Joshua Tree National Park Ranger Gets Highest Award

U S Park Ranger Anna Marini has been selected to received the Director’s Visitor Safety Achievement Award for her outstanding dedication, commitment, and achievements to reducing risk to visitors and preventing serious and fatal visitor injuries at Joshua Tree National Park.

The award is the highest honor given by the National Park Service for outstanding achievements in visitor safety and employee safety and health.

Anna Marini is the Preventative Search and Rescue Coordinator at Joshua Tree National Park.

During fiscal year 2023, Ranger Marini expanded programs to address increased heat injuries affecting visitors that were leading to an increase in search and rescue operations at the park. 

Ranger Marini recruited and trained 30 new volunteers to rove park trails providing safety messages, heat illness prevention tips, trail information, and more. She also consolidated the Trail Rovers program  to streamline training and communications for trail operations.

Under her leadership, Search and Rescue  programs at Joshua Tree National Park logged 3,100 volunteer hours, contacted 83,700 park visitors during 566 patrols. This team documented 13,200 preventative actions where volunteers directly altered unsafe visitor behavior through face-to-face education. 

Joshua Tree National Park Ranger Anna Marini

Photo from National Park Service, July 2024