20060621 I Love My Jobs
20060621 I Love My Jobs
It has been my experience that many people romanticize about the job of park ranger. Visitors often declare, “You have the best job in the world! I would love to have your job.” They say this without first-hand knowledge of what the job entails. Like any other, the occupation of seasonal ranger naturalist with the National Park Service [NPS] has its ups and downs.
We have the opportunity to work and live in areas of scenic splendor, biological interest, and historical significance. We are paid to share these places with generally nice people on vacation. While not all rangers do, I choose those positions where I can live in a small, almost crime-free NPS community within the park and within easy walking distance from my workplace.
The tradeoffs we accept for wonderful working conditions often include rental housing that would kindly be described as rustic and more realistically as substandard. Also, seasonal rangers enjoy relatively low pay and no benefits. The old saying is that park rangers must be willing to accept at least some of their compensation in the form of sunrises and sunsets. This sounds wonderful, until the phone company calls complaining that the bill is overdue. “Can I send you half a sunset? Will that work?”
Most of the naturalist work in national parks is seasonal. For rangers like me who work summer and winter, we can be “fired” twice a year. This can be a double-edged sword.
Seasonal work means that we have the freedom to move from park to park every few months if the jobs are available and we are selected. We must apply for these positions along with sometimes hundreds of others in a game of musical chairs. Ongoing NPS budget woes mean each year chairs are removed. While we can be rehired noncompetitively to last year’s job, we cannot be sure that job will be funded this year. Thus, we are always looking for work.
This is the time of year I start looking for winter work, as my Everglades job may or may not be there come November. When I first started in 1997, a 14-page paper application was required to be submitted by an early July deadline. Seasonals could send applications to a maximum of two parks per season. Now we apply online to an unlimited number of parks.
Of course, the number of parks to which we can apply is limited by the number of parks offering positions. Law enforcement ranger positions tend to be much more plentiful than those for naturalists. As of today, the number of parks offering seasonal naturalist positions for the coming winter is….zero.
Still, make no mistake, I love my jobs.
It has been my experience that many people romanticize about the job of park ranger. Visitors often declare, “You have the best job in the world! I would love to have your job.” They say this without first-hand knowledge of what the job entails. Like any other, the occupation of seasonal ranger naturalist with the National Park Service [NPS] has its ups and downs.
We have the opportunity to work and live in areas of scenic splendor, biological interest, and historical significance. We are paid to share these places with generally nice people on vacation. While not all rangers do, I choose those positions where I can live in a small, almost crime-free NPS community within the park and within easy walking distance from my workplace.
The tradeoffs we accept for wonderful working conditions often include rental housing that would kindly be described as rustic and more realistically as substandard. Also, seasonal rangers enjoy relatively low pay and no benefits. The old saying is that park rangers must be willing to accept at least some of their compensation in the form of sunrises and sunsets. This sounds wonderful, until the phone company calls complaining that the bill is overdue. “Can I send you half a sunset? Will that work?”
Most of the naturalist work in national parks is seasonal. For rangers like me who work summer and winter, we can be “fired” twice a year. This can be a double-edged sword.
Seasonal work means that we have the freedom to move from park to park every few months if the jobs are available and we are selected. We must apply for these positions along with sometimes hundreds of others in a game of musical chairs. Ongoing NPS budget woes mean each year chairs are removed. While we can be rehired noncompetitively to last year’s job, we cannot be sure that job will be funded this year. Thus, we are always looking for work.
This is the time of year I start looking for winter work, as my Everglades job may or may not be there come November. When I first started in 1997, a 14-page paper application was required to be submitted by an early July deadline. Seasonals could send applications to a maximum of two parks per season. Now we apply online to an unlimited number of parks.
Of course, the number of parks to which we can apply is limited by the number of parks offering positions. Law enforcement ranger positions tend to be much more plentiful than those for naturalists. As of today, the number of parks offering seasonal naturalist positions for the coming winter is….zero.
Still, make no mistake, I love my jobs.
posted by Tim at 6:29 PM
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