Sweeney says goodbye

Over the past five years working as the District Ranger for the Superior Ranger Station, Sharon Sweeney has only one regret.

“If I had one thing to do over again, I would have come here sooner,” Sweeney said.

Sweeney, who retires this month after a career spanning over five national forests, seven ranger districts and two supervisor offices, said she knew she always wanted to work in the ranger districts.

“This is where I belong, on the ranger district,” Sweeney said. “Fortunately, I was selected for the job and got to come to Superior, and it is a wonderful place.”

After working all over the Northwest, Sweeney said she considers working in Superior to be the pinnacle of her career.

“Superior has been the crème de la crème,” Sweeney said. “It’s as close to the top as I want to be. It’s important to live in the right spot, and for me, this is just right.”

Although Sweeney has spent the past five years in charge of the Superior Ranger District, she credits her colleagues for helping her keep up on the busy district.

“We all work together, we are a unified team,” Sweeney said. “I’m blessed to work in Superior with these folks. There’s an incredibly dedicated staff here.”

Sweeney, who resides out by Nine Mile, said it would be difficult not being around the ranger station as much as she has over the past five years.

“It’s hard to leave,” Sweeney said. “The Forest Service is a great agency to work for. I got to live in some wonderful places and met some wonderful people.”

Before Sweeney came to Superior, she started her career with Yosemite National Park for one year then worked in forest management in Western Washington at Olympic National Forest for two years.

Over the next four years, Sweeney moved to Southern Oregon and worked in fire and recreation for Siskiyou National Forest. From there, she worked in three ranger districts by Roseburg, Ore. over the next ten years as a part of the Umpqua National Forest. In that time, Sweeney said she was sort of a jack-of-all-trades working in fire, civil culture, trails, wildlife and fisheries before running the timber management.

During that time, Sweeney and her husband Pat took two and a half years off to join the Peace Corps and live in Lisutu, Africa. When Sweeney returned from Africa, she soon moved to Eastern Oregon and worked access and travel management for the Malheur National Forest.

While working in Eastern Oregon, Sweeney started to work in public affairs. Her knack for public affairs brought her to Lolo National Forest, where she became the public affairs officer. When the district ranger job opened in Superior, she applied and was selected five years ago.

“I wanted to get back to the ranger district, and get back to managing a piece of ground,” Sweeney said of ending up in Superior.

With more free time this summer, Sweeney said she plans to enjoy the land she has worked on over the last five years. She plans to visit the high mountain lakes, canoe, hike, camp and keep up her garden.

In the fall, Sweeney has a Peace Corps reunion in Maine, which she plans to attend with her husband. Sweeney’s husband Pat has been retired for the past four years and Sweeney said he is looking forward to both of them having more free time.

“He has been chopping at the bit for me to retire,” Sweeney said. “So we can go play.”

While Sweeney looks towards her future personal plans, the Superior Ranger District is in the process of finding a replacement district ranger to step in now that Sweeney is retiring.

Sweeney said the forest service is advertising the position nation wide and the applicant pool is strong and competitive.

“I’m hopeful they will have someone in place by the end of the summer,” Sweeney said.

In the meantime, Lolo National Forest engineer Nancy Taylor will come over from Missoula to temporarily fill the district ranger position in Superior.

Friday evening Sweeney’s colleagues at the ranger station through her a party at the Trout Creek Campground. Although the celebration was for Sweeney completing her time at the ranger station, she said she still plans to be involved with the outdoors and recreation of Superior.

“This district is beautiful,” Sweeney said. “I’ll be up here regularly.”