Park Service Employee Goes Above and Beyond to Help LM

The view from Angel Barker’s office might be the best in western Colorado.

Perched high above the Grand Valley, surrounded by orange, pink, and dun-colored cliffs and canyons, Barker’s headquarters at Colorado National Monument near Fruita would be the envy of most office workers — at least until the air conditioning quits.

“Wow, it’s nice and cool in here,” she said with a laugh during a visit to the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Legacy Management Field Support Center (LMFSC) in Grand Junction, Colorado.

The cool air was a perk, but Barker had something more important on her mind. She had come to the LM office to activate personal identity verification (PIV) cards for new employees, so they could do their jobs.

She was also there to accept a plaque from LM Office Manager Paul Kerl, who thanked her for her past two years of invaluable service to LM.

Although Barker is not employed by LM — she works for the National Park Service under the U.S. Department of the Interior — her work has helped employees from many federal agencies secure their all-important “PIV card,” the identification badge that allows access to each department’s facilities.

“I don’t know that you realize the impact of what your support does,” Kerl said. “When you stepped up to the plate and agreed to help us with this, when you multiply that out over hundreds of people, it is significantly impactful and makes us more efficient as an organization.”

When the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted lives in 2020 and for several years afterward, the federal facility in Grand Junction that had been processing credentials felt the brunt. Staffing problems meant the agency couldn’t keep up with the workload, forcing LM staff in Grand Junction to travel 60 miles to Montrose for PIV activations. The next nearest option was in Moab, Utah — 90 miles away.

Janet Boughton, the security coordinator for LMFSC, said the credentialing logjam put pressure on her department. She decided to take a long shot.

“One day in the spring of 2021, I just happened to check with Angel to see if they were taking other agencies. They were not. Their office was still closed to the public,” Boughton said. She told Barker it bothered her that she was having trouble getting PIV badge activities done, “but I told her I understood completely. She called me back later with the idea of her coming to our site to do PIV badge processing to help us catch up. I was ecstatic.”

The interagency support Barker has given LM caught the eye of Director Carmelo Melendez. He developed the certificate of appreciation that Kerl presented.

“Since 2021, you have supported the badging for hundreds of LM staff members at the nearby Colorado National Monument location, often processing as many as 14 individuals in a day for activations, certificate updates, and PIN resets,” Melendez wrote. “You have always graciously supported us professionally and with a smile. We greatly appreciate the long-standing relationship and support from you and the National Park Service for allowing this service to other Federal agencies.”

For Barker, it’s all in a day’s work. She’s used to wearing many hats in her work for the Park Service. Her official title is “computer assistant,” managing information technology for the park, but her job entails much more.

“I am also the housing manager, work the PIV station, and I assist with administrative duties,” she said, describing herself as a “do-it-all” kind of person who enjoys fixing problems.

“This is probably my favorite part of the job, helping people get what they need to do their jobs,” she said.

Working for the Park Service might be in Barker’s DNA. She was born and raised in Bryson City, North Carolina, in the same county as Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Her dad worked for the park when she was growing up.

During her junior year of high school, she did an internship with the park’s Resources Division, where she sorted bees from flies for an insect study that summer. It sparked her interest in the Park Service, she said.

After high school, Barker worked at Great Smoky Mountains as a seasonal employee. She also worked at Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area on the Tennessee-Kentucky border, and later at Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona. From there, she moved to a job at the Outer Banks Group of national parks in North Carolina.

In October 2013, Barker made a big move back west to take a job at Colorado National Monument. The dramatic desert landscape is like nothing she knew growing up, but it’s home to her now.

“I fell in love with the area, and I have been in the Grand Valley almost 10 years now. This summer makes my 20th summer working for the National Park Service,” she said. “My fiancé and I bought a house in Fruita about five years ago, and we plan on staying here for the foreseeable future.”

It’s been a good couple of weeks for Barker. The AC is back on at her office, and they’re “happy and cool again at the Stonehouse,” she said. Her recognition from LM also earned her praise from Park Service Deputy Director Frank Lands, and she got to see her friends at LMFSC.

The recognition from Melendez, Kerl, and Lands was a wonderful surprise, she said. She’s grateful for the recognition, and she said she is encouraged to keep doing what she’s doing.

“Thank you guys so much. This is incredible,” she said. “This makes my year.”