Ranger Gets Award for Superior Service

Cquvator Gatson, a park ranger with the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, was granted the Superior Service Award this week by the Department of the Interior for her contributions to the park service interpretation program and for excellence in service.

Gatson, 49, who has worked for the National Park Service for more than 16 years, balances duties as an interpretive ranger with training responsibilities and groundbreaking projects.

According to Jean Bray of the National Park Service, an interpretive ranger explains the specific park’s natural resources, including its flora and fauna, during educational tours and presentations. Gatson has been assigned to more than five national parks, including Everglades National Park, Big Thicket National Preserve, Joshua Tree National Park, Lake Mead National Recreation Area and the Cabrillo National Monument.

Gatson, who has sickle cell anemia, an inherited disease that affects the blood, has dedicated her life to public service and environmental programs.

She is the principal author of “Teaching New America,” a model education strategy designed to educate Los Angeles children about national parks.

Recreation area Supt. Arthur E. Eck said, “It has been the good fortune of SMMNRA to have a staff that excels. [Gatson] is an excellent example.”

Around the office, Gatson’s nickname is ‘Q.’ Her mother named her Cquvator after a friend who was a high school principal in Louisiana.

She has a bachelor’s degree in zoology from Cal Poly Pomona and had worked with the state Department of Fish and Game and the state Parks Department.

The Santa Monica Mountains Recreation Area office is at 401 W. Hillcrest Drive, Thousand Oaks.