Current Position: Park Naturalist
How long have you been with Virginia State Parks and in what capacity?
I started working for DCR at Pocahontas State Park in Chesterfield, Virginia in the spring of 2003 as a seasonal interpreter. By the winter of 2004-2005 I was promoted to manager of the interpretive department.
How did you become involved in working as a Park Naturalist?
At the time I was a stay at home mom! I brought my two children - then ages one and three - to the Pocahontas State Park spring session of Curious Kids, which was a nature and history based program geared specifically to the preschool age. I fell in love with the park and the program and something just clicked. It wasn’t something I ever planned to do but after attending that first program I knew that’s where my future lay. When I asked about a potential job here and found that they were currently hiring for summer employees I jumped at the chance. Between being a lifelong visitor to state parks throughout the south and having a childhood rooted in nature exploration I had a deep seated interest and fascination with natural spaces. I was so excited to be able to pass on my knowledge and appreciation to others!
Describe a typical day at your job.
(If there is no such thing as a typical day, then please tell us about your primary responsibilities and duties.)
It's all dictated by the seasons. In the summer a typical day might be spending the morning with 60 children who came to visit with their daycare introducing them to the animals in the nature center and leading them on a guided hike. The afternoon would be spent in the same way (different group!) or doing a roving ranger at the pool. Evenings would be filled with campfire programs or guided canoe or kayak trips. Any time in between is used for research and development, administrative work and nature center maintenance. During the off season a day might be spent visiting a local school and bringing nature to them - some critters from the Nature Center and a guided “school yard safari” to look for habitats. The work a park naturalist or interpreter does is so varied, that it really is hard to pin down a typical day!
How many hours a week do you work in this position?
I try to keep it to 40 hours, but in the summer sometimes it’s 50 or more. As interest in our local natural spaces grows, so does the demand for environmental education programming.
What aspects of your job do you enjoy the most?
Everything, really. Some days working with the public is so rewarding. Other days pre-hiking trails before bringing a large group out is a wonderful way to reconnect with the park. I even enjoy the administration - returning phone calls and emails, working on spreadsheets, program development.
What do you find to be the greatest challenges of your job?
There are limiting factors with every job – lack of staff, budget and of course weather play a big role in what I can and can’t offer to the public. It can be very frustrating to know that there is so much more that I could be doing, but can’t because I don’t have another staff member to help, or because I can’t afford the resources I need to offer just one more program to just one more group or because it’s rained 10 days in a row. But challenges of this sort aren’t all bad.
The good thing about challenges – any challenges in any job – is that they keep you creative. You don’t get complacent if you are constantly trying to figure how to fill a bucket with a teaspoon of water!
I think anything worth having is worth working for, and if that means using volunteers, making program props with found objects instead of buying them or changing a canoe trip to a Nature Center program at the last minute, then that’s one more hurdle that’s been crossed, and that’s very rewarding.
What kind of training/schooling is required in your position?
I feel that education and training are an on-going, life-long commitment, so no matter what your educational background is, if this type of work is something you are passionate about, and you have the people skills necessary to connect with and inspire park visitors, then you’ll succeed regardless of what you studied in school. The ability to work well with the public is also as necessary as the education you have. That being said, I would encourage anyone who knows that this is the kind of job for them to pursue a degree in biology, environmental education, environmental science, park management, interpretation or history. Many areas offer Master Naturalist programs, and I would strongly encourage enrolling in a program like that if it’s available.
Is there any kind of training or general experience that you wish you had before taking your job?
Yes, I wish I had a botany degree! I love plants – everything about them, from the way they look to their role in the ecosystem and even historic uses in both food and medicine, and no matter how much I learn about them I feel like there is so much more to discover. I also wish degrees in environmental interpretation were more readily available when I was in college.
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