Park Rangers

Park Rangers

What's It Like to Be a Park Ranger? Imagine being a park ranger. Picture yourself leading visitors to a beautiful hidden waterfall. Think about walking people step-by-step through an exciting battle from history. Imagine holding a turtle for schoolkids to touch. Imagine skiing into a snowy forest to save a hurt hiker.

Being a park ranger is a lot of work. Rangers work long hours. They work nights and weekends. They might hike for miles in a single day. They face wild animals and wild weather. Still, most rangers say it's the best job in the world.

Where Do Rangers Work? Park rangers work in national or state parks. Some parks are beautiful natural areas, such as the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone. Others are important places from history. Many parks include museums and public buildings. Some include memorials, which help us remember an event or a person who died.

Parks are special places set aside for the future, but people visit parks today. They hike, ski, and fish in parks. They see beautiful art. They walk on beaches and rest near waterfalls. Park rangers work to keep all the visitors safe. Rangers also teach people about the park and how to save it for the future.

What Do Rangers Do? Park rangers do many different jobs. Some rangers teach the public. At Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico, rangers teach people about bats while millions of them fly out of a cave. At George Washington's birthplace in Virginia, rangers show how the Washington family ate dinner in the 1730s. At Alcatraz Island in California, rangers tell how some men escaped from the famous prison.