Park ranger Steven Walloupe stands at one of the viewing piers on the grounds of Chaw'Se Indian Grinding Rock State Historic Park. One of the museum displays at the Indian Grinding Rock State Park in Pine Grove tells the history of Amador County's first residents.

Steven Walloupe has come full circle. The new park ranger at the Chaw'Se Indian Grinding Rock State Historic Park in Pine Grove got his start at the park a decade ago as a maintenance worker, but left in 1999 to become a tour guide at the State Capitol Museum in Sacramento for four and a half years. Then, after completing six months at the State Park Ranger Academy in Monterey last October, Walloupe, whose Miwok ancestry stretches far back into Amador history, decided it was time to come home.

"I actually grew up in Amador County," the affable Walloupe said, where he attended Argonaut High School and graduated from Independence High in 1993.

"I started as a seasonal park aid (two years after high school)," he said, a position that allowed him to become familiar with the operations of a state park. "After working in state parks for the past 10 years, my goal was to become a leader."

Walloupe has finally gotten his chance, but it wasn't exactly easy. After an intensive six months of classroom training at the Monterey academy - where he learned about everything from administration and resource management to medical training - Walloupe had another 12 weeks of field training, which focused on dealing with the general public.

Cadets were put through real-life scenarios such as responding to burglary and assault calls, as well as making felony vehicle stops. Having gone through Peace Officer Standards and Training, Walloupe carries the same responsibilities as any sworn peace officer.

"The only difference is I'm the only officer there."

It also wasn't a given that Walloupe would end up at this particular park in his home county. There were 45 openings throughout the state for the 45 cadets in Walloupe's class and Grinding Rock only employs one park ranger. He credits a good class ranking and a bit of luck for landing what he marked "as my number one choice."

But with the position comes its share of challenges. Walloupe has to run the park on what he calls "a bare-bones budget." The only two full-time positions at the park belong to Walloupe and a maintenance worker, with two part-time guides funded by the Chaw'Se Association, a non-profit group that has given much to the park.

"The association is what's keeping the doors open right now," Walloupe said. "They generate money that we can't generate otherwise," money that goes to getting the word out about the park and keeping the museum running.

Asked about some of the responsibilities of a park ranger, Walloupe paused. "Oh my gosh," he said. "It depends which park you're at."

At Grinding Rock the responsibilities of a park ranger cover a whole host of areas.

"There's only one ranger there and it's me," Walloupe said. "Everything comes back to me."

That means overseeing the park operations from a visitor's standpoint, handling administrative work, attendance issues, museum operations and responding to medical and complaint calls.

"They call us generalists (in training)," Walloupe said, because park rangers need to be able to handle a little bit of everything.

One thing Walloupe will be preparing to handle is next month's annual Invitational Art Show, which runs from Aug. 13 to September's "big-time celebration" starting on the 24th and is being sponsored by the Chaw'Se Association. "We get all types of different media," Walloupe said, including traditional Indian jewelry.

Besides providing both monetary support and recognition to local Native American artists, the association will donate a portion of its revenues to the park for "interpretive costs," said Walloupe, which includes maintaining the museum and teaching the public about the resource.

While the art show is popular, few things draw people in like the Acorn Harvest Thanksgiving celebration, which is a two-day traditional celebration of acorn gathering and is being sponsored by the Sierra Native American Council. Walloupe said the park typically sees thousands of visitors over those two days, brought in by the traditional dancing, arts and crafts booths, barbecue and smoked foods and all the sales.

"Most people will probably be really familiar with it," Walloupe chuckled.

For now, Walloupe is content acting as the overseer of the park, but he hasn't ruled out taking on higher administrative positions in the state park system. He likes the idea of being able to lobby for California parks at a legislative level, championing their importance as the fight for limited state resources becomes more and more difficult, but he's also wary about the trade-off. Taking on those higher administrative roles means more time spent in an office and less time spent at the parks. And as Walloupe walks the grounds of Grinding Rock on a sunny Wednesday afternoon, it's easy to see that, at least for now, the park is where he belongs.

For more information about the park and upcoming events, call 296-7488 or visit parks.ca.gov and type in Grinding Rock into the search menu.