Working in Glacier Park is homecoming for Public Affairs Officer

When Gina Kerzman got the opportunity to take over as Glacier National Park’s Public Affairs Officer, she couldn’t wait to return home.

Growing up on a ranch along the Canadian border near Del Bonita on the east side of Glacier Park, Kerzman spent her childhood on the Blackfeet Reservation in the shadow of Chief Mountain. After 30 years working for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service, Kerzman took over as Glacier’s spokesperson in May 2020 and returned to the land so dear to her heart.

“I always felt in my gut that I would eventually have to take a turn at watching over Glacier National Park. It’s amazing how roads will lead you to different places, but I always had this feeling that I needed to come back here,” Kerzman said. “Through a weird turn of events, I had the opportunity to come over to Glacier to detail into the public affairs position and later got the full time position. Even though I couldn’t see a path for how I would get back to Glacier, the Creator finds some artistic and creative ways to make happen that which needs to happen.”

Kerzman’s journey has been a long and winding one.

A graduate of Cut Bank High School, she kept with family tradition when she attended Montana State University in Bozeman on a rodeo scholarship, but remembers having difficulty choosing a field of study.

“My dad said, ‘You talk pretty good. Why don’t you go into communications?’ That’s how I chose my field of study,” Kerzman said. “I didn’t really want to study journalism, so a position like the one I am in is a perfect fit for me. I get to use my communications degree, my background in resources and my passion to work with the media.”

Kerzman’s career with the NRCS began while she was still at Montana State, when she took an intern position there.

After graduation, Kerman’s first full time position was in Missouri, but her job also eventually led her to spend time in Hawaii, Alaska and more than 14 years in Oregon.

It was during her time in Oregon that Kerzman earned a second degree in general agriculture from Oregon State.

Kerzman got a little closer to home when she took a position as an area conservationist in Spokane, spending two and a half years commuting from Kalispell each week.

WHEN SHE got the opportunity to take a detail assignment as the acting Public Affairs Officer for Glacier National Park, Kerzman was excited to be able to fill the position from October 2019 until February 2020.

Kerzman took over full time as the park’s Public Affairs Officer on May 26, 2020, finally officially returning to “take her turn” protecting the land of her ancestors.

“As a Blackfeet descendant, Glacier National Park is a very special place. It is a sacred place. Like many of our national parks, Glacier was a sacred place for indiginous people, just as they were hundreds of years ago,” she said. “My interest in protecting Glacier goes much deeper than it just being a fun place to come take a hike. We are borrowing this place from our great-great-great-grandchildren and it needs to be here for them to experience the same way we see it today.”

Along with her duties as Public Affairs Officer, Kerzman also serves as the park’s Freedom of Information Act Officer and as Land Portfolio Manager — a liaison between the park and the owners of the more than 100 parcels of private land inside its borders.

For more than two and a half years now, Kerzman has learned the ins and outs of her position while never having experienced an NPS job without the constant stress of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“I say that a year of working during the pandemic is like dog years. It should be worth seven. So much has happened in just the two years I have been here because of all we have had to deal with,” she said. “I don’t think I really understood the reach of Glacier National Park until I was in this job. I knew it was special to us in the region and in the United States, but the worldwide reach of the park has been a surprise to me. I work with local and national media, but I never knew how much I would be working with international media as well.”

While Kerzman has comfortably settled into her position at the park, she says the excitement of the job keeps her excited to come to work every morning.

“Even though I have been here for two years, it never gets old when you take that left turn off Highway 2 into the park. I still get butterflies in my stomach when I take that right turn into park headquarters,” she said. “The motto of the NRCS is ‘Helping people help the land.’ While there, I helped protect the land that helps feed the nation and the world. At Glacier National Park, I care for the land that feeds the soul.”