Special Campfire Program

Redwood National and State Parks is pleased to announce a special evening campfire program to be presented by Doug Leen, also known as Ranger Doug, or the Ranger of the Lost Art, on Saturday, Aug. 22, 2015, at 8 p.m. in the Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park amphitheater and campfire center. The public is invited to come enjoy this free program in which Ranger Doug will recount the history of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) of the 1930s, one project of which highlighted America’s public lands, including the national parks, with poster art commissioned by the federal government. He will also relate his work in finding and reproducing the old artwork, and developing new posters for the parks today. Ranger Doug served for seven years as a seasonal park ranger on the mountain rescue team at Jenny Lake Ranger Station in Grand Teton National Park from 1970 through 1976. He reluctantly left the National Park Service to pursue a career as a dentist, working in Seattle, Alaska, and for a year in Antarctica. While pursuing his dental career, Ranger Doug took an interest in and began to collect art of the WPA. Today, Ranger Doug is not only reproducing the old posters and stickers produced by the WPA for the “See America First” campaign, but also creating and publishing new poster art in the WPA style for parks that were created more recently, like Redwood National and State Parks. He has both the old WPA poster art and contemporary posters available on his website at www.rangerdoug.com. The amphitheater is located in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park. If driving north on Hwy. 101, take the Newton B. Drury Scenic Parkway exit five miles north of Orick, Calif. and continue one mile north to the entrance for Prairie Creek Visitor Center. The amphitheater and campfire center is located on the road into the Elk Prairie Campground on a path from the campground fee kiosk. Parking is located between the visitor center and campground fee kiosk.