A Career for the Forest

Glenn Ryan’s reputation proceeds him. His horses adore him, walking right to him with a halter in his hand, not even hidden, and no food or treats anywhere. U.S. Forest Service Rangers view him as a great asset. Seasonal trail crew members list the opportunity to work with him as a highlight of their season. One trail crew co-leader simply says, “He’s the best.” Don’t be mistaken. All that admiration never goes to Ryan’s head. Rather, he’s sometimes brutally honest. Glenn Ryan is true to himself.

Who exactly is Glenn Ryan? First and foremost, he is a man of the land. Ryan grew up riding and jumping horses. He won his first blue ribbon at age six. Before college, he worked at public and private boarding stables, ranging from 16 to 120 horses. The day after completing his degree in Natural Resources with a certificate in fire medicine, he started working for the Forest Service as a Wilderness Patrolman Packer.

Ryan was a Wilderness Patrolman Packer in four National Forests in California, a trail crew foreman, and a law enforcement Forest Protection Officer. He’s worked in 30 different wilderness areas, and as he says, “I don’t know how many National Forests.”

A New Purpose for an Old Ranch

It’s befitting these days that Ryan and his partner, Alice Ryan with her own accomplished athleticism and business acumen, are the caretakers of a highly acclaimed Forest Service property, the AG Ranch, named for prominent Denver lawyer Albert J. Gould, Jr., who purchased the property in the late 1930s.

Thanks to his connection with client 20^th Century Fox, Gould entertained Clark Gable, Gene Audrey, and numerous other movie industry celebrities at the ranch. Shawnee, Colorado had been a tourist destination for fishing in the early part of the twentieth century, complete with a railroad depot and tracks that, until 1937, ran right through what is now the meadow on the property. In the 1960s, Denver Water straightened out the North Fork South Platte River, but the pond Gould built remains, and remains open to the public for fishing.

Gould died in 1976 at the age of 79. Thanks to his family and their descendants, the Forest Service took possession of the property in the summer of 1977. Over the years, the Forest Service:

• turned the lodge into barracks,
• dismantled the chicken coop, and
• added another barn and corral.

The agency considered putting the property back on the market, but in 1991 decided to operate the Rocky Mountain Regional Specialty Pack String on the property.

The pack string consisted of four to five horses, 11 mules, two to four packers, and two smaller semi-trucks. The string was available for any National Forest or ranger district within the Rocky Mountain region.

According to Ryan, the mission statement had three parts:

• complete work projects,
• represent the Forest Service, and
• offer trainings/clinics for the public.

Ryan recalls, “We packed lumber, scaffolding, power tools, hand tools, bridges, piping, culverts, signs, doors, windows, roofing, camp gear, tents, stoves, gravel, and hauled out so much garbage! We worked with state and federal agencies, crews, partners, volunteers, archeologists, recreation, law enforcement, and folks designing NEPA studies and scientific research, with the vast majority being the Forest Service.”

“Some of the projects involved anywhere from 90 to270 mule loads of material going in and out. Sometimes we would have up to 16 animals on a project.”

-Glenn Ryan

In addition, he and Alice put on clinics open to federal and state agency personnel, partners, and volunteers where they’d teach packing basics and horsemanship. They also started and led programs for youth in the Denver area and beyond.

Leading Trail Restoration on the Front Range

The Forest Service moved the Regional Pack String to Wyoming’s Shoshone National Forest in 2018. Since then, Ryan has been coordinating the Front Range Strike Team Trail Stewardship Strike Team as the team works between two National Forests and four ranger districts across Colorado’s Front Range. The Strike Team, a partnership with the NFF and Mile High Youth Corps (MHYC), includes a roving, highly trained crew of MHYC members, many from Colorado, who are reducing deferred maintenance across the Front Range’s most beloved trails. In 2021 the Strike Team engaged the MHYC members and included a high school-aged youth component. The partnership is endeavoring to develop a ladder of career opportunities, beginning with high school-aged youth, and culminating with opportunities to move from a youth corps crew to U.S. Forest Service positions. Glenn and his colleagues on the Pike National Forest have played a key, central role in the program.

Ryan by no means is a polished stone. He can rub people the wrong way like a stone with too many sharp edges that push your buttons. Really, those sharp edges are peaks and valleys of being a mountain man. Some people’s sharp edges are very rigid, but Ryan adapts, he changes, he learns. When issues require a more modern approach, he’s willing to take that on.

Such cannot be said about every 71-year-old. Always, Ryan remains truthful and honest. Over a lifetime, honesty it is one of the few assets that makes someone a real gem, which is what Glenn Ryan is. If you meet him, give him a good handshake. If you’re lucky, you might hear some stories of how to get out of dodge when lightning is cracking a whip right at your pony’s tail.

--------

Every day, the NFF works to help make our forests – and the experiences people have on them – relevant to ALL Americans. We tell stories, highlight historical contributions of all peoples, explore forgotten legacies, and much more. This growing part of our mission requires unrestricted support from people like you. Will you join us today? It’s easy: just click here and offer your support. We thank you!