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NATURE NOIR - RANGER JOBS  Ranger Jordan Fisher Smith (right) where no roads go, western Alaska, 1992. How to Get Ranger Jobs These jobs are much sought-after. Get experience as a seasonal ranger or student assistant. Get all the specialized training you can, like emergency medical technician, mountain and river rescue, firefighting, law enforcement, natural sciences, and history (because parks preserve historical sites, too). You may be asked questions like: can you fix an outboard motor a mile offshore in heavy seas; can you rappel off a cliff to save a fallen visitor; can you repair a jammed slide projector during a campfire talk about wildflowers; can you keep your temper when someone who didn't get the campsite they wanted screams at you; and what do you think happened to the Anasazi? • U.S. National Park Service hires hundreds of seasonal rangers every summer. This is the big game. Why go to the minors? Applicants in any field are often counseled to join a professional association. The Association of National Park Rangers has an associate membership. There ˆs also the Fraternal Order of Police, Park Ranger Lodge. • The U.S. Forest Service administers millions of acres of designated wilderness, but they also sell the taxpayers' forests to lumber companies. Make sure when you get hired that you are doing something you believe in. Both kinds of jobs are available. • California State Parks has the most elaborate system outside of the National Parks, containing over 270 parks, employing over five hundred permanent rangers and Baywatch-type lifeguards, assisted by seasonal employees called park aids. As a park aid, you aren't going to be a real ranger, so make sure you know what the duties are. You might wind up cleaning restrooms. Still, a lot of rangers in spectacular places started as park aids. Be aware California is weathering a budget crisis. Instructions on how to apply for park aid positions and ranger positions are available on State Parks' website. Consider joining the California State Park Rangers Association. • National Recreation and Park Association maintains a job bulletin board. • The Student Conservation Association places college students in glorious ranger internships. About Rangers If you want to know what rangers are really doing out there (it may shatter your expectations) scan a few issues of the U.S. National Park Service Morning Report, particularly in the warm months. A Historical Context for Rangers and Parks Books on Rangers and Parks: Nash, Roderick F. Wilderness and the American Mind, Yale University Press, New Haven, 1971 Nash's classic history shows how a natural area became something more than a good place to site a new mine or sawmill. Well written! Sellars, Richard West, Preserving Nature in the National Parks: A History, Yale University Press, New Haven, 1997 Sellars traces how it dawned on park administrators that the primary purpose of the places they were in charge of was to protect the things in them, and not just to be a location for public recreation and entertainment. To see how things have changed (or have they?), see the photo of park employees at Yellowstone, dressed as Indians, stampeding park buffalo for the enjoyment of visitors in the 1920s. Myerson, Harvey, Nature's Army: When Soldiers Fought for Yosemite, University Press of Kansas, 2001 Ever notice that a ranger's dress uniform resembles that of a U.S. Cavalry soldier at the time of the First World War? It's no accident. Find out why. Berkowitz, Paul D., Rangers, the Law of the Land: The History of Law Enforcement in the Federal Land Management Agencies, CAT Publishing, Redding, California. By order from CAT Publishing, (800) 767-0511. This remarkable work, which deserves to be picked up and republished by a university press, proves self-publishing is a valid way to get important books in print. Berkowitz, a career ranger and something of a scholar, documents hundreds of incidents dating back to 1900 in which rangers risked their lives for nature and in some cases were killed or killed their assailants. A 2001 Department of Justice study showed that national park rangers and park police suffer the highest rate of assaults in federal law enforcement; they're over ten times more likely to be killed or injured on duty than DEA agents. Berkowitz's readers will learn that this is not a recent phenomenon. excerpt | ranger jobs | American River Copyright © 2005 by Jordan Fisher Smith. All Rights Reserved. "NATURE NOIR" is a trademark of Jordan Fisher Smith. No portion of this Website or the works of authorship described here may be used in any manner or for any purpose without the prior written consent of the copyright owner with the exception of brief quotes in published reviews. site by Velocity7 |
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