Park Rangers perform a wide variety of jobs: they implement laws and policies in national, state, and county parks. They prepare lectures for park tourists and preserve park properties. Park rangers educate the public to respect the fragile natural equilibrium of national and state parks and forests.
A park ranger is a person with a wide array of day to day tasks and obligations. These individuals are accountable for the wellbeing of not only the park in which they stand for but the guests who come to the park as well.
Education and Training Requirements
Park rangers usually have a bachelor’s degree, however, high school graduates are occasionally qualified for ranger positions after three years or more of increasingly accountable experience in park operations or preservation work. Interested persons should learn geology, ecology, botany, and zoology in college. Applicants with master’s degrees in the fields of park management, social sciences, or forestry often have a plus over other aspirants who are looking for a job as park ranger.
Additional requirements for park rangers comprise good health, good eyesight, and physical strength. Park rangers must enjoy working with people and must enjoy the outdoors.
Duties and Responsibilities
Park rangers perform a variety of errands connected with the administration of the natural resources within the National Park System. A significant facet of a park ranger’s duty is the care and supervision of mutually local and exotic animal variety found in the borders of the parks. They guard park areas by implementing rules and regulations, make sure that visitors pick campsites wisely, avert forest fires, and help maintain ecological balance in national and state parks.
Park rangers also supply information about park use and issue fire permits. They are also expert campers with an excellent understanding of nature. Other than helping train new rangers, they also teach campers how to utilize camping equipments, lecture momentous subjects, set up exhibits, and take visitors on environmental walks.
Skills and Traits
A Park Ranger’s job is not easy. It is a demanding profession that not everyone can have. A park ranger should be diligent, especially in preparing information and presenting that information to visitors. They should have the requisite knowledge to carry out their duties most effectively. Well-rounded familiarity of the park makes a park ranger competent in performing his duties. A park ranger should have an excellent character as they are the ones who will be welcoming and leading visitors all over the park. Among the wide variety of responsibilities of a park ranger is law enforcement. Some park rangers carry guns and sometimes investigate illegal activity committed in national and state parks. Park rangers must always demonstrate eagerness to help visitors and guests of the park and they should love what they do. Being passionate about the job makes them fulfill the demand of the job and makes them perfect for it.
Salary and Compensation
Annual earnings of a park ranger depend on their education and skill. The salary for all park rangers is around $30,000 to $50,000 annually. They receive paid vacations, holidays, health insurance and other benefits given to federal and state employees.
