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A ranger, park ranger, park warden, or forest ranger is a
law enforcement Law enforcement is the activity of some members of government who act in an organized manner to enforce the law by discovering, deterring, rehabilitating, or punishing people who violate the rules and norms governing that society. The term ...
person entrusted with protecting and preserving
park A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are green spaces set aside for recreation inside towns and cities. ...
lands – national, state, provincial, or local parks.


Description

"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 Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...
,
Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...
, and the United Kingdom. Within the United States, the
National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational properti ...
refers to the position as a park ranger. The
U.S. Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands. The Forest Service manages of land. Major divisions of the agency inc ...
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. They take care of national parks.


History

In medieval England, rangers, originally called under-foresters, were the most junior officials employed to "range" through the countryside enforcing the forest law imposed by
William the Conqueror William I; ang, WillelmI (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first Norman king of England, reigning from 1066 until his death in 10 ...
to protect the "vert and venison". Their duties were originally confined to seeing that the Forest Law was enforced in the borders, or purlieus, of the royal forests. Above them were the Foresters-in-Fee (later called Woodwards), then the Verderers, then the Justices in Eyre. Their duties corresponded in some respects with that of a mounted forester. The term ''ranger'' seems to correspond to the
Medieval Latin Medieval Latin was the form of Literary Latin used in Roman Catholic Western Europe during the Middle Ages. In this region it served as the primary written language, though local languages were also written to varying degrees. Latin functioned ...
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 Iour 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: " olveswalk not widely, as they were wont, for fear of rangers and the great hunt." The office of
Ranger of Windsor Great Park The office of Ranger of Windsor Great Park was established to oversee the protection and maintenance of the Great Park at Windsor in the English county of Berkshire. The ranger has always been somebody close to the monarch. Apart from a singl ...
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 George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of ...
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 Galen Clark (March 28, 1814 – March 24, 1910) was a Canadian-born American conservationist and writer. He is known as the first European American to discover the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoia trees, and is notable for his role in gaining le ...
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 Yellowstone National Park is an American national park located in the western United States, largely in the northwest corner of Wyoming and extending into Montana and Idaho. It was established by the 42nd U.S. Congress with the Yellowst ...
in 1880–1881. Prophetically, Yount recommended "the appointment of a small, active, reliable police force... oassist 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 Yosemite National Park ( ) is an American national park in California, surrounded on the southeast by Sierra National Forest and on the northwest by Stanislaus National Forest. The park is managed by the National Park Service and covers an ...
. 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 The Adirondack Park is a part of New York's Forest Preserve in northeastern New York, United States. The park was established in 1892 for “the free use of all the people for their health and pleasure”, and for watershed protection. The park ...
after 1899 when fires burned in the park. The name was taken from
Rogers' Rangers Rogers' Rangers was a company of soldiers from the Province of New Hampshire raised by Major Robert Rogers and attached to the British Army during the Seven Years' War ( French and Indian War). The unit was quickly adopted into the British arm ...
, a small force famous for their woodcraft that fought in the area during the
French and Indian War The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was a theater of the Seven Years' War, which pitted the North American colonies of the British Empire against those of the French, each side being supported by various Native American tribes. At the st ...
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 is the activity of some members of government who act in an organized manner to enforce the law by discovering, deterring, rehabilitating, or punishing people who violate the rules and norms governing that society. The term ...
: 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 Interpretation may refer to: Culture * Aesthetic interpretation, an explanation of the meaning of a work of art * Allegorical interpretation, an approach that assumes a text should not be interpreted literally * Dramatic Interpretation, an event ...
and
education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty ...
: 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 Stewardship is an ethical value that embodies the responsible planning and management of resources. The concepts of stewardship can be applied to the environment and nature, economics, health, property, information, theology, cultural resources e ...
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 In education, a curriculum (; plural, : curricula or curriculums) is broadly defined as the totality of student experiences that occur in the educational process. The term often refers specifically to a planned sequence of instruction, or to ...
-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 parklands. 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. *
Scientist A scientist is a person who conducts scientific research to advance knowledge in an area of the natural sciences. In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, philosophers engaged in the philosop ...
s 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
historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the st ...
s and
scientist A scientist is a person who conducts scientific research to advance knowledge in an area of the natural sciences. In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, philosophers engaged in the philosop ...
s are employed as rangers. Some scientific positions often filled by rangers include
archaeologist Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landsca ...
, many different types of
biologist A biologist is a scientist who conducts research in biology. Biologists are interested in studying life on Earth, whether it is an individual cell, a multicellular organism, or a community of interacting populations. They usually specialize ...
,
ecologist Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overlaps wi ...
,
geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid, liquid, and gaseous matter that constitutes Earth and other terrestrial planets, as well as the processes that shape them. Geologists usually study geology, earth science, or geophysics, althou ...
, hydrologist,
paleontologist Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of fossi ...
, 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 Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal ** Administrative Assistant, traditionally known as a Secretary, or also known as an administrative officer, admini ...
: 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 Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activitie ...
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.


Worldwide ranger deficit in developing countries

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 Ecosystem services are the many and varied benefits to humans provided by the natural environment and healthy ecosystems. Such ecosystems include, for example, agroecosystems, forest ecosystem, grassland ecosystems, and aquatic ecosystems. ...
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.


In popular culture

In popular culture, a
stereotype In social psychology, a stereotype is a generalized belief about a particular category of people. It is an expectation that people might have about every person of a particular group. The type of expectation can vary; it can be, for exampl ...
of American park rangers has been created by children's media such as the '' Yogi Bear'' cartoon series ( Ranger Smith), as well as Disney's Ranger Woodlore and the anthropomorphic character Ranger Rick from the magazine of the same name.


See also

* Camera trap: for detecting which animals are present in an area * Conservation officer * Ecotourism in Africa *
Game warden A conservation officer is a law enforcement officer who protects wildlife and the environment. A conservation officer may also be referred to as an environmental technician or technologist, game warden, forest ranger, forest watcher, forest g ...
* Gunfire locator: locating of (illegal) hunting activity * Preventive horn removal * Hatching out eggs using an incubatorRangers work for royal albatross
/ref> * Invasive species eradication * Moving out ivory stockpiles (burning, sale, ...): increases park ranger safety * Protected area * Ranger (disambiguation) * Rewilding: reintroduction of lost native species (especially keystone species and predators) into an area * Sea turtle hatcheries * The Thin Green Line * US National Park Rangers


References


Sources

*


External links


Use of audio equipment to detect illegal logging activity
{{DEFAULTSORT:Park Ranger Public safety Protective service occupations Parks Law enforcement occupations Ranger organizations of the United States Environmental interpretation eo:Arbargardisto ja:自然保護官