Anjna O’Connor first visited Big Bend National Park five years ago, on the back of a motorcycle driven by her boyfriend, who worked there at the time. They rode to Boquillas Canyon, where they hiked along the Rio Grande and into the rocky gorge, in scorching heat. She learned a couple of things that day: One, she loved the region, where hillsides bristle with ocotillo and prickly pear and a sky island of mountains rises from the desert floor. Two, she underestimated the heat, which left her dehydrated and exhausted—and armed with the knowledge of how quickly visitors can get in trouble if they’re not prepared for the park’s rugged conditions. Despite (or perhaps because of) the challenges, Big Bend beckoned her back, just as the 800,000-acre expanse of mountains and canyons overlooking the harsh Chihuahuan Desert has called generations of Texas.
“I wished then I could work here,” O’Connor says. “I had no idea it was really going to happen.”
She wound up marrying the boyfriend, who followed her to Hamilton, in Central Texas, where she was working as a program manager for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. And in late May, she became the eighteenth superintendent to lead Big Bend National Park. The position is a little like being mayor of a small town: she manages 83 permanent and 26 seasonal employees, along with a slew of other duties, including but not limited to leading park planning and programming, public relations, administration, resource management, safety, interpretation, visitor services, and facilities maintenance.
O’Connor, who started as a park ranger for the Corps of Engineers in 1990 and remained at the agency until accepting the job at Big Bend, replaces former superintendent Bob Krumenaker, who retired last July after five years in the post. She takes the helm at a critical moment. Visitation hit an all-time peak of 581,000 in 2021, although it plateaued to about 512,000 in 2023, and construction is set to begin next spring on a major project in the Chisos Basin, the main hub of visitor activity in the park. The project will raze and rebuild the structure that houses the restaurant, gift shop, and offices, among other major improvements (such as new plumbing). Access to the basin will be limited during construction, so if you’ve been on the fence about booking a trip to Big Bend, now’s the time. O’Connor spoke with Texas Monthly about her experience and her vision for the park.
TM: Tell me about your background.
Anjna O’Connor: I was born in Zambia, where my grandfather, who is from India, had gone to start a dry goods store. Because of political unrest there in the seventies, my dad moved us to England for a few years. Then we moved to the U.S., where he started a motel business. He only had a second-grade education, but he was the epitome of hard work and believing in a better future.
We ended up in Kermit, in West Texas, where I went to high school. Right out of Tarleton State University, I worked at a lab in Monahans, testing oil field samples. Then I got a job at Lake Whitney as ranger with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. [O’Connor’s numerous roles with the Army Corps included working as a recreation specialist and an environmental compliance specialist; deploying twice to Afghanistan, where she worked on construction projects; and a stint overseeing construction of part of the border barrier for the U.S. Border Patrol.]
TM: What was it like growing up in the West Texas town of Kermit?
AC: When we were there, it was about 3,400 people, a small town. Kermit has a similar landscape to Big Bend, so coming here feels a little like coming home. It’s a welcome change to have dry heat compared to humid heat [when I lived in Central Texas].
TM: What’s your work philosophy?
AC: My dad always said, “You own your future.” It’s not dependent on anything but what you’re willing to do, work for and sometimes give up for a greater goal. Be humble, be good to others, work hard, and the rest will fall into place.
TM: What has surprised you most about the job so far?
AC: I’m learning a whole new language and a whole new culture. I started as a park ranger at the Army Corps, and my last job there focused on international support. There’s a lot the two organizations have in common—the Corps also manages recreation lands—but also a lot of differences. The park service is more focused on preservation and protection of resources, versus the Corps, which had a lot more military construction and civil works projects, like dams, levies, and hospitals.
TM: What’s the latest on the Chisos Basin project?
AC: Most of the construction effort is the main lodge building (where the restaurant, hotel check-in, and a gift shop are located) in the basin area of the park. We’ll also replace water lines. We’re still planning on a closure in the spring of 2025 and expect the project to last about two years. We’re evaluating access to the trails from outside of the basin, and nearing design completion and getting ready to put a contract out for bid. The initial appropriated amount was $19.1 million. Our concessions contract is doing some renovations on the lodging part of it, but that’s not a complete demolition. They’re going to update it with many new features, such as new furniture, countertops, sinks, tubs, window coverings, and energy-efficient LED lighting.
TM: How will the construction impact visitors?
AC: Until we award a contract and have an idea of the footprint the contractor will need, we don’t know all the details. We’re going to limit traditional access for sure, but we’re not closing all the trails—it’s just how you get to some of the trails. We want people to come to the park and enjoy what’s here, but we want them to focus on some of the other things they can do in lieu of going to the Chisos Basin.
TM: It’s been a challenge to recruit and retain employees at such a remote park. How do you plan to improve that?
AC: This is a remote location that’s geographically isolated from typical amenities in urban areas. But we’ve got some new things to help us with recruitment efforts. San Vincente Independent School District, which operates a kindergarten through eighth grade school in the park, will expand to offer kindergarten through twelfth grade starting this fall. We also offer day care. Improving cellular internet service is really important for employees who live and work here, too.
And we are looking at improving housing. Some of our employees live outside the park, and if we were fully staffed, we would be short on housing. Finally, we’re trying to generate more applications by working with universities and participating in career fairs to grow interest in working with the National Park Service.
TM: Your predecessor, Bob Krumenaker, was candid about how severely underfunded he believes the National Park Service is, and the gap between the services the public expects and the agency’s ability to deliver those services. What’s your take?
AC: He was spot on in terms of funding. Our funding is either going to remain static or decrease. Fortunately, we’re working with friends’ groups, such as Big Bend Conservancy (formerly Friends of Big Bend National Park) and the Big Bend Natural History Association, and have partnerships with nearby communities. They really help us do the things we need to get done. But that doesn’t completely bridge the gap, and at some point demand and what we have available don’t match up.
TM: What other changes are you hoping to make?
AC: We’re looking at adding electric vehicle–charging stations. The lodge is one of the places that will have stations, and the concession also is going to put some in at the gas stations. We’re looking at switching out our fleet to incorporate electric vehicles, too.
TM: What’s the park doing to handle increased visitation over the past decade, which hit 512,000 in 2023?
AC: As visitation increases, we’ll evaluate visitor-use patterns and make sure we can meet user demands while still protecting and preserving the resources. We have a landfill, but it’s nearing its end of life, so we’re working on recycling as much as we possibly can. That’s a regional problem and we’re working on a regional solution. We’re probably not going to build more overlooks and parking lots, because we want to preserve and protect what we’ve got.
TM: Last year the park had four fatalities, including two due to heat exhaustion. What has this summer in the park been like and how is the staff adapting to and planning for climate change?
AC: This is a wonderful place to visit, but preparation is key, and we want to prevent those incidents. We put signs on the highway warning of extreme heat and signs at trailheads reminding people what things they need. We also have a wonderful volunteer group that typically works at the Window Trail, talking to the public to make sure they’re prepared.
Before you get here you should have plenty of supplies—water, food, and medication. Stop by the Visitor Center and talk to the staff about what you’re planning to do.
TM: I’m curious about the Christy Perry rescue last November. Any insight on why it took eight days to find the 25-year-old hiker from Houston who went missing at the park?
AC: She was reported missing when she didn’t show up for work. Work called her family, then they called the park. They found out she had a rented car in Midland and got the plate number, then searched for her car. They found it at the Lost Mine trailhead. The loss of time had to do with that unknown. When coming to Big Bend, please let someone know where you’re going and when you expect to be back.
TM: You’ve only been at the park a few months, but have you discovered any favorite places or things?
AC: My favorite animal is the scaled quail, also called the blue quail. It’s been so long since I’ve seen quail of any kind, so I just stop what I’m doing and stare at them. My favorite place is Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive and the Sotol Vista overlook. When you stand at that overlook and see the span of land and beauty that’s ahead of you, it’s humbling.
