Endorsement Letters from the National Park Service

Gotten Gate National Recreation Area Port Mason, San Francisco, California 94123

October 11, 2005 To whom it may concern:

I have worked with Larry Eifert for the past four years. Larry was originally brought in as a consultant for a project at Muir Woods National Monument to help us develop several new wayside exhibits along the main trail. He brought an artistic sensibility to our project and helped us to improve our concept plan. Then we hired him to develop nine paintings to illustrate the themes on the wayside exhibits, and we agreed on a phased development in which our park staff and resource specialists could comment as each illustration developed. Larry asked us to provide him with a specific list of plant and animal species to be included in each illustration. Larry's first step was to develop a general concept sketch for each painting, which our staff commented on and refined. Then he submitted detailed drawings, and our staff provided many very specific comments. The next steps were an initial color version, which we reviewed, followed by the final color version and color transparencies. Larry provided quick turnaround on each step in the process, and was able to finish all nine paintings in about six months. The new wayside exhibits have been installed and are viewed by about one million visitors a year. Our park staff are very pleased with the paintings and how they help us to interpret Muir Woods in a new way. Park visitor comments about the exhibits and Larry's illustrations have been very positive.

Our experience with Larry was so successful that we asked him to develop five more paintings for a (tailhead kiosk at Muir Beach, illustrating the overall landscape, plus four habitats in detail. Muir Beach is a recreation beach, with dunes, wetlands, and a creek with spawning salmon. Recreational use has dominated the area, but a restoration project for nearby Big Lagoon is now being implemented. Larry's images are helping us to communicate this message to the public.

Larry has also developed paintings for us at several other park locations, to help the public imagine what restored natural areas may look like in the future. Areas include dune habitats, coastal scrub and chaparral, and the coastal edge. The illustrations help emphasize the importance of improving habitat for threatened bank swallows and endangered mission blue butterflies, and help us explain to visitors why they must obey leash laws and stay on trails.

Working with Larry has been a pleasure. His sense of artistry, combined with specific details (species, season, time of day, lighting, coloring, and viewpoint), make our exhibits attractive and impactful. Larry has provided us with original images that help us interpret the value of natural resources, habitat restoration and protection. His original illustrations give us an artistic and aesthetic interpretive tool to reach the visiting public in an attractive and accessible manner.

Name given upon request

Interpretive Planning and Media

National Park Service

Golden Gate National Recreation Area

San Francisco, California 94123

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NPS Interpretive Exhibit Contractor Endorsement for Larry Eifert

1/5/01

I’m an Interpretive Park Ranger at Bryce Canyon National Park. Interpretive design is my primary collateral duty.  It has come to my attention that Larry Eifert is vying for a standing contract with the National Park Service for the design and manufacture of wayside exhibits. Last year I worked with Larry to complete a series of wayside exhibits here at Bryce Canyon.  They encompassed a wide range of resource topics including geology, vertical biome ecology, trail maps and hiker safety, etc.

Here’s why I would strongly suggest that Larry be put on the NPS’s “most preferred interpretive contractor,” list:

First and foremost, Larry is very affordable and produces a superior product. The manufacturing process, which he subcontracts, creates incredibly durable (from both natural processes and vandalism) exhibits without sacrificing aesthetics.

 Larry’s talent as an artist is widely recognized in the NPS not only among employees but among our visiting public. It is just as common for visitors to ask “Do you have any Eifert posters of Bryce Canyon for sale?” as it is for them to name request famous photographers like David Muench or Tom Till. Eifert’s murals are prized because they are more than just collages of plants and animals. His subjects accurately show relationships and interactions between species, portraying them in their appropriate niches. In short, he goes the extra mile to get the ecology correct as well!  For us interpreters this is a rare and multifaceted benefit. All pictures are worth a thousand words, but only the very best are worth one-thousand accurate and meaningful words, which, as we say in the business, “facilitate emotional and intellectual connections between the visitor and the resource.” And of course from a design standpoint, when complex ideas can be conveyed with minimal text, the more effective the interpretive product will be.

Larry is more than a talented artist. He is also an interdisciplinary naturalist in the traditional sense. Initially, I was somewhat apprehensive about the Bryce Canyon contract because although I knew Larry was very knowledgeable regarding biology, I was uncertain as to his comprehension of geology – in my experience the most difficult topic to interpret well.  Much to my delight Larry had no trouble converting my rough sketches and hand-waving into accessible but powerful visual aids. On several occasions he even offered text changes that increased clarity and undoubtedly visitor comprehension.

Finally the most satisfying aspect of working with Larry is that he completely subverts any emotional or pride-based attachments he might have on any aspect of his work.  This ultimate expression of professionalism is not only uncanny in interpretive contractors, it is mercifully refreshing. As a designer, when I know I’m spending $10,000 of precious interpretive funds, I want to feel perfectly comfortable in nit-picking every word and design aspect of the product.  Larry’s patience and tolerance for this kind of behavior goes beyond measure. Due to an extreme example of the classic NPS “musical chairs” I was actually the third coordinator (and incidentally part of a third and different chain of command) that Larry had to deal with. Nevertheless, he was able to meet every time table we set, indeed I found myself tasked to keep up with him! And, not once did he express any frustration with these complicated circumstances.

I sincerely hope I’ve managed to strike enough chords to insure that Larry’s contract submission will be approved. If not, I thank you for your time and consideration all the same. What I can be certain of is that I’ll continue to seek out and use Larry as an interpretive contractor and encourage my peers within the NPS to do the same.  However, I offer my unsolicited endorsement knowing that it would save us all a great deal of time and effort if we didn’t have to seek out and solicit multiple bids every time we want Eifert quality exhibits and service at an affordable Eifert price.

Name given upon request.

Interpretive Park Ranger

Bryce Canyon National Park

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