John Lauretig began duty at Joshua Tree the begining of November.  He will be implementing the climbing management portion of the park's Backcountry and Wilderness Management Plan and building upon the parks relationship with the climbing community.

"As we begin to implement the Backcountry and Wilderness Management Plan, we recognized the need to have someone on the staff who would concentrate their efforts on the climbing management component of the plan," stated Superintendent Ernest Quintana.

Lauretig began his career with the Student Conservation Association in 1989 at Canyonlands National Park.  He gain experience with climbing issues there and later as a Park Ranger at Acadia National Park.