20070927 Idle Time

20070927 Idle Time

Generally I accept responsibility for myself and my actions. I pay my bills and taxes, don’t file nuisance lawsuits, and as a government employee give the government its money’s worth.

That same government fires me twice a year.

Everglades National Park is happy to see me in November but in April they force a good-bye.


Katmai National Park welcomes me in early May. Four and one-half months later the party is over. This means that I have no income for about three months of each year. No earned income, anyway. I am paid for not working. I am on the dole.


How do I justify taking money I did not earn? The park service needs seasonal workers. The seasonal nature of visitation dictates the seasonal nature of the work. For some positions, especially in maintenance, local candidates could fill positions. It is my opinion that not enough qualified local residents could be found to fill interpreter positions. Thus people travel from all over this vast land to work the relatively low-paying 4-6 month jobs as naturalists and historians, tour guides and trip planners in our nation’s national parks.

The government that hires these people does not pay transportation costs. An interpreter from, say, Michigan, must come out of pocket for travel to south Florida to work in the Everglades. In 2007 I paid my way from Florida to Alaska, recently paid to fly myself and my belongings from remote King Salmon, Alaska to Oakland, and will shortly be paying to drive my truck and small trailer from California to Florida.

No one forces me to move twice a year at no small expense. I choose this lifestyle and I enjoy it. Still, I believe that receiving unemployment compensation between my park service seasons helps me to defray the costs of relocating for the benefit of the Service [and me].