A Day in the Life of Gary Brundige

by Linda Sandness

Visitor Services Coordinator

GFP Parks Division

Not many people can say that a key measure of their success is for their work to be invisible. That is just the case for Gary Brundige, Resource Program Manager at Custer State Park. 

"Custer State Park's resource program is pretty unique." said Brundige.  "We are tasked with the stewardship of the park's resources and take a very active role." 

"The true measure of the success we achieve," he added, "is being able to accomplish that in a way that is as invisible as possible."

So what does this master of invisibility do? A lot! He is the supervisor over the park's wildlife, bison, forest, range and fire. According to Brundige,

"The park has an active management program with the sale of timber and bison and administers hunting seasons." And as if that isn't enough, he also supervises staff to manage noxious weeds as well as pest species; develop and implement habitat improvements on both forest and range; conduct inventory and research; and handle the program budgeting.

Another key part of Brundige's job is the day-to-day relationship he has with the other park disciplines - Visitor Services, Maintenance & Development and resorts.  The management of these other areas are interrelated and critically important.

Just thinking about all these responsibilities can cause exhaustion. When asked what keeps him going, Brundige replied, "I get to work actively with the ecosystems in Custer State Park, and get to work with a great bunch of professionals in our program."  This entails approximately 71,000 acres and 7 resource management staff members.

During the coming summer, the plan is to fill some vacant positions and training the new staff. Brundige said, "We are also finishing up a long-term research project that will set us up well for the long-term planning project we are beginning."

When asked his key long-range goals as the Program Resource Manager at Custer State Park, Brundige responds, "Enhancing the sustainability of this very dynamic system. I believe we have a very well managed set of natural resources and I want to make sure that we continue to soundly manage those natural resources."

He continued, "The new resource management plan that we are developing will set the stage for the next decade or more. I hope the impact I have on that process and the resultant plan is that other agencies will continue to look at the park as the model for the sound management of natural resources in a park setting."   

"We will have succeeded," he said, "if we continue to manage resources for productivity, revenue, and visitor experience in a manner that is ecologically sound."

One of the main challenges right now is the drought. "The drought," explained Brundige, "has impacted all our resources, be it range, bison, wildlife, timber or fire." 

"It limits our options and drives some of our actions," he added

So, what kind of a background would someone with all these responsibilities need to have to do this job? Brundige was born and raised in Los Alamos, N.M. After high school graduation he spent a year at the University of New Mexico before going into the U.S. Navy. He received training in aviation electronics at the Naval Air Station near Memphis, Tennessee.

After being honorably discharged, Brundige obtained a B.S. degree in Wildlife Resources from the University of Idaho in Moscow and his M.S. degree in Wildlife Management from South Dakota State University where his graduate work was on the bighorn sheep at Custer State Park.

Brundige then went to the State University of New York in Syracuse for his Ph.D. in Wildlife Ecology.  While working on his doctorate, he spent the vast majority of his time at the research forest in the Adirondacks where his research dealt with predator/prey interactions between coyotes and white-tailed deer.

Prior to coming to Custer State Park in 1991, Brundige spent almost a year on Santa Catalina Island as a research biologist studying Island Foxes. His first job at Custer State Park was as the Wildlife Biologist.  In 1997, he was reclassified to a Senior Wildlife Biologist. Brundige has been in his present position as Resource Program Manager for two and a half years.

Life needs balance and can't just be focused on work.  Brundige and his wife Shelly Deisch , a native South Dakotan who works for the Division of Wildlife, live right in the park.

During his free time, Brundige likes to golf, hunt, fish, hike around in the woods, travel and cook. Gary and Shelly have been known to frequent the Maine Coast where they enjoy the local fare (lobster).

If Brundige's dream is to have his work be invisible, I asked him what changes he would like to see if he came to Custer State Park 25 years from now. He responded, "I would have to say, at least from a resource management perspective, very little. Changes I would hope not to see would be a loss of the wild, natural character of the park."

"The challenge," he added, "will be to accommodate the increases in visitation without further encroachment into the natural system."

Gary Brundige is certainly doing all he can to set the stage for this to be a reality in the years to come.