SOCIAL STUDIES Â LESSON 10 Wilderness Careers Objectives: Students will: define and explore Wilderness-related career options. interview one Wilderness-related career professional. select, research, and write about a Wilderness career. Background: Now that Ecosystem Management (EM) is the desired goal of many land management agencies, wilderness managers are expanding their horizons to better understand, that what happens outside Wilderness affects what happens inside Wilderness and vice versa. EM takes into account considerations for water, airsheds, wildlife, plant communities, and the role of people. Wilderness is the heartbeat or anchor point from which ecosystems extend outward. When we examine Wilderness and the role it plays in the larger scheme of Ecosystem management, career options are greatly enhanced and expanded. Before land managers began to incorporate EM concepts, on-the-ground career options in Wilderness were limited to positions of Wilderness rangers, stock support packers, outfitters or guides, fire fighters, and trail crews. Now forest planning incorporates the talents of many professionals who have a vested interest in Wilderness and managing healthy ecosystems. For example, a fisheries biologist might work with Wilderness managers to maintain healthy native fish populations in watersheds originating in Wilderness subjected to threats from invading, nonnative species. A landscape architect might be consulted to help design a new trailhead access into the Wilderness or design the best methods to restore impacted areas. A Wilderness ranger might work with local area school teachers to educate children about land stewardship on all private and public lands. A range ecologist might inventory noxious weed infestation and recommend ways to eradicate the nonnative species. This lesson gives students exposure to a vast array of Wilderness-related career opportunities. They will review specific job descriptions to get an idea of what is expected and determine whether they can see themselves in that position. They will then select a career option that interests them and conduct further research into that option. Students will utilize interviewing and writing skills to share their knowledge of career options. Page 156
 SOCIAL STUDIES Duration: 1 class period to 1 week Location: classroom Materials: student handout: Wilderness Career Opportunities Master List student handout: What is the Job of Wilderness Manager student handout: What is the Job of a Wilderness Ranger student handout: A Day in the Life of a Wilderness Ranger Procedure: 1. Introduce the lesson with the following simple exercise. Read the clues and then ask students to guess what career you are providing clues for. I love the color green. I usually travel alone but sometimes I enjoy being with others of my kind. Sometimes campers fear me, though most campers think I m interesting. You can find me in forests, rivers, deserts, and swamps across the country. I am an omnivore and eat lots of dried foods during the summer and fall. My friends think I m wild and call me the Lone Ranger. Who am I? Correct Response: Wilderness Ranger 2. Review background information to begin discussion of Wilderness-related career options. Ask students to brainstorm career options. Have students read the four student handout pages 160-163. 3. Ask students to select one career option from both lists generated above. The students will conduct further research on their career choice. Students will contact the nearest agency office of the Forest Service, Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, or National Fish & Wildlife Service. Once they locate personnel who hold this position, the student will make arrangements to interview the professional who represents their career choice. Students will design interview questions and write a summary paper. With information gained in the interview, students will complete a writing assignment. The assignment should include a description of the job, how it relates to Wilderness, exciting anecdotes or stories from on-the-job experiences, why the job is important to Wilderness, and professional and personal advice when pursuing such a career. The assignment should also include the student s impressions of the career they chose to write about. Page 157
SOCIAL STUDIES Â Activity 2: Early Day Rangers Duration: 1 to 2 class periods, some homework Location: classroom Materials: Í video: The Man Who Planted Trees Í book: Adventures of a Pioneer Forest Ranger Procedure: 1. Show the video: The Man Who Planted Trees, (30 minutes) as an inspiration for commitment to land stewardship. 2. Select stories from Adventures of a Pioneer Forest Ranger as an individual reading assignment. 3. Ask students individually or in small groups to generate discussion questions and conduct discussion of the reading. 4. Assign a creative writing exercise: Imagine yourself working a job in a remote wilderness onehundred years ago. Describe your life. Evaluation / Follow-up / Extension: Develop simple job descriptions for Wilderness-related careers, one per card. Use Wilderness Career Opportunities Master List as a reference, page 159. Place the job description on one side, the job title on the other side. Students can use the cards to play a game where the description is read by one student while the other students guess what job this could be. Contact people who have retired from Wilderness related careers. Invite them to talk to the class on what it was like to work in Wilderness during their careers. Suggestions might be field rangers, packers, outfitters, or trail crew workers. Work with school career counselors to identify Wilderness-related summer work opportunities through state conservation corps, federal youth conservation corps, and private organizations like the Student Conservation Service. Career Options: see Master List that accompanies this lesson. References: Wilderness Career Opportunities Fact Sheet, U.S. Forest Service and the Wilderness Institute, School of Forestry, University of Montana. Page 158
 SOCIAL STUDIES STUDENT HANDOUT Wilderness Career Opportunities Master List Field Personnel Wilderness Ranger Trail Crew worker Outfitter or Guide Fire Fighter Restorationist Stock Packer Lookout Park Ranger Administrative Recreation Forester Resource Forester District Ranger/Unit Manger Recreation Staff Office Forest Supervisor Regional Wilderness Specialist Park Superintendent Refuge Manager Professional Archaeologist Fish Biologist Wildlife Biologist Botanist Hydrologist Landscape Architect Ecologist Game Warden Air Quality Specialist Entomologist Researcher Teacher Interpreter/Naturalist Environmental Educator Resource Manager Outdoor Recreation Planner Other Environmental Activist Outdoor writer Retail Sales Policy Maker Wilderness Therapy Staff Outdoor/Expedition Leader Page 159
SOCIAL STUDIES Â STUDENT HANDOUT What is the Job of Wilderness Managers? In recognizing the wide range of Wilderness qualities from east to west, managers adapt management strategies to meet the unique management challenges each area presents. With that in mind, the following list describes the complex and diverse roles of wilderness managers. Monitor, protect, and restore biological diversity and integrity. Analyze external threats to wilderness i.e. water, air, and noise pollution. Initiate public involvement in wilderness management issues through implementation of the Limits of Acceptable (LAC) process or Visitor Experience and Resource Protection Plan and Program (VERP) management framework. Implement the management process to analyze and evaluate physical and social conditions in wilderness. Design and apply management strategies to maintain or restore physical and social conditions in wilderness. Develop Forest/Park policy, wilderness implementation schedules, and long range budgets. Communicate wilderness philosophy to internal and external publics in order to improve conditions in wilderness. Educate wilderness users to reduce physical and social impacts in wilderness. Initiate, expand, and promote partnerships and volunteer programs. Coordinate with other departments within the agency on projects and issues pertinent to wilderness. Cooperate and coordinate with other agencies that have wilderness management responsibilities. Administer outfitter and guide permits and coordinate with professional wilderness organizations. Administer mining, grazing, and water development rights/permits and monitor impacts. Maintain trails. Implement law enforcement strategies where necessary. Supervise field-going Wilderness rangers. Page 160
 SOCIAL STUDIES STUDENT HANDOUT What is the Job of a Wilderness Ranger? A Wilderness Ranger: Initiates public contacts in the field to enhance the user s wilderness experience and protect the wilderness resource through dispersal of information and/or enforcement of Federal Regulations. Develops and conducts wilderness education programs. Records visitor use levels, type and patterns. Posts special regulations and issues notices of violation. Conducts investigations, collects evidence and prepares case reports on violations. Inspects outfitter operational camps and reports noncompliance to Wilderness manager. Recognizes exemplar outfitter operations and works cooperatively with them. Develops and implements wilderness or trail restoration and maintenance projects. Clears trails using primitive tools such as crosscut saws, and/or axes. Assists in preparation and execution of wilderness management plans. Cleans and naturalizes wilderness campsites. Physical Demands The work requires walking and climbing in steep, uneven terrain, exposure to adverse weather and insects, performing physical labor, bending, lifting and carrying up to 50 pounds or more. Wilderness rangers normally work alone. Camping out in wilderness settings over extended periods in a variety of weather conditions poses demands. A Wilderness ranger is required to operate a vehicle (4-wheel drive pickup) and he/she drives over all types of roads. Work Environment Work is performed where there is exposure to extremes of weather and topography. Work area varies from established administrative areas to Wilderness areas. Work requires the use of safety equipment such as tools, gloves, goggles, and hard hat. It also requires working and living under primitive conditions. Page 161
SOCIAL STUDIES Â STUDENT HANDOUT A Day In The Life Of A Wilderness Ranger ONE DAY WITH A WILDERNESS RANGER At the crack of dawn, Carol wakes up without an alarm clock. Although working without stock on this trip, she is still running on mule time. A cup of coffee and the cold mountain air complement the beauty of sunrise. Carol is a Wilderness Ranger in the Shining River Wilderness. After a quick breakfast cooked over a backpack stove, Carol breaks camp, packs up and heads for the trail. The day s work begins with hope for a radio check in. Often the hand held radio does not work in the backcountry because of the remoteness or severe weather. Today, however, the radio works fine. Carol calls in that she hopes to be at camp ten miles down the trail by evening. Between her and that evening camp are many downed trees to saw and litter to pick up. Carol has hardly walked a quarter mile when she reaches down to pick up a gum wrapper. Carol s trained eyes rarely miss even the smallest pieces of trash. She pockets the wrapper which she will later add to her ever growing trash bag. Her backpack never seems to get lighter no matter how much food she eats. About two miles and four sawed logs down the trail, Carol comes across the first people she has seen since yesterday morning. A small group of backpackers is just finishing breakfast. They seem to have a clean camp although it is a little close to the trail for her liking. Carol explains how a campsite further away from the trail will provide greater privacy for all people in the area. After a quick greeting and answers to questions about trail conditions and fishing, Carol is on her way again. While crossing a small stream, Carol slips on a wet rock and finds herself sitting waist deep in some very cold water. She is happy to not be hurt and even happier no one was around to see her clumsy splashing. She quickly changes into a dry uniform. Next stop lunch. Carol planned on stopping to eat near a campsite which needs cleaning. Her boss had also asked that Carol fill out an inventory form for the campsite. She finds the campsite without any problem. At the campsite are an outfitter, his guests and horses, who have also stopped for lunch. A few of the guests are obviously on their first Wilderness trip. They are surprised to see a woman walking alone in the middle of the Wilderness. Carol weathers with a smile some good natured kidding about a single woman running Page 162
 SOCIAL STUDIES ONE DAY WITH A WILDERNESS RANGER continued: around in the woods. She explains the campsite inventory she is working on. The outfitter and his guests are impressed by the inventory process and job of a Wilderness ranger. They are also impressed with her outdoor skills. Carol leaves after lunch feeling that these people appreciate the work she does and respect her because it s not an easy job. At the top of the ridge, Carol is greeted by the sight of a nasty thunderstorm coming her way. She had hoped to take a short break after climbing up twenty-six switchbacks. But now it looks like a race with the thunderstorm to her evening camp. Carol loses. Carol puts up her tent ten hours after starting out in the morning. Her rain gear has kept her reasonably dry. The thunder and lightning were nothing new, and the prospect of a cozy tent and sleeping bag makes the weather seem a little less severe. The last obstacle between Carol and her camp is a fresh, steaming pile of bear scat. Although bears have never bothered her, the fresh tracks and scat cause her to stop and think. She will make sure to set up her camp a safe distance from the bear tracks and scat and hang her food in a bag 10 feet up a tree. Even so, Carol likes the fact that bears still roam wild in the Shining River Wilderness. Bears are just another part of the wild country which Carol is very fond of. For a special few, being a Wilderness ranger is the best job in the world. The pay isn t great. The hours are long. The working conditions often are uncomfortable and dangerous. But for Carol all of the drawbacks are easily outweighed by the benefits. For now Carol looks forward to a hearty supper, a few pages of writing in her daily journal and a comfortable night s sleep. The trail continues on from camp and tomorrow promises to be another fine day. Credit: U.S. Forest Service and The Wilderness Institute, School of Forestry, University of Montana, Fact Sheet Number 12, A Day in The Life of A Wilderness Ranger. Page 163