Personal/Nature Story – The Ranger Desk

One Ranger’s Journey: Searching For Home In National Parks

I searched for a park to call home for over nine years while working as a national park ranger. What I found wasn’t what I expected.

Times are hard for America’s national park rangers; they’ve been hard for years. So what made that job worthwhile for me, even in hard times?

The US Secretary of the Interior recently ordered more federal lands to be opened for hunting. Here’s why hunting would harm national parks.

Both American democracy and America’s national parks have received catastrophic wounds this past year. Can they heal?

National park rangers keep the records of our heritage. To lose their knowledge is to forget who we are and where we have been.

When we don’t understand history, we are destined to repeat it. This is a reality we are seeing play out right in front of our eyes.

A trip to Camp Nelson National Monument unexpectedly led me on an emotional journey through the places and people that have shaped my life.

I am still hopeful about US national parks because of park staff. Their dedication, stewardship, and love for parks hasn’t changed.

A national park helped a man find solace from his grief, and I was lucky to be his guide. What I learned from him changed how I view parks.

“What is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” The line is not a call to action, but a call to inaction. A call to be free.