TO OPT OUTSIDE? Check out our 2020 Fall Bucket list
Marie Laudeman: Interpretive Naturalist, Indiana Dunes State Park
Marie Laudeman, sees her role as an Interpretive Naturalist as a connector. “When I say connect, a lot of times I am connecting our visitors’ hearts to our park’s natural resources,” she explained. “Whether it is connecting them to a spider and helping them to see how that relates to the hummingbird nests we are looking at, or connecting them to the history of our park, it’s all important. ”Marie has always been connected to our State Parks. She grew up with Potato Creek State Park practically in her backyard. “My family still sees that as our greats blessing of where we live. That really fostered my love of being outside in nature and sharing that with others.” Marie spent much of her youth volunteering and working at Potato Creek. After finishing her undergraduate degree at Purdue, Marie worked for Cardno JFNew environmental consulting firm focused on the BP oil spill and wetland mitigation projects, but eventually felt the pull to work with people again and ultimately returned to the State Parks. Before her latest roll, she worked at Prophetstown and Pokagon State Parks, and now is located at one of Indiana’s most unique properties. “One thing that I’ve really enjoyed about the Dunes is the diversity of the visitors we get. Because of our proximity to Chicago, we get visitors from all over the world,” she said. “I really get to see a lot of magical moments with visitors being awestruck by Lake Michigan’s beauty and this fine powdery sand that they think is out of this world.” One of Marie’s major roles as an interpretive naturalist is to help the public know how they impact the Parks, and how that in, turn impacts the local flora and fauna. This spring, Marie was honored as the State Parks Naturalist of the Year for her innovative and creative community programming, and her dedication shines through as she explains the intricate ways the plants and animals are interwoven with one another. Amazingly, Marie’s personal life doesn’t look too different from her professional life. She loves to hike, backpack and paddle with friends. “Sometimes that boundary can be a gray area,” she laughed. “I have to sometimes reel in my work times.” It’s clear she’s passionate about her work and her park, saying she hopes to stay at the Dunes for some time. Marie recommends making a trip to Dunes State Park in the winter, assuring us it is the most beautiful time to see the park.
Jo Ann Trowbridge Kelley: Office Manager, Brown County
You could call Jo Ann Trowbridge Kelley, a “Jill of all Trades,” as she manages the day-to-day operations of Indiana’s largest State Park. With over 16,000 acres and 1.3 million visitors annually, the staff at Brown County are busy, and Jo Ann is busy behind the scenes helping it to run smoothly. “We often get people that say, ‘If you want to get anything done, talk to the office manager,’” she said. “We are the glue that keeps everything together.”Jo Ann began working at Brown County early in her professional career, on a federally-funded program called the Young Adult Conservation Corp, aimed at getting young people into conservation-related jobs. “We primarily did trail work, improving the trails and I just really loved it.” She stayed on and became a seasonal employee, eventually working at the camp ground gate. After getting her associates degree in office management and accounting, Jo Ann moved to the office, starting with seasonal work, then as the full-time accounting clerk, and ultimately was promoted to Office Manager.As the Office Manager, Jo Ann manages all human resources needs, accounting, vendors, and trains the gate staff. She jokes about the major change since she began her role is the addition of technology to her role. “We didn’t have computers when I first started. I’ve had to become an IT person too!”“It really is an enjoyable job,” she said explaining her long tenure at the park. “It’s a beautiful place to work and the people are great.” She has enjoyed not just the relationships developed within Brown County Park, but also among the employees of all the State Parks. Though she spends most of her days in the office, she makes time to get out and enjoy the park whenever possible.When she isn’t spending time with her son and grandson, Jo Ann enjoys riding her road bike, but her biggest passion is music. She plays guitar and recently began taking lessons and plays open mics with some friends.
