Park Rangers: Protecting Nature & Preserving Safety - Essay Sample

Introduction

A park ranger is an individual charged with protecting the natural reserves, significant archaeological sites and destinations protected under the California State Park System. They are also responsible for law enforcement to protect the parks, offering visitor services, and ensuring that visitors enjoy the beauty of the park at the least environmental impact. The rangers are faced with various challenges in their line of duty. They may face assault as they enforce the law in the parks. Their lives are also exposed to risks due to forest fires and wild animals. This paper focuses on discussing the issues for the California State Park rangers.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

Park rangers are faced with many challenges. In their duty of enforcing the law in the state park, they may face assault when they attempt to subdue a suspect. Visitors may come armed with knives and other weapons (Hand, 2018). Most criminals visit the parks to commit crimes or avoid being arrested; therefore, they may attack them. They may also be required to assist fellow law enforcement officers chasing an armed suspect on a remote icy road.

Additionally, forest fires endanger the lives of the park rangers in the California State Park. Rangers are mandated to watch for signs of fires and respond to any fire outbreak (Cooke, 2016). When needed, they engage in coordinating and supervising efforts of volunteers and other fire departments to suppress fire (Peterson, 2016). Despite having the equipment and being trained on how to combat the fire, the blazes can be volatile. A change in wind or a mistake can make it hard for them to escape the fire unhurt. It may, therefore, put their lives to risk.

The park rangers face a challenge in their effort to search and rescue the lost visitors. The parks are vast, and visitors may lose their way or sustain injuries. The rangers have a responsibility to find the missing persons or coordinate the rescue efforts (Gibson, 2019). The lost person may have lost their way from the trail forcing the rangers to search in the rocky terrain. They may face dangers from possible falls and encounters with dangerous animals. Sudden changes in weather may pose additional risks for the rangers.

Rangers may face risks when interacting with the wildlife. California State Park is home to a variety of wildlife. In their line of duties, the rangers encounter predators such as the lions or bears (Valot, 2015). Bears may be dangerous for them as they may even smash and open car doors in search of food. The rangers sometimes also take care of the ill and injured animals. The animals may pose a risk when they are in pain and when the ranger attempts to treat or rescue them.

Moreover, sometimes, rangers work in remote areas, which may block cell phone coverage. It can make it difficult for the rangers to acquire back up assistance when it is required. It may also take time before help arrives. Navigating the location may also be difficult (Joyce, 2016). It exposes the rangers to additional risks as they cannot obtain fast assistance in case of an injury. In case they need help to subdue suspects, they may be unable to beckon help. The aid might also be slow, exposing the ranger to more risks.

Threats and assaults from visitors further face the park rangers. They are required to stop poachers and prevent people from camping in the wrong places (Faber, 2015). They may also block visitors from fishing in the wrong places. In their attempt to stop poachers, they may get killed or injured. Many park service rangers have been slain in their line of duty. As more people live in the proximity of the parks, there is an increased risk for the rangers (Hoskins, 2016). Hikers give way for the hunters making it easy for poachers to invade the parks. Therefore, the rangers have to watch out for illegal hunters who pose a threat than the wild animals do.

However, park rangers have embraced technology to create a safe environment for visitors. Nowadays, they rely on GPS and a series of recording devices to track animal populations (Van Kirk, 2015). It not only protects the animals but also protects the rangers from the risks involved when searching for lost visitors. They also use GPS tracking devices to monitor the black bears since they pose a hazard to the park rangers and visitors (Greer, 2016). Human beings' encounters with bears have reduced lowering the aggressive incidents with bears. Fewer bears are also being killed as they do not get close to people.

Technology has also aided in hunting for poachers. Tools like infrared cameras have been used to monitor poachers during the night time (Wick, 2016). Thermal cameras are also used to pick up the heat emitted by the poachers and animals as they pass the viewpoint. Installed software helps in determining whether the heat is from a human being or an animal. If a human is identified, an alert is sent to the park rangers who later deploy a group of rangers to pursue the intruder.

Moreover, technology has enabled the park rangers to detect the forest fires early. Sensors and the infrared cameras help in spotting fires before they can become hard to control. Weather satellites and aerial drones integrated with the existing aircraft and fire towers have also been used in the past to detect fires (Doyle, 2016). Robots may also be used to extinguish the fires as the forest fires are often hazardous for the park rangers. A firefighting robot can be adapted to fight the fire even in the most extreme situations to avoid injuries.

To overcome the challenges facing the park rangers, California State Park needs to invest in technology. The devotion of a budget towards maintaining and improving technology and infrastructure will ensure the safety of the park visitors and rangers. It will also allow the establishment of the recruitment and training centres to diversify staff (Mello, 2015). It will also rectify the structure budget imbalance to give the state parks a stable source of funding for the required technological advances.

Conclusion

Conclusively, the California State Park Rangers are faced with many challenges. Their lives are exposed to risk from armed visitors and poachers who may end up shooting them. They are also prone to injuries during their operations since when a visitor gets lost in the park, they have to rescue them. They may also be injured during forest fires. However, technology may be used to overcome the challenges facing them. GPS and recording devices may be used to determine the location of predators. Cameras may also be used to hunt for poachers. Rangers, therefore, need to have skills in navigating computers and the related hard wares to overcome the challenges facing them.

Reference

Cooke, B., Parks, S., Miller, C., Holsinger, L., Nelson, C., Holden, Z., ... & Bird, B. (2016). Wildland fire: Nature's fuel treatment. Science You Can Use Bulletin, Issue 22. Fort Collins, CO: Rocky Mountain Research Station. 11 p.

Doyle, R. E. (2016, January). An Urban Park District Looks to the Future. The George Wright Forum (Vol. 33, No. 3, pp. 287-294). George Wright Society.

Faber, J. J. (2015). Becoming Friendship Park: the History of Border Field State Park (Doctoral dissertation, Arts and Letters)

Gibson, S., Loukaitou-Sideris, A., & Mukhija, V. (2019). Ensuring park equity: a California case study. Journal of Urban Design, 24(3), 385-405.

Greer, K., Day, K., & McCutcheon, S. (2017). Efficacy and perception of trail use enforcement in an urban nature reserve in San Diego, California. Journal of outdoor recreation and tourism, 18, 56-64.

Hand, C. (2018). Working in Parks and Recreation. The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc.

Hoskins, G. (2016). Vagaries of value at California State Parks: towards geographical axiology. Cultural Geographies, 23(2), 301-319.

Joyce, K. (2016). Out here, no one can hear you scream - the Huffington Post, 16.

Mello, M. J. (2015). Closing the Gap: Data Curation of the California State Parks Photographic Archives Database (Doctoral dissertation, California State University, Sacramento).

Peterson, C. A. (2016). Wilderness State Park Volunteers: A Qualitative Case Study of Meaning and Sustainability.

Valot, S. M. (2015). California Explorer: A Multimedia Website Exploring Science in California's State and National Parks (Doctoral dissertation, University of Southern California).

Van Kirk, S. (2015). California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection Fortuna Headquarters.

Wick, R. (2016). Technology brings new challenges to wilderness managers: An example from the bureau of land management-managed lost coast of California. Journal of Forestry, 114(3), 415-416.