Hiking Boots and Flat Hats:
Park Rangers Are All That (and more!)
Easily identifiable in their dapper grey and green uniforms, and distinctive flat hats and boots, park rangers hail from all over the United States to protect and serve our nation’s lands.
Park rangers come from a lineage rooted in the American frontiersmen spirit: honor, practicality, pride, hard-to-tame spirits, and a deep reverence for the natural world.
The nation’s first park rangers were Buffalo Soldiers, meant to bridge the gap between lawless marauders, untamed wilderness, and park visitors. Just before the turn of the twentieth century, the 10th Cavalry Unit and the 24th Infantry Unit comprised of 500 soldiers were sent to Yosemite to build infrastructure. The Buffalo Soldiers managed and protected Yosemite, Sequoia, and General Grant National Parks until 1913, thus becoming the nation’s first park rangers.
Today, park rangers have many duties and responsibilities such as assisting visitors, conducting educational activities, performing emergency medical services, and protecting the land from those who abuse it.
Today, park rangers have many duties and responsibilities such as assisting visitors, conducting educational activities, performing emergency medical services, and protecting the land from those who abuse it.
The National Park Service employs two types of rangers: fully armed rangers, who are responsible for everything from writing traffic tickets to investigating murders inside the park boundaries, as well as interpretation rangers who plan, organize, and conduct educational talks, walks, and exhibits in the national parks. Both are integral to the success and safety of the visitors of our parks. According to parkrangeredu.org, “All park rangers must have the same core traits in common: a willingness to help and be helpful, a passion for what they do, and an understanding of what it takes to ensure positive visitor experiences and for carrying out their duties as efficiently as possible.”
In an interview with Nicole Puglisi for The Guardian, Park Ranger Billie Patrick described her love for the diversity of her assignments: “You’re a teacher. You’re a law enforcement person. You’re an emergency medical person. You’re search and rescue. You’re a confidante. You’re a peer counselor. You wear all of those hats.”
Lacey Thomas, park ranger at Carlsbad Caverns National Park wrote, “Being a park ranger is a pretty cool job. You get to move to and live in exciting places. You meet people from all over the world. You gain an array of knowledge that has the ability to make you a Jeopardy champion. Over the years and through the parks, one thing has never changed: people are the best part of this job.”
The park rangers posted in Carlsbad Caverns, Guadalupe Mountains National Park, Sitting Bull Falls, Lincoln National Forest, or Brantley are wells of knowledge poised and ready to help visitors.
Interpretation Supervisor and the Outreach Coordinator for Carlsbad Caverns National Park, Mark Abezt, offers insight into working as a park ranger in Carlsbad Caverns National Park:
How long have you been serving the national parks in your current capacity?
I have been an Interpretive Park Ranger in the National Park Service for 13 years and in leadership and supervisory roles for 10 years. I just started with Carlsbad Caverns National Park in February 2022.
What are some of your duties and responsibilities?
I think I have the best job in the park because our team and I get to work directly with the visitors. I am one of the park rangers that visitors meet when they come into the visitor center for information, they talk to when roving the cave, and one that gives the ranger-led tours and programs. A large part of the job is making sure our visitors have the information they need [to] stay safe and enjoy Carlsbad Caverns National Park. We want everyone to leave feeling their own special connection to the park. It’s been said that we tend to protect what we love.
Why did you decide to become a park ranger?
My first position in a national park was a summer job with a concessionaire in Grand Teton National Park working with their retail store computers. I had never realized before that I could be a park ranger. It took me a few years, but I was so inspired that I left my former profession and went to work for the National Park Service.
What has been your most interesting day as a park ranger?
Too many to have one most interesting! I played a small role in releasing endangered desert pronghorn back into the wild in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. Some of my most interesting and favorite days are when I get to see a difference being made; someone having a safe encounter with a bear in the wild after I gave them a bear safety talk. They had a great experience because they knew how to stay safe. Giving a ranger program to middle school students, and one deciding that they now want to be a park ranger.
What do you love most about the park in which you serve?
Carlsbad Caverns National Park is like no place else on earth. So much so that an agency of the United Nations, UNESCO, made our park a World Heritage Site in 1995. They found that our caves are outstanding, “…not only for their size but also for the profusion, diversity and beauty of their mineral formations.” Also, people come from all over the world to witness what can look like clouds of Brazilian free-tailed bats exiting the natural entrance to the cavern spring through fall. Above ground, we also have Designate Wilderness in this ecologically diverse Chihuahuan Desert. Wilderness Areas are designated by Congress giving some of the highest levels of protection of any of our public lands.
What should visitors know about Carlsbad Caverns NP?
It is one of those places you can see many times and never see it quite the same way twice! It is that awe-inspiring and geologically spectacular. It is a classic, amazingly diverse northern Chihuahuan Desert ecosystem. If you want to get down into the cavern, make your plans in advance and make a reservation with recreation.gov beforehand. Reservations made with recreation.gov are required in advance to go down into the cavern.
What is your favorite national park to visit?
Again, too many to pick just one! A personal interest of mine is marine ecology, and I like to spend free time in Alaska. Glacier Bay National Park and Kenai Fjords National Park are favorites. I got my start in Grand Teton National Park, and that will always be home and a special place for me.
Junior Park Ranger Program
Do you know a youngster with aspirations to don the ranger uniform? Maybe a tiny geologist in the making? Proud mini conservationist or botanist? Maybe, like I do, you have regular kids that need a little extra stimulation to carry them through their hikes? Created to foster a deep love of the land through learning and engagement, over 200 national parks participate in the Junior Park Ranger Program.
To become a Junior Ranger at Guadalupe Mountains National Park kids can pick up a workbook and choose from a variety of fun activities to learn about the park’s history, geology, and numerous native plants and animals. Complete any six activities to earn a certificate and a badge.
Carlsbad Caverns Junior Rangers have age-appropriate activities to complete to earn a certificate and badge, as well as special activities to become a Junior Bat Biologist. Big kid or park ranger at heart? Carlsbad Caverns also has a Senior Ranger program! Complete 10 out of 18 activities to receive your senior ranger pin.
