Keepers of the Land

Street Smart Naturalist · Feb 27, 2025 · 6m · transcript

Many, many years ago, I was a national park ranger at Arches National Park and the Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site. As a ranger, I led tours, helped people understand what they were seeing, cleaned up trash, removed graffiti, and answered numerous questions. (The most popular was “Where’s the bathroom?” “Out the door and to the left,” was the answer.) I assisted on search and rescue, carried out visitors who needed first aid, and fought fires.

I knew that I was privileged to be a ranger and work in these amazing places. I knew that I was not alone. My best friend was a career…