By LISA KACZKE
Staff Writer

VNP park rangers embody their mission
of protecting nature while assisting visitors

MUKOODA LAKE —The rain begins to fall as Voyageurs National Park Ranger Brad Farlinger walked into a campsite on Mukooda Lake.
Farlinger asks the campers about their luck in catching fish, before checking to see if their food is stored in a food locker at the campsite. One of the adults staying at the campsite jokes that their little girl is afraid of bears and she puts the food away every day. Farlinger talks to the campers about camping permits before moving on to the next camp site.
He later pilots his boat back to the Crane Lake Ranger Station in rain that stings the skin as it slaps the face.
VNP Park Ranger Scott Taylor said park rangers duties are varied. And while some people may be most familiar with the enforcement duties, there is more to the job, he said.
“The only time people talk to park rangers is when they need help out there and you’re saving someone’s life,” Taylor said. “It’s good when people can think of park rangers as not just the bad guy that wants to write tickets. We’re there to help.”
Helping to provide medical attention to an injured visitor or to answer a question about the wildlife is also a part of the job, rangers say.
But rangers must also protect the resources for generations to come, according to park rangers.
For Ranger Kevin Grossheim, who works on Kabetogama Lake, that variation in duties is attractive.
“The ultimate reward in this job is helping those that need you the most and giving your best to try to make a difference,” Grossheim said. “Rangers want to help people, to find them or fix the problem the best they can. But they also want to protect the environment and park resources at the same time.”
And, he adds, the weather isn’t always picture postcard perfect in the 218,054 acre water-based park. Park rangers may face lake searches for missing boaters in high winds and darkness.
Ask Rainy Lake District Ranger Jay Brown about his profession, and his love of the job is evident as he talks excitedly about it with barely enough time to catch his breath between sentences.
Most visitors have spent a considerable amount of time planning and saving for a vacation to a national park and to be able to be a part of that as a ranger is what Brown most enjoys. Farlinger echoed that sentiment, saying he likes working where people are vacationing.
“They’re on cloud nine,” Brown said. Seeing the look on visitor’s faces and hearing them say they love being in the park reminds him why he’s a ranger, he said.
“I have the greatest job there is,” Brown said.

A day’s work
“No two days are the same,” Grossheim said of a ranger’s job.
A day’s duties could begin with putting in buoys and checking campsites and end with a search and rescue or a medical emergency, Grossheim said.
“The plan goes out the window with an injury, lost person or fire,” Grossheim said.
Summer duties include visiting with campers to ensure they comply with park regulations. Rangers also check anglers for fishing licenses, fish for slot limits, and boaters for safety.
Winter duties include patrolling the miles of snowmobile trails in the park. The vast, white snow of the park often invites people to exceed the park’s 45 miles per hour speed limit. Park rangers have witnessed snowmobiles traveling up to 100 miles per hour, according to Grossheim.
“When we contact them, some feel we are trying to ruin their fun. But the reality is we are trying to save lives,” Grossheim said. “We protect some visitors from themselves. Speed limits are in place to protect visitors and wildlife.”
Snowmobile trails within the park make a ranger position unique, Brown said. It also makes the winters fly by, he said. Other parks shut down during the winters, leaving rangers snowed in without much to do, he said.
Grossheim said he tries to treat all visitors with respect.
“The key to being a good ranger, in my opinion, is to look for the best in people. Treat others the way you want to be treated and be fair,” Grossheim said.
Taylor works as one of two pilots in the park and flies every day the weather allows.
While patrolling from the air, he looks for children without life jackets; dogs running loose on islands, which he says is his pet peeve; and oil trails and sewage behind boats. He also pilots researchers conducting studies within the park.
“That’s the great part about being a ranger, the diversity of your duties,” Taylor said. “I might be out on a fire, then the next day out on a DUI arrest, or a search with the airplane or out on a snowmobile patrolling.”
Since starting his job as a ranger on Crane Lake in April, Minnesota native Farlinger says learning the park’s terrain is difficult, Farlinger said.
Farlinger serves as a member of a special events team in the parks located in the Midwest region. Park rangers from different states assist rangers in areas that may be overloaded by visitors due to an event. Farlinger recently returned from the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota.
Dealing with tragedy is also a part of the profession. Brown says he still has a hard time shaking off the emotions brought on when he was the first to respond to a 16-year-old who had fallen to his death at the Grand Canyon. He didn’t know until he arrived whether the child had survived. In some instances, the person is injured and needing medical attention.
“You really have the opportunity to save people’s lives,” Brown said of his job.

Moving around
Most rangers start in seasonal positions and move around until they are hired for a permanent job.
For Brown, it’s a positive. He said he enjoys exploring new places and meeting new people.
“(Park rangers are) thirsty for that experience, thirsty for that knowledge,” he said.
Farlinger, a self-proclaimed “wanderer,” said he likes the option of working in new areas in the same position. He noted that each park requires different ranger duties.
Today’s rangers come to Voyageurs with experience at parks in Arizona, Montana, Indiana, Wyoming, Alaska, North Carolina, Colorado and Massachusetts.
Taylor came to VNP in January from the Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve in Eagle, Alaska. The two million acre park is in a remote area of Alaska and borders Canada. The size of the park and the small staff presented challenges, he said. He handled issues that surrounded the legal hunting season in the park and illegal mining operations.
Before Farlinger came to Voyageurs, a part of his duty was to climb to the top of Mount Rushmore each day, he said. Rangers use trails created by workers who constructed the historic national monument.
Brown was a seasonal ranger at the Virgin Islands National Park before coming to Voyageurs three years ago for his first permanent ranger job. He lived on Trunk Bay, one of the most photographed places in the world and minutes from the beach.
“It was truly, aesthetically the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen,” Brown said.
A part of his job there was to assist other agencies in apprehending drug runners and extraditing people who had fled the U.S. to the Caribbean, Brown said.
Parks differ in the type of resource the rangers manage. Taylor and Grossheim spent time working as rangers at the Boston National Historic Site, which is a string of historic sites throughout Boston connected by the Freedom Trail. Those sites feature items valued for their historic value and are located in inner city areas.
Among Brown’s first tasks when at the Grand Canyon National Park was to hike down into the canyon to check trail conditions. “People wait their entire lives to do this,” Brown said.

The long road
“It takes a lot of dedication and belief in what the park service stands for and what you’re protecting to become a ranger,” Grossheim said. “There are a lot of sacrifices. If you look at the years of college and time in academies, it adds up. It requires time away from family and friends during training, swing shifts and special assignments across the country.”
Grossheim chose the profession because it combines working with people and natural resources. He received his associate’s degree in law enforcement and his bachelor’s degree in recreation education. He considered work as sheriff’s deputy or state trooper, he said, but interest in boating and snowmobiling, as well as nature and wildlife, led him to the park service.
Originally from Ohio, Grossheim said he is in his 14th year with the National Park Service and has been in four national parks and with Voyageurs for seven years.
Brown said he knew he wanted to be a ranger, but didn’t know what it entailed. While studying for his degree in parks and recreation, he spent a summer as an intern at the Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River conducting programs for visitors and helping rangers patrol the river by canoe.
“I was hooked. I took it and ran with it,” Brown said. After completing his bachelor’s degree, Brown attended one of the park service’s 10 seasonal academies, which offer a 14-week long introduction to law enforcement.
After receiving a permanent position, rangers attend the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Georgia for about four months and then go onto a field training officer program for several months.
Brown said he gained both experience and veterans preference from six years in the U.S. Army National Guard infantry. Brown is now three years into his first permanent ranger position.
Taylor worked for a private company in southeast Alaska conducting canoe trips and hikes for people on cruise ships before coming to Voyageurs. He later worked as a forester in the Tongass National Forest in Alaska.
He said he liked the diversity and independence of federal law enforcement staff and worked toward a job as a ranger. Taylor has been with the park service for eight years.
Farlinger said he realized he wanted to be a ranger while studying wildland/wildlife law enforcement at Vermilion Community College and listening to stories about the job from an instructor. He later received his bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Bemidji State University. He chose working at the federal level because he could work at a variety of parks in different states.
Rangers are often asked about how they got their jobs. Since it’s a competitive field, they suggest getting a good education.
“One thing that young people will sometimes forget is to keep on the right track,” Grossheim said. “One bad decision while you’re in school can ruin your chances later in life. I tell kids to think long term and do the right thing.”