Wallace KeckWallace Keck was born in St. Joseph, Missouri, in the last year of the baby boom and coincidentally, the first year of the Wilderness Act. At age seven, the family of six picked up and moved to the resort/retirement community of Bella Vista, Arkansas In 1972, the journey from Bella Vista to the nearest town (Bentonville) was still a wild one. The school bus routes were chert-covered hill-climbs and low-water crossings that consumed two to three hours each day. Weekends offered free time and woodland places to explore. Every bluff overhang was a potential cave, and every stream promised a secret waterfall. The wilderness began where the lawnmowing ceased. Such was the environment that fostered the boy in the woods to be a ranger and park manager of Idaho's wilder landscapes. Keck earned a BS in Fisheries and Wildlife Management with an emphasis in Interpretation from Arkansas Tech University. [Note: interpretation and interpreter are terms relating to a profession that seeks to connect visitors to the significance, inherent meanings, and the stories of a place, whether they are natural, cultural, or other scientific discipline]. Keck's 43-year career spanned employment in five public land management agencies in three states, and at eight state and federal parks. Keck served 23 years as the Superintendent of City of Rocks National Reserve in Almo, Idaho. In Devil's Den: Journals of a Park Interpreter encompasses approximately five and a half years of his career from the end of 1988 to the spring of 1994, while working for the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism. Read More Read Less