In the United States, what is a Park Ranger?

Rangers are overpaid, unnecessary government employees. They receive all the training of law enforcement, but guess what? Whenever a real law enforcement problems arises, they call the local sheriff, highway patrol or Department of Wildlife. I see them as overpaid tourist guides who check the restrooms for toilet paper and block our public roads at the behest of our leader. Rangers are unnecessary!

Park ranger work, whether as fully commissioned law enforcement, or as park ranger generalists is very rewarding, yet difficult work.

Like the article states, it's a lot of little jobs on a daily basis, the pay is rather low, and the work can be pretty remote in some cases.

Next time you see a ranger, a pat on the back or a hug is something they deserve. Or just a friendly "Good work out there."

I didn't realize that a park ranger needed a bachelor's degree plus some specialized training. Then they have to learn so much about the particular park that they work in.

If you like the great outdoors and you like to meet and talk to all kinds of people, this would be a very satisfying job.

I do wonder how it would work if the rangers were married and had a family. You could probably find housing nearby, but schools and other conveniences might be a long ways away.

Thinking about some of the big national parks that I have visited, it must take a lot of park rangers to man the whole park. They would need law enforcement park rangers, education, maintenance and emergency services. Probably some of the tasks are combined.

In some of the large parks, the rangers ride horses. Wouldn't that be fun!

When my family camped in National Parks, a ranger always came around. He/she was always friendly and reminded us about camp rules and especially about garbage and bears.

@strawCake - That's crazy that your friend was never able to find a national park job. That's a pretty specialized degree she got too!

I think it must be pretty exciting to work as a park ranger. Every day would present new challenges, that's for sure.

Although, I think it could be dangerous too. A lot of national parks have rough terrain, and there are wild animals to contend with. And serial killers, according to some horror movies.

I had no idea park rangers had the same kind of authority a police officer does. That's very interesting.

I do know, however, that it's actually not very easy to get a job working at our national parks. A friend of mine wanted to do this, and she got a master's degree in recreation and park management. she graduated with honor's but she was never able to find a job!

Apparently there aren't too many of these jobs to go around, and a lot of people want them. So if you're considering this as a future career, I'd at least try to get some kind of degree that can be used for something else too.

My nephew works at a large national historical park. He was always interested in conservation and being outdoors. This job is a perfect fit for him and he absolutely loves it.

A big part of his job is educating the public about the history of the park and surrounding area. He loves sharing his knowledge with interested visitors who come to the park every day.

He isn't quite as busy in the winter, but uses this time to focus on other duties that are required for his job. In the summer, most of his days are spent leading education classes and tours.

One summer I worked at one of our state parks. It was a great summer job, but I enjoyed working the weekends the best. This is when we would check in the campers and make sure they paid and followed the rules.

I worked closely with the park ranger. He lived with his wife in a small cabin on the campgrounds. He lived and worked there all year round, but I don't know how busy they were in the winter.

During the summer we were busy during the week keeping up with the grounds, painting and maintenance projects.

I don't know what a park rangers salary is, but I don't think they make much money. This would be a job for someone who loved being outdoors. Depending on how big the park was where you were working, most of your interaction with people would be on the weekends.

During the week you would spend your time outside making sure the park was clean, opening and closing times were enforced and the rules were obeyed.

This was a small state park and I don't even think they have a full time ranger position there anymore.