Park Rangers Face Everyday Dangers

 

Ranger Jordan Smith, who recently retired due to the effects of Lyme disease, has written a book about the dark side of park ranger work.

If you had to guess which federal agents in the U.S. face the greater danger, who would you put your money on: the officers who wage the endless War on Drugs, or the rangers who patrol the green acres of the national parks? Well, it’s the rangers. According to a 2001 study by the Bureau of Justice, nature’s security guards are twice as likely to be assaulted on the job as agents with the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Being a ranger entails more risk than you might imagine. Routine maintenance and rescues can require skiing in avalanche-prone terrain, maneuvering specially equipped aircraft, or paddling class-IV whitewater. In some parks, border disputes and drug trafficking up the ante. And in the case of injury ?EUR??,,????'?????<

From the late 1970s until 2000, Jordan Fisher Smith faced these dangers for a chance to protect the nation’s inheritance. He patrolled a series of public lands, including Grand Teton and Sequoia national parks, until the lingering effects of Lyme disease forced him to retire. Smith’s experiences during the last 14 years of his career ?EUR??,,????'?????<

The American River canyon is federal land unlike any other. For the last 40 years it has been slated to be submerged by a 4,000-foot-wide dam. But during endless delays on the dam project, the area has grown into a tangled patch of wildlife—and wild ways. In prose that walks the border between evocative and spare, Smith tells the story of “how people behave in a condemned landscape,” weaving murder and intrigue with the sweet revelation of finding inspiration in a seemingly hopeless place. As a result, Nature Noir becomes a sort of paean to lost causes, or causes that might be lost.

Grist spoke with Smith about the strange saga of the park, his own near-death experiences, and the nature of love in the face of an uncertain future.

Read the complete Grist magazine interview at
https://www.grist.org/advice/books/2005/03/23/dalton-noir/