Position: Park Ranger at Wakulla Springs State Park in Wakulla, Florida.
How long have you been with the Florida Park Service and in what capacity?
I began my work as a park ranger at Wakulla Springs State Park in September of 2006. I was hired as a Park Services Specialist. A Park Services Specialist is given additional responsibilities to facilitate creative implementation of each park's resource management and visitor services mission. My area of focus is the coordination of special events at the park.
How did you become involved in working as a park ranger?
My wife and I decided to pull up stakes and leave the urbanized canyons of South Florida for the towering forests, spring-fed rivers, and general natural beauty of Wakulla County. The only downside to our choice was the fact that I would need to leave a career that I dearly loved.
For almost twenty years I had worked as a teacher for a small private company that specialized in science-based, hands-on programs for students of all ages. The interpretive tours at Wakulla Springs State Park had peaked my interest. I was able to get a part-time position driving the tour boats during the busy summer months. I enjoyed the people I worked with and the work I was doing. When a position opened up for a Park Services Specialist Program Coordinator I thought my experiences would make me a good match. Thankfully so did a couple other folks and the rest is history.
Describe a typical day at your job.
Although no day is ever typical, there are patterns of familiarity that are established. Of course, into every pattern quirks will fall.
Tasks run the gamut of exposing visitors to the wonder of Wakulla Springs on a glass bottom boat to the mundane chores of sweeping out the restrooms and picking up litter. Park Rangers take turns showing guests the amazing wildlife to be seen during a river boat cruise or the spectacle of a gin-clear spring through the portal of a glass-bottom boat. In between trips there is time to work on assigned projects.
Projects are as varied as the individuals who carry them out. They can entail painting, keeping track of vehicle logs, producing or updating brochures, maintaining audio equipment, coordinating volunteers, assisting with a prescribed burn, invasive plant eradication, and the list goes on.
Days on which the ranger is not assigned to drive boats may involve collecting fees at the ranger station or waterfront office for the boat trips. Other days require traveling throughout the park and the area running errands for administration and the maintenance department. Still other days the property is patrolled to insure proper stewardship of its resources.
Variety is the spice of life; and the life of a ranger is usually pretty spicy.
How many hours a week do you work?
There are rare exceptions, but usually I work a 40-hour week.
What aspects of your job do you enjoy the most?
I enjoy those aspects that allow me to utilize my communications skills. It is always a pleasure to speak with the many diversified guests that visit the park. The challenge is sharing the value of our unique ecosystem in an understandable and entertaining way.
I have spent time honing my communication skills through the penning of articles for local publications and the park newsletter. They have been very kindly received; and I have been encouraged to spread the ever compelling news and notes of the park in script.
Thankfully, we have a staff that is equally diverse. Their encouragement and support is probably the greatest blessing of the work I do.
What do you find to be the greatest challenges of your job?
Time -- there never seems to be enough. I am constantly looking weeks ahead to schedule enough time for the next article, newsletter, or event. And then of course, there is always the unknown that steps on center stage at inopportune moments. Yes, the greatest challenge is organizing the time to make things happen well.
What kind of training/schooling is required in your position?
Although a high school diploma, a driver's license, and a boater safety card might be enough to get a position as a park ranger at Wakulla Springs, very often an open position is often flooded with applicants. A demonstration of people skills, an understanding of the local ecosystems, and a background of experiences suited to the position will give an advantage.
Is there any kind of training or general experience that you wish you had before taking your job?
Yes. I wish I had a better understanding of how state agencies function. But I'm learning.
What are a few of the projects that you've been working on recently that have been the most interesting?
My most interesting and time consuming project is the Wakulla Wildlife Festival. It is literally a sixty-ring circus with over forty exhibitors, twenty artists, and thirty tour guides and presenters. I coordinate most aspects of the event from scheduling tours and programs, communicating with participants, developing publications, soliciting supporters, overseeing set-up and clean-up, and implementing marketing.
If someone were interested in working as a park ranger, what advice could you give them?
Park ranger responsibilities are often split to varying degrees depending upon the park an individual would be serving. Emphasis on maintenance, administration, visitor services, resource management, and protection are as different as the 160 parks in the Florida Park Service.
Choose a park that interests you and look for opportunities to volunteer or work part time utilizing your skills. The better you understand the needs of a given park and the better suited your experiences are to those needs, the more likely you are to get a position.
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