Ever wondered what a park ranger’s job is and how it feels to work outside in a beautiful campsite or park? For many, it may be a dream job. If it is your dream job, then continue reading. But for others, it may be out of curiosity. You have landed in the right place. There are a couple of things you must know before entering the world of a park ranger.
Education
The first thing you must know about the best park ranger jobs is that there are different kinds of park rangers. After knowing the different types of park rangers and their salaries, you can choose what kind of park ranger you would like to become. Some have certain training, certificates, and requirements as well as studying for a certain amount of time, and some just have studying and training. Here are the different types of rangers:
-Trail Crew Member
-Law Inforcement Ranger
-Interpretive Ranger
-Wildland Firefighter
-Smoke Jumper
Each of their requirements and salaries differs. What also affects their salaries is if the park ranger is working full-time, part-time, or seasonal. They may earn as little as $15 per hour for seasonal work and up to $80,000 a year for full-time employment. The parks determine the park ranger’s salary by their education and experience.
Job Description
We listed the different park rangers and now we will explain a little about their job descriptions. Park rangers do more than observe and protect wildlife. Some of them are authorized to carry a gun and arrest people according to what they have learned and trained for.
• A law enforcement ranger– a ranger that enforces the law is trained and authorized to have a gun and has certifications to protect the park, visitors, other rangers, wildlife, artifacts, and can give tickets. They can assist in other extreme situations, such as illegal drug operations, domestic violence, and attempted murder cases that may take place in the park.
•A trail crew member– a ranger that maintains hiking and walking trails. They will do jobs that require cutting trees that have fallen, cutting brush out of the way, and making bridges. They also inform visitors of beautiful spots to be seen. Their primary goal is to keep visitors safe and comfortable.
•An interpretative ranger– is the one who wears the “Smokey hat.” Their job is to guide visitors while teaching them facts about nature and the park. Additionally, they teach visitors to stay safe, be aware of the rules, and to obey the rules of the park. They are trained to use their passion to connect intellectually and emotionally with visitors to create understanding and care for the preservation of the environment, nature, and parks. One way that is helpful, and can be done to reduce our environmental footprint for both rangers and visitors, is to use high quality and sustainable gear.
•A wildland firefighter– is a firefighter who works specifically for the federal government like the National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service, and others. They specialize in all fire safety-related tasks. These fire safety-related tasks consist of fire preparedness, putting out or suppressing wildfires, rescue operations, and the like.
•A smokejumper– is considered a wildland firefighter with the exception of one specific task. This exception is to attack wildfires in out-of-reach places, usually in remote areas. They will jump out of planes to suppress wildfire and they lead in the most dangerous of wildfires. This career is very competitive and, currently, there are only 400 smokejumpers in America.
How Do Park Rangers Help Us and Why Do We Need Them?
Park rangers help us by teaching us about being mindful of wildlife, historic artifacts in parks, and the safety of yourself, others, animals, and the park while camping. They also teach about nature and wildlife in the parks. If we did not have park rangers, our parks would not be safe, clean, and appropriate for camping. Park rangers interpret the rules to you and this will, in turn, protect the park for us and for future generations.
