Parks Canada has been hit with an onslaught of retirements of long-term employees in Banff National Park.
Mike Gibeau, carnivore specialist for the mountain national parks, wraps up his job June 3 and Kevin Van Tighem, superintendent of Banff National Park, plans to retire on June 17.
In addition, Banff fire and vegetation specialist Ian Pengelly and Chief Park Warden Ian Syme both left at the end of November after lengthy careers in the warden service.
While there is a loss of more than a century of combined experience with this changing of the guard, senior Parks Canada officials say having new life injected into the organization is also a good thing.
Van Tighem said many organizations are facing challenges as baby boomers retire, but there are also many opportunities within Parks as part of it current organization renewal.
“We’re losing some really good guys and depth of experience, but at the same time, we’re re-creating the organization in which they would have thrived,” he said.
“When you look at who we’ve recruited into Parks Canada in the last 10 to 15 years, we’ve got really incredible people working for us,” he added.
“This is an organization where you can work in things you believe in, do things that matter, see changes in the landscape and work with great teams.”
Gibeau goes part-time March 3 before retiring fully from Parks Canada on June 3. The position of carnivore specialist for the mountain national park is not being filled.
Gibeau began as a seasonal warden in Banff in 1974 and through the decades has built a reputation as a widely respected scientist for his work on wildlife research, particularly with wolves and grizzly bears.
Van Tighem said Gibeau has helped further grizzly bear research.
“What Mike did was basically take us from a point where we had a lot of concerns about grizzly bears to where we have a much more science-based stance on how to manage them into the future,” he said.
“If you look at where we were and where we are from one end of Mike’s career to the other, you can see the pivotal role he played in making sure grizzly bears have a much better future.”
Van Tighem said Pengelly, who began his career in Jasper National Park in 1973, and Syme, who started in Jasper in 1977, contributed greatly to Parks and were both highly valued employees.
“One of the signs of a real leader is they make sure things are taken care of,” he said.
“While they are not indispensable, they left behind a team of strong contenders to pick up the torch and carry it.”
Under the guidance of Pengelly, Banff National Park has built one of the leading fire restoration programs in western North America. He is considered an expert in fire ecology.
Van Tighem said there would be a competition for Pengelly’s position later this winter.
“His retirement comes at a time when we’re waiting for staffing authorities for some of these positions,” he said.
Bill Hunt is Syme’s replacement as Banff’s new resource conservation manager. He has spent the last three years in the same role in Lake Louise, Yoho and Kootenay.
“I’m excited to be back in Banff. These are folks I have worked with before,” said Hunt, who began his career as a seasonal warden in 1989.
“There’s lots of interesting work going on here, and of course, with all the changes happening in the organization, there will be lots of new challenges as well.”
As for Van Tighem, his position was posted internally last week in the hopes his replacement will be lined up well before mid-June. They will search wider for a replacement, if necessary.
Van Tighem took over the helm as Banff National Park superintendent in 2008 and has spent almost 34 years working in the mountain national parks.
He does not yet want to talk about his pending retirement because he is still firmly committed to projects currently underway in Banff.
His responsibilities and commitment as superintendent are absolutely unchanged and unwavering through the next five months, he told staff in an email.
