Garry Oye – One Volunteer Who Impacts Many
How do we measure a person’s impact on an organization, on fellow volunteers, on communities, on the land? It can’t be done with just numbers.
This story was originally featured in our 2024 Impact Report. As we prepared the Impact Report, Garry Oye decided that it was the right time to transition from ConservationVIP projects to finishing other projects in his sights. After six years of enjoying Garry’s enthusiasm, humor, and learning from his amazing skills, we are going to miss him more than words will ever capture. Garry developed partnerships thoughtfully, approached challenges with creative enthusiasm, and inspired us all. In fact, there are many people up and down the Pacific that Garry’s infectious personality inspired. Thank you, Garry. You are one of a kind. Good luck dear friend!
To tell you about ConservationVIP’s activities in Torres del Paine National Park in 2024, we need to talk about Garry Oye. Garry was a ConservationVIP® Board member, volunteer and one of our heroes. Garry’s first trip to Torres del Paine was in 2004 when he took a vacation from his job as a District Ranger in Inyo National Forest in California. Little did he know that 20 years later, in 2024, he would be playing an outsize role in helping the Park.
Prior to joining ConservationVIP as a leader and Board member, Garry completed 36 years of Federal Service working for two premier land management agencies: USDA Forest Service and Department of the Interior National Park Service. In the Forest Service, he started as a Wilderness Guard and finished as a District Ranger, working at five National Forests, two Regional Offices, and the National Headquarters. His final years of federal service were with DOI National Park Service as a Division Chief for Wilderness at the National Headquarters office. He provided leadership and guidance for all NP Wilderness, comprising 83 percent of the land in the national park system.
ConservationVIP was born from prior land managers seeing a need in Torres del Paine National Park in Chile and our work to help there continues today. We help by leading volunteer service trips and through “special projects” that require specialized skills or expertise. We also seek to inspire and engage the next generation to care for our greatest natural treasures. Since Garry joined ConservationVIP six years ago, he has led volunteer service trips, organized and volunteered on special projects, recruited other experts and organizations to help the Park and inspired future leaders.
The Human Waste Project
Garry’s first project in Torres del Paine after he joined ConservationVIP was working on a backcountry human waste project. In 2018 he installed a waterless, high-tech toilet unit in Old Italian Camp at the entrance to the French Valley on the popular “W” hiking trail. That campground closed after 30 years of use, but the old toilet buildings remained. In 2024, Garry returned to the Old Italian Camp and led a weeklong effort to begin the remediation effort. He developed a cleanup plan, secured approval for Phase One, and then pitched in to help with the work. Try to imagine being in the wilderness and dealing with old bathrooms that had been used for 30 years.
The New Base Torres Trail
Also in 2024, Garry spent weeks in Patagonia, working on a new trail to the base of The Towers, the massive granite spires which give Torres del Paine National Park its name. Since late 2021, ConservationVIP has been working to construct a new sustainable trail to replace the old trail. This special project has been a team effort that relies on a variety of partnerships. Garry’s expertise has been key to connecting the various parties to move the project forward. Garry worked with CONAF (the Park’s managers), Las Torres Reserve, and two nonprofits – Torres del Paine Legacy Fund, and AMA – building partnerships. He also recruited U.S. trail experts to help with the new trail, including Victoria Winch, Grady Anderson, Nick Kloos, Marc Williams, Fischer Gangemi, and Brooks Christian.
Inspiring The Next Generation
Garry also helped foster a partnership with the California Conservation Corps (the CCC). In 2024 with Garry’s help the CCC sent 1 staff and 8 Corpsmembers to Torres del Paine to spend 4 weeks working on the trail to the Towers with trail expert Victoria Winch. In addition to completing a significant amount of work on the new Base Torres trail, they had life-changing experiences. Some of ConservationVIP’s volunteers have experienced working with the CCC when they were paired up to work on trails with them in Yosemite. As these young, developing trail experts work their way up through the CCC, they often earn positions with the National Park Service and become part of the elite National Park Service Trail Crews.
CCC staff member Teagan Felknor-Edwards, who helped coordinate the project, shared that following their return to California, two members of the CCC crew were accepted to the renowned Backcountry Trails Program and spent 5 months applying the skills they honed in Patagonia to trails in California. One of the Corpsmembers has since become a CCC supervisor facilitating the development of other young adults; For several of the participants, this trip was their first time leaving the US.
She also shared the following quotes from the CCC trail builders:
“The most valuable experience was being able to hike in some of the most beautiful mountains I have ever seen, and share those experiences with the people I was around, either hiking or working sharing those views made me value life more and the excitement of it made me value life more.”
“Learning the aspects of a new culture and their values was really eye-opening and got me thinking about how to take some of those values with me back to my center (i.e. community bonding, service through work, health & well-being, etc).”
It can be easy to keep moving fast and not slow down to appreciate someone like Garry. As Teagan also said, “The CCC Global Corps would have never gone to Patagonia without Garry’s facilitation. He knows all the stakeholders and has developed strong local partnerships over the years. His involvement through all stages of the process facilitated incredible experiences for our Corpsmembers. For me personally, his support has helped develop my own processes as an early career professional working with international conservation programs.”
It Was A Good Season
So, how do you measure the impact someone like Garry Oye has on ConservationVIP, the destinations we serve, and the partners we are so fortunate to work with? It’s hard. When we asked Garry for his recap of 2024, he said:
“2024 was a significant year for ConservationVIP in Torres del Paine. We continued to provide support to CONAF for the maintenance of bridges. We returned to Italian Camp to dismantle 5 abandoned Toilet buildings and assist CONAF with restoration efforts. A nine-person California Conservation Corps crew worked on the Base Torres Trail for 4 weeks. US Trail experts continued to provide Training and Skill Sharing with local trail crews.The challenges faced are significant-this is not an easy place to work. Weather and logistics stress the most seasoned workers. At the end of the season, looking back at what we accomplished, I feel that our efforts & determination match the intensity of this wild place. It’s like riding a bucking bronco, with the wind & rain in your face, and your muscles ache. But this place and the people deserve the best we can provide.
It was a good season.” Garry Oye – Director, ConservationVIP
This story was originally featured in our 2024 Impact Report. Do you have Public Lands experience? Are you retired and looking for your next challenge? Join us. Get Involved! Do you want to experience a life affirming volunteer conservation trip to Torres del Paine? Join us and Travel with Purpose to Torres del Paine!
In 2007, on my first trip to Torres del Paine, I fell in love with the park. In the intervening years, I’ve watched closely as many ConservationVIP volunteers have donated thousands of hours to conserve this marvelous landscape. Garry stands out as a hero in this group. Over and over again, he personally got his hands dirty to make an immediate difference, while at the same time he worked to build relationships and coalitions to ensure ongoing, longer-term solutions to sustainability problems. His legacy will be felt for years to come.