History
The origin of the term "ranger" dates to the 14th century in England, and was drawn from the word "range" (to travel over a large area). "Rangers" patrolled royal forests and parks to prevent "poachers" from hunting game belonging to the crown. The title "Ranger" in the modern sense was first applied to a reorganization of the Fire Warden force in the Adirondack Park, after 1899 when fires burned 80,000 acres (320 km2) in the park. The name was taken from Rogers' Rangers, a small force famous for their woodcraft that fought in the area during the French and Indian War beginning in 1755. The term was then adopted by the National Park Service.
The first Director of the National Park Service, Stephen T. Mather, reflected upon the early park rangers as follows:
They are a fine, earnest, intelligent, and public-spirited body of men, these rangers. Though small in number, their influence is large. Many and long are the duties heaped upon their shoulders. If a trail is to be blazed, it is "send a ranger." If an animal is floundering in the snow, a ranger is sent to pull him out; if a bear is in the hotel, if a fire threatens a forest, if someone is to be saved, it is "send a ranger." If a Dude wants to know the why, if a Sagebrusher is puzzled about a road, it is "ask the ranger." Everything the ranger knows, he will tell you, ex-cept about himself.
Horace Albright, second director of the National Park Service, called Harry Yount, gamekeeper of Yellowstone National Park, the "father of the ranger service, as well as the first national park ranger". Yount was hired in 1880 to enforce the prohibition on hunting in the park. In addition to these duties, he would act as a guide and escort for visiting officials, such as he did in 1880 for the Secretary of the Interior Carl Schurz. Although he was paid a yearly salary of $1,000 (out of the park's overall $15,000 yearly budget) he resigned at the end of 1881. Before leaving, he suggested to the superintendent of Yellowstone that "...the game and natural curiosities of the park be protected by officers stationed at different points of the park with authority to enforce observance of laws of the park maintenance and trails." Yount pointed out that it was nearly impossible for one person to protect the game properly over the park's vast expanse.
Official Classification
The Park Ranger position in the Federal Government began as a series of specialized positions in the miscellaneous Series. In 1959 the official Park Ranger position (GS-0025 Park Ranger) was established throughout the Federal Government. along with its companion series the Park Technician (GS-0026). The Park Ranger position was designated for 'professional' work like management of the park (Park Ranger (Manager)-Park Ranger(Site Manager)), or management of division (Chief Ranger, Chief of Interpretation). The Park Technician series was designed to handle routine technical skills, i.e., giving walks, talks, patrolling roads, fee collection.
After years of concern of pay, the National Park Service and the Office of Personnel Management agreed to consolidate the two series into a single group, to be used only for professional positions and temporary/seasonal positions. The agreement also required that the park service begin using other appropriate technical series for lower paid positions. The Protection Ranger series was changed to "GL"-0025 in 2005.
- 0025 – Park Ranger Series*
The duties are to supervise, manage, and/or perform work in the conservation and use of Federal park resources. This involves functions such as park conservation; natural, historical, and cultural resource management; and the development and operation of interpretive and recreational programs for the benefit of the visiting public.
Beginning in 1985, the service made this adjusment. Today, Park Ranger like duties are handled by a range of employees, wearing the traditional 'green and gray' uniforms, who are not park rangers. These positions include:
- 0303 – Miscellaneous Clerk and Assistant Series, aka Visitor Use Assistances. Duties include clerical, assistant, or technician work when other series are not appropriate. The work requires a knowledge of procedures and techniques involved in handling special program. This series is commonly used for Fee Collectors at campgrounds and entrance stations.
- 0189 – Recreation Aid and Assistant Series. Provides support to recreation programs by performing limited aspects of recreation work, lifequards
- 0090 – Guide Series. Provides or supervises interpretive and guide services to visitors to sites of public interest. Gives formal talks about natural and historic features, explains engineering structures and related water developments, answers questions, and guides tours.
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Famous quotes containing the word history:
“The whole history of civilisation is strewn with creeds and institutions which were invaluable at first, and deadly afterwards.”
—Walter Bagehot (1826–1877)
“What is most interesting and valuable in it, however, is not the materials for the history of Pontiac, or Braddock, or the Northwest, which it furnishes; not the annals of the country, but the natural facts, or perennials, which are ever without date. When out of history the truth shall be extracted, it will have shed its dates like withered leaves.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“A poet’s object is not to tell what actually happened but what could or would happen either probably or inevitably.... For this reason poetry is something more scientific and serious than history, because poetry tends to give general truths while history gives particular facts.”
—Aristotle (384–323 B.C.)