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On August 25, 1916, President Woodrow Wilson signed the act creating the National Park Service. The "Organic Act" states that the fundamental purpose of the NPS "is to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wild life therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations."

The National Park Service turned 100 last year, and they've been busy. They continuously work to protect 407 sites with 28 different designations. These include 127 historical parks or sites, 78 national monuments, 59 national parks, 25 battlefields or military parks, 19 preserves, 18 recreation areas, 10 seashores, four parkways, four lakeshores, and two reserves.

As you start planning your summer vacations, consider our national parks. Here are few things you may not know about these amazing places right here in the good old U.S. of A.

1. The National Park Service protects over 84 million acres of wild landscapes and historic sites.

2. Yellowstone National Park (in Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana) is the oldest U.S. national park, founded in 1872.

3. The second U.S. national park created is no longer a national park. Mackinac National Park in Michigan was established in 1875 and was returned to the state in 1895. It is now one of Michigan's State Parks.

4. Three of the 10 highest waterfalls in the world are located in Yosemite National Park in California.

5. Ribbon Falls in Yosemite is nine times taller than Niagara Falls.

6. One of the hottest temperatures on earth was recorded in 1913 in Death Valley National Park, registering 134 degrees.

7. The Grand Canyon, in Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona, is known as one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World.

8. National parks are home to life on a big scale: Sequoia trees are some of the world's largest living things, and Alaskan brown bears are some of the world's largest carnivores.

9. California's Sequoia National Park is home to the largest living single-stem tree in the world, the wonderfully named General Sherman. The tree is approximately 275 feet tall and weighs approximately 1,900 metric tons.

10. When a giant sequoia tree fell and blocked a road in Sequoia National Park in California in 1937, the National Park Service simply created a tunnel through the 275-foot by 21-foot tree.

11. Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska, is the largest national park, covering 13,000 square miles or 13.2 million acres.

12. Death Valley National Park is the largest national park in the lower 48 U.S. states, stretching 5,300 square miles or 3.4 million acres.

13. The smallest national park is Hot Springs National Park in Arkansas, coming in at about 5,500 acres. This was actually the first federally protected piece of land in 1832. It was not named a national park until 1921.

14. Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the most visited national park with more than 9 million guests per year, followed by Grand Canyon National Park, which gets more than 4 million visits per year.

15. Mount McKinley in the Alaska Range of Denali National Park is the highest point in the national parks at 20,302 feet.

16. Additionally, Denali National Park has the widest range of elevations, from 200 feet in Yentna River to 20,302 feet at the summit of Mount McKinley.

17. The parks are also home to the lowest point in the western hemisphere: Badwater Basin in Death Valley, California, is 282 feet below sea level.

18. You can visit two parks in a day if you visit Yellowstone National Park and Grand Teton National Park. They are just 10 miles apart in northern Wyoming.

19. California and Alaska each have eight national parks.

20. Arches National Park is famous for having the largest concentration of stone arches in the world.

21. Utah's five national parks are all within easy driving distance of each other, which means that you can cross off five national parks from your "bucket list" on just one trip.

22. The Colorado River and the Green River flow through Utah's national parks, offering some of the best whitewater rafting anywhere in the country.

23. Everglades National Park protects more than 25% of Florida's original everglades (subtropical wetlands).

24. Dry Tortugas National Park in Florida is known for its world-renowned concentration of turtles.

25. Alaska is home to one of the least visited national parks: Kobuk Valley National Park receives just 3,000 visitors per year.

26. Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park, which connects Grand Lake and Estes Park, is the highest continuously paved road in the U.S., and it includes breathtaking views and vistas along its entire 48 miles.

27. Mesa Verde National Park was the first national park to be recognized for "works of man," an acknowledgement of the incredible cliff dwellings left behind by the Pueblo Indians.

28. Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky has the longest cave system in the world with more than 3,454 mapped miles.

29. Carlsbad Caverns National Park in New Mexico is home to the nation's deepest cave, which is 1,593 feet deep.

30. At 1,932 feet deep, Crater Lake National Park in Oregon is the deepest lake in the U.S.

31. There are two national parks located north of the Arctic Circle: Gates of the Arctic National Park
and the Kobuk Valley National Park. Both are obviously in Alaska.

32. The smallest national park unit is part of a part of an acre in downtown Philadelphia, the Thaddeus Kosciuszko National Memorial.

33. Abraham Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt have the most sites named for them:
Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historic Site (Kentucky),
Lincoln Memorial (D.C.),
Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial (Indiana),
Lincoln Home National Historic Site (Illinois),
Theodore Roosevelt Island (D.C.),
Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace National Historic Site (New York),
Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic Site (New York),
and Theodore Roosevelt National Park (North Dakota).

34. National parks are home to a former federal prison, Alcatraz in Golden Gate National Recreation Area, California, and a leper colony, Molokai Island Hansen's Disease Settlement in Kalaupapa National Historic Site, Hawaii.

35. The national parks include 2,000 miles of the Appalachian National Scenic Trail that stretches from Maine to Georgia, a 37-mile-long barrier island (Assateague Island National Seashore, Maryland), and a 184-mile-long canal from Washington, D.C., to Cumberland, Maryland (C&O Canal National Historical Park).

36. Forty million years of mammalian history is preserved in fossils at the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument in Oregon.

37. The national parks are home and habitat to more than 400 endangered or threatened plant and animal species.

38. Seneca Falls National Park in New York is the location of the First Women's Rights Conventions, which discussed expanding rights of women in the mid-19th century.

39. Wind Cave National Park in South Dakota is the first cave to be named a national park in the world.

40. National parks and national monuments are sometimes confused. National parks are chosen for their natural beauty, unique geological features, and unusual ecosystems.

41. Only one state in the country is not lucky enough to currently have either a national park or national monument. It is actually the country's first state, Delaware.

42. The Yellowstone Caldera, Yellowstone National Park, is a super volcano that is responsible for three of the world's six biggest volcano eruptions.

43. Located 70 miles from Key West in the Gulf of Mexico, Dry Tortugas National Park is a collection of seven tiny islands that can be reached only by boat or plane, making it the country's most remote national park.

44. In August, 2014, authorities at California's Sequoia National Park found a $36-million marijuana-cultivation operation just half a mile from a popular tourist site.

45. White Sands National Monument spans more than 176,000 acres of New Mexico desert and contains the largest gypsum dune fields in the world.

46. The National Park of American Samoa is the only National Park Service site south of the equator. It covers 13,500 total acres: 9,500 land acres and 4,000 marine acres, which are mostly coral reefs.

47. Mauna Loa Volcano in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park is the largest volcano on earth both in terms of volume and height above its base. It contains about 19,000 cubic miles of lava and rises more than 50,000 feet above its base, including the portion which is beneath the ocean.

48. There are 25 active glaciers and more than 700 lakes of various sizes inside Glacier National Park.

49. Mount Rainier is the most glaciated peak in the contiguous U.S. with 26 major glaciers.

50. Bears have not killed a single person in Olympic National Park, but a mountain goat, which is not a native species to the region, killed a man in 2010.

51. There are more than 1,630 vascular plant species as well as more than double this number of non-vascular and fungal species in North Cascades National Park.

52. Pinnacles National Park in California was designated on January 10, 2013 and is America's newest national park.

53. Voyageurs National Park in Minnesota has 344 square miles of navigable waters for boating, canoeing and kayaking.

54. Isle Royale National Park is the only major national park to close entirely for the winter because of the difficultly of travel and hazards of wilderness survival during Michigan's winters.

55. About 20,000 people are employed by the National Park Service annually. Those employees are assisted by 246,000 Volunteers-In-Parks (VIPs), who donate about 6.7 million hours annually.

56. There are 879 visitor centers in the National Park System.

57. National parks contain at least 247 species of threatened or endangered plants and animals, more than 75,000 archeological sites, and nearly 27,000 historic and prehistoric structures.

58. The budget for fiscal year 2014 was $2.6 billion. Annual visitor spending in communities within 60 miles of National Park Service sites supports more than 240,000 mostly local jobs and contributes about $27 billion to the U.S. economy.

59. There are over 18,000 miles of trails in the national parks just waiting for you to explore them!

Thanks to The National Park Service, List of US National Parks, Austin Adventures, and Time Magazine for these fun facts!

For more National Park fun, check out these adventures and blog posts!

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On August 25, 1916, President Woodrow Wilson signed the act creating the National Park Service. The "Organic Act" states that the fundamental purpose of the NPS "is to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wild life therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations."

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Shelton Johnson's life has been characterized by three awakenings-moments when the places where you live and sleep and eat play second fiddle to what the soul is singing. Without his third awakening, he wouldn't be who he is now, at age 60: an award-winning, high-profile rangerin Yosemite who's spoken about diversity in the national parks with Barack Obama, gotten Oprah to come camping next to California's Merced River, and become one of the most visible activists for getting more people of color into the outdoors. But without the first awakening, he wouldn't have gotten to the second, then to the third. So we have to start at the beginning.

The German town of Berchtesgaden sits in the Bavarian Alps, 2,297 feet above sea level. In 1963, at the outcrop of a 2,000-foot drop, here stood five-year-old Johnson on a family trip, holding his father's left hand in his right, and his mother's right in his left. Clouds floated below his feet, and their shadows were mottled maps of the sky in the valley below. All around him were snow-covered peaks, with banners of wind unfurling from their mountains, like a rug being snapped and shaken out. Johnson gripped his parents' hands tighter, for fear he'd be scooped up and spit into the abyss, a brown boy vanishing into all that white.

On that day, the wind didn't just blow around Johnson but through him, to a part of himself he previously didn't know was there. He calls it a "baptism of spirit": in that instant, he felt likehis molecules were taken out, swirled with the air, and rearranged so that he'd forever be aligned with these environments and yearn for them. "I had no idea at the time it was going to be the most significant moment in my childhood," Johnson says.

The experience stayed with him when he returned from that vacation to the German village of Contwig, where his family lived for a year and a half while his father was in the Air Force. He would remember it after his family moved to London, in 1964; and when, in 1967, his father's job brought them back to inner-city Detroit, where he would spend the remainder of his adolescence.

When Johnson, at age 25, arrived in Liberia to teach seventh-grade English in the Peace Corps in 1982, the country was in a period of transition following the 1980 overthrow of president William Tolbert. Johnson's post was the village of Kakata, where he worked at the Booker Washington Institute, the country's first agricultural and vocational school. At the time, the institute was smaller than it is now, with a few dormitory-style rooms and one main dining area. But what moved Johnson were the forests surrounding the village, green no matter which direction you threw a stone.

Though Johnson is currently eligible to retire, he says he's not quite ready. There are still communities he wants to reach and people he wants to speak with.

All around Johnson were birds for which he had no name, singing songs he'd never heard. There were spiders the size of a hand with outstretched fingers, which made him feel like he was in a big-bug science-fiction movie from the 1950s. Never before or since has Johnson ever experienced a place like it, a place where you could run your hand over a surface-a leaf slick with rain, a branch bruised by time-and leave with something that wasn't there before. A living organism or two, sure, but more importantly, a feeling. Like something good is hitching a ride and you just don't mind. "It was hot, humid, equatorial, and everything was alive," he says of that period.

Johnson left Liberia months after he'd arrived, stricken by amoebic dysentery and malaria. But he still thinks of red Kakata sunsets and of this second immersion into wilderness. His second awakening.

Johnson first saw the splendor of the U.S. national parks as a child in Detroit, thumbing through issues of National Geographic at home, flipping from Yellowstone to Yosemite to the Grand Canyon and back again. Later, in his twenties, he'd click through slides of these parks on a View-Master, transported to places he could see but still had yet to visit.

One day in 1984, as a graduate student in poetry at the University of Michigan, Johnson took a break from writing and reading and thinking about Langston Hughes, John Keats, and Percy Bysshe Shelley and applied for a job that would change the arc of his life. What he signed up for-to be a dishwasher at Yellowstone's Old Faithful Inn-was more grime than glamour. But it would bring him to the wide-open wilderness of the U.S., which he hadn't yet experienced. When he first stepped off the bus in the park, there was that scene again: mountains covered in snow, and wind blowing off gusts and dusts. There was that feeling again, like when a chord is struck on an instrument and you feel the reverberations in your chest, blood, and bones.

Johnson calls this his third awakening. In that moment, he realized that Detroit, to some degree, had never been his home. It was where his family was, but the wilderness-when it's quiet enough to hear the clouds drift by-was where he belonged. And since getting off the bus in Yellowstone, he's never truly gotten back on again. He went back to Michigan to pack his things, yes, but he returned to the mountains and the wind, and he's been there, figuratively, ever since.

Initially, Johnson didn't think he was qualified to be a park ranger. He could do it, of course, but with a background in classical music, poetry, and literature, he puzzled over how to apply his formal training to everyday tasks. What would he say? "If I catch you speeding again, I'm going to read you one of Shakespeare's sonnets-maybe one he got rid of," he likes to joke. But George Robinson, chief of interpretation at Yellowstone from 1982 to 1992, when Johnson was there, recognized that people's first entry point to parks was often via the written word or photos or paintings. So why not hire a poet?

And so, in 1987, Johnson began his life as a ranger, first at Yellowstone, then at Grand Teton, then at parks in the Washington, D.C., area, and then at Great Basin National Park. For the past 25 years, he's worked at Yosemite, opening and closing the visitor center, leading nature walks, talking about the ecology of black bears, and helping people get closer to the heart of the place however they can. In March, he started focusing his efforts, full-time, on outreach to culturally diverse communities.

Years ago, Johnson was deep in the Yosemite archives when he discovered a faded black-and-white photograph from 1899 that showed five black U.S. Army infantry soldiers. He continued to research military and historical records, building his knowledge about these Buffalo Soldiers, African American troops who were also the original stewards of national parks like Yosemite and Sequoia at the turn of the 20th century, long before there were rangers in these spaces. In addition to evicting poachers and extinguishing forest fires, the Buffalo Soldiers were responsible for building the first road into Sequoia's Giant Forest and constructing the first trail to the top of Mount Whitney, also in Sequoia National Park. "African Americans have a role here and have a history here," he says.

In Johnson's mind, there's no greater story in the national parks than that of the Buffalo Soldiers. This history became a fulcrum of his work in moving the deadweight of misperception, the idea that African Americans have no claim or connection to the national parks. It inspired him to write his 2011 novel , which tells the story of a sharecropper's son who becomes a Buffalo Soldier in the 1900s. In 2012, Johnson started a weekly narrativepodcast called A Buffalo Soldier Speaks, told from the perspective of Sergeant Elizy Boman, who served in Yosemite from 1903 to 1904. (The podcast is currently on hiatus.) Johnson, in character as Boman, still sometimes appears in Yosemite.

Behind these calls for engagement is a hope that people of color will seek out natural spaces and continue to be inspired by them to create. Where are the African American landscape photographers? Johnson wonders. Why don't more African American poets and novelists set their stories in environments like this? "The history is there. But the modern-day equivalent of the extension of those stories and contributions is not here," Johnson says. "And that really troubles me."

Like John Muir before him, Johnson sees himself as carrying a torch-one that lets African Americans see that he's there and celebrating the place, because he thinks these spaces are where disassociation from wildness can be remedied. He feels a responsibility, because only some 6 percent of all National Park Service employees are black, and because studies show that people of color visit the national parks much less frequently than white people. By staying put and speaking, leading, and welcoming, maybe he can help.

"Shelton is 100 percent accurate when he says that representation matters," says Teresa Baker, who worked with Johnson to retrace the Buffalo Soldier Trail and founded the Facebook group African American Nature and Parks Experience in 2013. "Understanding that there's someone there in the visitor center that looks like them or speaks their language, that will be a huge help in pushing visitation when it comes to communities of color in our parks."

Decades after his dishwasher gig that summer in Yellowstone, Johnson is one of the park service's most popular rangers, made more recognizable largely thanks to his turn in filmmaker Ken Burns's six-episode 2009 series on PBS, The National Parks: America's Best Idea. Johnson appeared in every part of the 12-hour program, discussing everything from being greeted by bison upon his arrival in Yellowstone and the democracy of national parks.

According to Kara Stella, Yosemite's deaf-services coordinator, who has worked with Johnson for more than 20 years and is currently his office mate: "Very often, his shift [in the field] will end but it will be quite a while before he ends up back in the office. And I'm pretty sure, when that happens, that he has been caught by someone who is starstruck and wants to take a photo, or a visitor that asks him a question. But he is so present to the visitor that's there." Ben Cunningham-Summerfield, another Yosemite ranger, says: "Shelton takes great joy in sharing that history and his experience with those who care to listen."

Though Johnson is currently eligible to retire, he says he's not quite ready. There are still communities he wants to reach and people he wants to speak with. But when it does happen, it will be a loss on a grand scale, say Johnson's friends, coworkers, and peers, not only because he's such a talent and person of good heart but also because no one else is doing the work he's doing.

"He's keeping alive a narrative that had widely been forgotten and untold for almost a century. To my knowledge, there's no one being groomed to take his place. If he goes away, that could stop. And that would be tragic," says journalist James Edward Mills, whose 2014 documentary An American Ascent was narrated by Johnson. "Shelton is a national treasure."

For now, though he sometimes dreams of trips to France, Italy, and Spain, Johnson is happy where he is, in a place he first discovered decades ago and knew he belonged decades before that. "My home is where the mountains are, and that's why I'm here," he says. "What fires the imagination of my spirit are places like this."

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Lead Photo: Craig Kohlruss/ The Fresno Bee/AP

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How Shelton Johnson Became a Yosemite Legend

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Shelton Johnson's life has been characterized by three awakenings-moments when the places where you live and sleep and eat play second fiddle to what the soul is singing.

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The average salary for a Park Ranger is $39,218.

Negotiate your pay with confidence

What Do Park Rangers Do?

A park ranger can typically be found on patrol at national parks, national historic sites, and similar attractions. They serve as a specialized sort of law enforcement and first responder, but their role may require a great deal of versatility. Park rangers can also be used to help maintain a park area, provide information and guides to guests, and generally serve as supervising personnel to ensure a safe and rewarding experience for all visitors.

In the role of law enforcement or first respond

Assist with park administration by collecting and accounting for revenue and creating reports.

Respond to and write incident reports for visitor complaints and emergencies.

Perform some law enforcement activities to enforce rules, regulations, and policies for visitor and resource protection.

Instruct, supervise, and conduct routine maintenance on grounds and equipment and daily visitor services.

Job Satisfaction for Park Ranger

Popular Employer Salaries for Park Ranger

Career Paths

Explore the most common career paths for Park Ranger. Thickness and color of lines indicates popularity of movement from one job to the next. Visit our career path planner to research other job paths.

Somewhat common (8 - 20%)

What Are Popular Skills for Park Rangers?

Skills in Oral / Verbal Communication are correlated to pay that is above average. Skills that pay less than market rate include Security Policies and Procedures, Operations Management, Maintenance and Customer Service.

What is the Pay by Experience Level for Park Rangers?

An entry-level Park Ranger with less than 1 year experience can expect to earn an average total compensation (includes tips, bonus, and overtime pay) of $35,551 based on 30 salaries. An early career Park Ranger with 1-4 years of experience earns an average total compensation of $35,738 based on 75 salaries. A mid-career Park Ranger with 5-9 years of experience earns an average total compensation of $48,823 based on 38 salaries. An experienced Park Ranger with 10-19 years of experience earns an average total compensation of $56,603 based on 29 salaries. In their late career (20 years and higher), employees earn an average total compensation of $46,500.

Pay Difference by Location

Employees with Park Ranger in their job title in Portland, Oregon earn an average of 27.5% more than the national average. These job titles also find higher than average salaries in Maryland, Maryland (14.7% more) and Denver, Colorado (6.7% more).

Years of Experience

This data is based on 182 survey responses.

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The average salary for a Park Ranger is $39,218. Negotiate your pay with confidence A park ranger can typically be found on patrol at national parks, national historic sites, and similar attractions. They serve as a specialized sort of law enforcement and first responder, but their role may require a great deal of versatility.

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What they do

Park Rangers manage, maintain and protect natural areas that are set aside for conservation and/or tourism. Working in national parks from Ningaloo Reef in the north of the state to the Valley of the Giants in the south-west, these workers ensure that the public are able to use and enjoy Western Australia's natural environment, whilst protecting native flora and fauna. They patrol, monitor wildlife, carry out surveys and other research, and inform the public on how to appropriately use and enjoy these areas. They may also undertake basic maintenance or lead guided walks through the habitats that they care for.

Specialisations include: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Land and Sea Ranger

Working conditions

Park rangers spend a significant amount of their day outdoors, in all kinds of climatic conditions. They undertake physically demanding work and may be required to complete it in sometimes extreme weather conditions. They may also work in isolated areas and may be required to work and stay alone in these remote areas. These workers may also be required to travel between parks and reserves around the state. They often work weekends and public holidays.

Tools and technologies

Park rangers use a number of tools, including gardening and bush-clearing equipment, measuring and recording equipment for conducting surveys, fire-fighting equipment, and light building tools for erecting fences and maintaining pathways.

Education and training

It is possible to work as a park ranger without any formal qualifications and get training on the job. However, entry into this occupation may be improved by obtaining a qualification in conservation and land management, environmental science, environmental management or a related area.

The Certificate II, III and IV in Conservation and Land Management and Certificate III in Indigenous Land Management are offered at TAFE colleges and other registered training organisations throughout Western Australia. Browse courses through Jobs and Skills WA and search on the My Skills website to find a registered provider near you.

You can also undertake a traineeship in conservation and land management (level 2, level 3 or level 4). The traineeships usually take 24 months to complete.

You may also improve your employment prospects if you complete a bachelor degree with a major in environmental science, environmental management, conservation biology or natural resource management.

Most universities in Western Australia offer relevant courses. Contact the universities you are interested in for more information.

Apprenticeships and traineeships

As an apprentice or trainee, you enter into a formal training contract with an employer, enabling you to complete training towards a nationally recognised qualification. You spend time working and learning practical skills on the job and you spend some time undertaking structured training with a registered training provider.

You can do an apprenticeship or traineeship if you are a school-leaver, re-entering the workforce or as an adult or mature-aged person wishing to change careers. You can even begin your apprenticeship or traineeship while you're still at school.

If you are still at school you can access an apprenticeship through your school. Talk to your school's VET Co-ordinator to start your training now through VET in Schools. If you are no longer at school you can apply for an apprenticeship or traineeship and get paid while you learn and work.

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department of training and workforce development

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Park Rangers manage, maintain and protect natural areas that are set aside for conservation and/or tourism. Working in national parks from Ningaloo Reef in the north of the state to the Valley of the Giants in the south-west, these workers ensure that the public are able to use and enjoy Western Australia's natural environment, whilst protecting native flora and fauna.

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Over 100 career profiles to help students explore careers in science, technology, engineering, and math.

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Park rangers help protect and share places of natural or historical significance. They do this by managing these areas, making them available and enjoyable to visitors. They share information on how to make the most of your trip, offer educational programs to help visitors understand the importance of the park, maintain facilities, and keep the parks safe for everyone.

What Does a Park Ranger Do?

Most park ranger positions follow one of two career paths: education and interpretation, or law enforcement (also referred to as "protection"). Those working as park educators and interpreters:

Plan and conduct educational programs for the public on the science, culture, or history of a park

Provide information about the park to guests at a visitors' center, or upon request

Conduct field trips to point out park highlights

Maintain park structures and facilities

Create educational displays and write brochures

Collect park fees

Build and maintain trails

Those in management or administrative positions manage budgets, supplies, employees and schedules.

Rangers involved in park protection patrol the grounds, possibly including backcountry areas, by vehicle, foot, and bike. They also:

Perform emergency duties to protect people, government property, and the park itself

Participate in search and rescue operations

Conduct investigations into accidents, complaints, and illegal activities

Participate in surveillance

Help manage public events

They generally need to be in good physical condition, and may be required to pass a physical fitness test as a condition of employment.

Where Does a Park Ranger Work?

Park rangers work for the government in national, state, and local parks across the country. Some parks provide housing for rangers, though resources are often limited.
The work can sometimes be strenuous. Park rangers work outside in all kinds of weather. Some work may be done in relative isolation in backcountry areas. Cleaning of campground facilities and other manual labor is often part of the job. Park rangers may also face dangerous situations, particularly when patrolling for drug and other illegal activity. They may need to confront dangerous people, and may encounter dangerous animals.

What Is the Average Park Ranger Salary?

Park rangers, who fall under the broader BLS category of forest and conservation workers, earned a median salary of $30,640 as of May 2020. The top 10% in this profession earned more than $48,700 during this time.*

Park Ranger Jobs

Park ranger jobs focus on protecting and conserving natural resources in a federal or state park or rangeland setting. Duties vary significantly from job to job, but the following list includes typical job duties one might encounter as a park ranger:

First response to natural or manmade threats to parkland

Combat forest fires; facilitate additional crews for emergency management

Perform search and rescue missions by means of overland, air, or technology via drone technology or GIS

Stay up to date on health and safety regulations

Provide technical park services and information to adjacent landowners, ecologists and policymakers

Assist with state lands management, resources, and wildlife

Inspect sites for environmental field reports

Work in remote park locations in all weather conditions

Process forestry specimens and samples

Assess new growth or rehabilitated areas; generate reports

Supervise herbicides and insecticides usage to manage pests, weeds, and disease

Maintain and construct facilities and equipment

Patrol forest areas on land and by air

Ensure that visitors to the area have the supplies and skills required to hunt, fish, camp, or hike in the park

Enforce state and federal wildlife laws in regard to hunting, fishing, and camping

Educate visitors and the public on a variety of conservation issues and how they might impact the park

Create and facilitate park and wildlife safety programs

Hire and train volunteer park staff

Senior park rangers are eligible for the role of team lead or manager at some point in their career. Some of the additional tasks that accompany this senior position are:

Consult with lawmakers regarding regulations which may impact the state park

Manage state parklands and resources

Oversee park assessments and environmental reporting

Prepare reports and proposals for submittal to funding agencies

Deploy and remotely manage teams in all weather conditions and locations with appropriate training and resources

Oversee the mapping of state parkland, resources, wildlife and access roads using whatever means required for accuracy

Assess and report on new growth or rehabilitated parkland

Manage the use of herbicides and insecticides to implement pest, weed, and disease control within the park and surrounding natural environs

Manage response to natural or manmade threats to forest areas

Advocate on behalf of the park and its wildlife to the public

Facilitate search and rescue missions within the park

Schedule a patrol schedule that best utilizes human resources and equipment

Create policy that regulates visitors to the park

Create park safety programs

Note staffing and funding shortfalls and work to address the gap

Provide technical forestry services and information to adjacent landowners

What Is the Job Demand for Park Rangers?

The BLS predicts job demand for park rangers to decline about 8 percent between 2020 and 2030.*

What Do Park Rangers Study?

Most park ranger positions require a four-year bachelor's degree. Rangers may have degrees in recreation and tourism management or environmental education. However, a solid background in earth science, environmental science, and biology is important for work at many locations. Many rangers have relevant degrees in biology, forestry, natural resource management and conservation, wildlife biology, or ecology. Study in these subjects prepares them for becoming park interpreters, so they can educate visitors about natural and scientific features. Some aspiring rangers study history to prepare for careers at historically significant sites, such as battlefields.

Competition for ranger positions is fierce, particularly within the National Park Service. Those with college degrees in earth and environmental sciences will have an edge in the job market. Experience is also very important. Start volunteering early - there are many opportunities for summer or seasonal volunteers. Dedicated future rangers start with volunteer work while in high school. Volunteering at the same park for a few years in a row can help strengthen your connections with insiders, so they'll remember you when it comes time to apply for full-time or seasonal paid positions.

Employment with the National Park Service (NPS) is limited to American citizens. Candidates may also need to meet age and physical qualifications.

New federal employees in the national parks have two years to complete the NPS Fundamentals program, an orientation to the agency that involves travel to onsite training in Washington, D.C. and Grand Canyon National Park. Continuing education opportunities are available through NPS.

Degrees Related to Park Rangers

Are you ready to embark on an exciting journey towards becoming a park ranger? ParkRangerEdu.org shares your passion for safeguarding these natural treasures for the enjoyment of generations to come.

What Kind of Societies and Professional Organizations Do Park Rangers Have?

The National Recreation and Park Association (NPRA) administers a certification program for park professionals. Four types of certifications are available. The broadest is the Certified Park and Recreation Professional (CPRP). There are also certifications for park executives, aquatic facility operators, and playground safety inspectors. NRPA also offers continuing education. Its career center posts jobs, as well as peer-to-peer advice and information on professional trends.

*2020 US Bureau of Labor Statistics salary figures and job growth projections for forest and conservation workers reflect national data not school-specific information. Conditions in your area may vary. Data accessed September 2021.

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Park Ranger Career Path Guide: Degree & Edu Requirements

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Discover how to become a Park Ranger, including education requirements, qualifications and degree needed for a career safeguarding our parks and forests.

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A ranger, park ranger, park warden, or forest ranger is a person entrusted with protecting and preserving parklands - national, state, provincial, or local parks.

"Parks" may be broadly defined by some systems in this context, and include protected culturally or historically important built environments, and is not limited to the natural environment. Different countries use different names for the position. Warden is the favored term in Canada, Ireland, and the United Kingdom. Within the United States, the National Park Service refers to the position as a park ranger. The U.S. Forest Service refers to the position as a forest ranger. Other countries use the term park warden or game warden to describe this occupation. The profession includes a number of disciplines and specializations, and park rangers are often required to be proficient in more than one.

In medieval England, rangers were officials employed to "range" through the countryside providing law and order (often against poaching). Their duties were originally confined to seeing that the Forest Law was enforced in the outlands, or purlieus, of the royal forests. Their duties corresponded in some respects with that of a mounted forester.

The term ranger seems to correspond to the Medieval Latin word regardatores which appeared in 1217 in the Charter of the Forest. Regardatores was later rendered as rangers in the English translations of the Charter. However, others translate regardatores as regarders. For example, the fifth clause of the Charter of the Forest is commonly translated thus: "Our regarders shall go through the forests making the regard as it used to be made at the time of the first coronation of the aforesaid King Henry [II] our grandfather, and not otherwise." A "regard" is considered to be an inspection of the forest.

The earliest letters patent found mentioning the term refer to a commission of a ranger in 1341. Documents from 1455 state that England had "all manner and singular Offices of Foresters and Rangers of our said Forests".

One of the first appearances of ranger in literature is in Edmund Spenser's poem The Shepheardes Calendar from 1579: "[Wolves] walk not widely, as they were wont, for fear of rangers and the great hunt."

The office of Ranger of Windsor Great Park appears to have been created in 1601.

Rangers in North America, 17th century - 19th century

In North America, rangers served in the 17th through 18th-century wars between colonists and Native American Indian tribes. Rangers were full-time soldiers employed by colonial governments to patrol between fixed frontier fortifications in reconnaissance providing early warning of raids. During offensive operations, they acted as scouts and guides, locating villages and other targets for task forces drawn from the militia or other colonial troops. During the Revolutionary War, General George Washington ordered Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Knowlton to select an elite group of men for reconnaissance missions. This unit was known as Knowlton's Rangers, and was the first official Ranger unit for the United States, considered the historical parent of the modern day Army Rangers.

Early conservation and park rangers in the United States, 1866-1916

The word was resurrected by Americans in the 19th and 20th centuries from the old idioms used for the Wardens - royally appointed - who patrolled the deer parks and hunting forests in England.

There is much debate among scholars about which area was the world's first national park (Yosemite or Yellowstone), so not surprisingly there is little agreement about who was the first national park ranger. Some argue that Galen Clark was first when, on May 21, 1866, he became the first person formally appointed and paid to protect and administer Yosemite, thus become California's and the nation's first park ranger. Clark served as the Guardian of Yosemite for 24 years. Others point to Harry Yount who worked as a gamekeeper in Yellowstone National Park in 1880-1881. Prophetically, Yount recommended "the appointment of a small, active, reliable police force...[to] assist the superintendent of the park in enforcing laws, rules, and regulations." The first permanent appointment of rangers in a national park occurred on September 23, 1898, when Charles A. Leidig and Archie O. Leonard became forest rangers at Yosemite National Park.

One of the earliest uses of the term ranger was on badges with the title "Forest Reserve Ranger" which were used from 1898 to 1906 by the U.S. Department of the Interior. These badges were presumably issued to rangers working in the national parks as well as those in the national forests, since both were known as Forest Rangers at that time.

The term ranger was also applied to a reorganization of the Fire Warden force in the Adirondack Park after 1899 when fires burned 80,000 acres (320 km ²) in the park.[citation needed ] The name was taken from Rogers' Rangers, a small force famous for their woodcraft that fought in the area during the French and Indian War in 1755.

Duties, disciplines, and specializations

The duties of the modern park ranger are as varied and diverse as the parks where they serve and in recent years have become more highly specialized. Regardless of the regular duties of any one discipline, the goal of all rangers remains to protect the park resources for future generations and to protect park visitors. This goal is accomplished by the professionalism and sometimes overlapping of the different divisions. For example, an interpretive ranger may perform a law enforcement role by explaining special park regulations to visitors and encouraging them to be proper stewards of natural and cultural history. Law enforcement rangers and other park employees may contribute to the mission of the interpretive ranger by providing information to park visitors about park resources and facilities. The spirit of teamwork in accomplishing the mission of protecting the parks and people is underscored by the fact that in many cases, for the U.S. National Park Rangers in particular, all park rangers share a common uniform regardless of work assignment.

Law enforcement: Law enforcement rangers have police powers and enforce national, state, provincial, and/or local laws as well as park regulations. In some developing countries, the park rangers patrolling natural preserves may be heavily armed and function as paramilitary organizations against organized poachers or even guerrillas. In many other developing countries however, park rangers have law enforcement authority and do carry firearms as they seek to achieve respect for nature by building good relationships with local communities and the visiting public. In units of the U.S. National Park System, Law Enforcement Rangers are the primary police agency; their services may be augmented by the US Park Police, particularly in the Washington, DC and San Francisco metropolitan areas. The U.S. National Park Service also has a section of "Special Agents" who conduct more complex criminal investigations. According to U.S. Department of Justice statistics, National Park Service Law Enforcement Rangers suffer the highest number of felonious assaults, and the highest number of homicides of all federal law enforcement officers. The City of New York has a uniformed division of Park Rangers called the New York City Parks Enforcement Patrol who are responsible for patrolling the city parks, pools and beaches.

Interpretation and education: Park Rangers provide a wide range of informational services to visitors. Some Rangers provide practical information-such as driving directions, train timetables, weather forecasts, trip-planning resources, and beyond. Rangers may provide interpretive programs to visitors intended to foster stewardship of the resources by the visitor as a method of resource protection. Interpretation in this sense includes (but is not limited to): guided tours about the park's history, ecology or both; slideshows, talks, demonstrations; informal contacts, and historical re-enactments. Rangers may also engage in leading more formalized curriculum-based educational programs, meant to support and complement instruction received by visiting students in traditional academic settings and often designed to help educators meet specific national and/or local standards of instruction. All uniformed rangers, regardless of their primary duties, are often expected to be experts on the resources in their care, whether they are natural or cultural.

Emergency response: Rangers are often trained in wilderness first aid and participate in search and rescue to locate lost persons in the wilderness. Many national parks require law enforcement rangers to maintain certification as Emergency Medical Responders, Emergency Medical Technicians, or Paramedics. Depending on the needs of the park where assigned, rangers may participate in high-angle rescue, swift-water rescue, may be certified scuba divers, and can become specially trained as helicopter pilots or crew members.

Firefighting: Rangers are often the first to spot forest fires and are often trained to engage in wild land firefighting and in some cases structural fire fighting. Rangers also enforce laws and regulations regarding campfires and other fires on park lands. In the face of a fire outside their control, rangers will call for help and evacuate persons from the area pending the arrival of additional firefighters.

Dispatcher: Some rangers work as park protection dispatchers, answering emergency calls and dispatching law enforcement rangers, park fire fighters or Park EMS crews by radio to emergency calls for service. Park Dispatchers provide pre-arrival instructions to callers to help them stay alive until responding units arrive. Dispatchers coordinate multi-agency responses to emergencies within the park boundaries and utilize computer systems to check for criminal histories of subjects stopped by park law enforcement rangers. Park Dispatchers typically perform other duties such as taking lost-and-found reports, monitoring CCTV surveillance cameras and fire alarms. Dispatchers are assigned to the Park Protection Division.

Scientists and scholars: Rangers are responsible for protecting the natural resources or cultural sites for which they work. This includes obtaining and preserving knowledge about the area. As such, many different types of historians and scientists are employed as rangers. Some scientific positions often filled by rangers include archaeologist, many different types of biologist, ecologist, fire scientist, geologist, hydrologist, paleontologist, soil scientist, volcanologist, etc. Rangers in these positions are expected to study, monitor, and inform others (in the form of published, peer-reviewed scientific papers as well as internally) about their findings. These people add to the knowledge dispersed in interpretive and educational programs, and provide information needed by managers and others to more effectively protect the resource.

Maintenance: Some rangers perform regular maintenance on infrastructure or equipment such as fire rings as part of their duties - especially in preparing for winter closures and spring reopenings. Rangers are often the first to discover vandalism or weather-related damage to park roads, trails and campgrounds.

Administration: In many cases administrative staff members are categorized officially as park rangers and may wear the distinct park ranger uniform while working "behind the scenes" to ensure the continued operation of the parks. These rangers may set policy for the parks, or handle park budgets, computers and technology, human resources, or other fields related to the administration of parks. In the case of management these positions are usually filled by individuals who have moved up from other field-based positions. These individuals are often heavily cross trained in order to allow for a knowledge of all other areas and duties under their authority.

The Adopt A Ranger Foundation has calculated that worldwide about 150,000 rangers are needed for the protected areas in developing and transitions countries. There is no data on how many rangers are employed at the moment, but probably less than half the protected areas in developing and transition countries have any rangers at all and those that have them are at least 50% short. This means that there would be a worldwide ranger deficit of 105,000 rangers in the developing and transition countries.

One of the world's foremost conservationists, Dr. Kenton Miller, stated about the importance of rangers: "The future of our ecosystem services and our heritage depends upon park rangers. With the rapidity at which the challenges to protected areas are both changing and increasing, there has never been more of a need for well prepared human capacity to manage. Park rangers are the backbone of park management. They are on the ground. They work on the front line with scientists, visitors, and members of local communities."

Adopt A Ranger fears that the ranger deficit is the single greatest limiting factor in effectively protecting nature in 75% of the world. Currently, no conservation organization or Western country or international organization addresses this problem. Adopt A Ranger has been incorporated to draw worldwide public attention to the most urgent problem that conservation is facing in developing and transition countries: protected areas without field staff. Specifically, it will contribute to solving the problem by fund raising to finance rangers in the field. It will also help governments in developing and transition countries to assess realistic staffing needs and staffing strategies.

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A ranger, park ranger, park warden, or forest ranger is a person entrusted with protecting and preserving parklands - national, state, provincial, or local parks. "Parks" may be broadly defined by some systems in this context, and include protected culturally or historically important built environments, and is not limited to the natural environment.

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To be a park ranger you must have a bachelor's degree.

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Park rangers use tools made for mesuring and recording to take surveys, gardening tools, tools to fight fires, and small building tools to keep things like pathways and fences in a good state.

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If you worked as a park ranger you would most likely work at a national park or you may be working at a natural reserve witch is simular.

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Park rangers have do a lot of things for their job. One thing that they have to do is enforce rules to and laws to protect people and nature. Another thing that they have to do is help out hurt animals. They also help to spot fires and fight them. One last thing that they do is take people on tours and teach them why they do there job and things about the parks that they are working at.

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On Mat 12, 1866, Galen Clarck became the nations first Park Ranger.

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This Job Benifits Society because it is keeping the enviornment safe. By protecting the enviornment they have a place that is safe for animals to be and a place where people can come visit to see why they too should help protect the enviornment.

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The average salary for a park ranger is between $26,000 to $61,000 a year.

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Gerald Ford-38th President
Shelton Johnson-Spoken with Obama About diversity in national parks and got Oprah to come camping next to Merced River.

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1.There is over 84 million acres of land and historic sites that are protected by  National Parks.
2. 3 out of the ten highest water falls are in Yosemite.
3.Both California and Alaska have 8 national parks.
4.Crater Lake National Park in Oregon has the deepest lake in the U.S.A at a depth of 1,932 feet.
5.There are 879 visitor centers at national parks.