Thank you for your inquiry into employment as a ranger. The goal of a national park ranger is to protect and preserve public resources while helping people enjoy them. This may be accomplished by fighting fires, enforcing land use regulations, or studying the natural world to learn how to better care for it. Education or interpretation is another field in which rangers work. Teaching people about parks, national monuments, and historic sites helps people understand and appreciate these national treasures and inspires their desire to protect them. These varied tasks can all be part of the job of a ranger.

Many rangers start as seasonal employees or volunteers. They work in urban and rural areas and often work in several different parks or positions to find the situation they enjoy the most. Some move into permanent positions and higher government service levels as their careers continue and they take on more administrative or legislative responsibilities.

The park service has about 16,000 permanent employees and hires up to 10,000 seasonal rangers every year. An additional 125,000 people volunteer every year. These rangers and volunteers get to work in the most beautiful places in the nation, doing exciting and important assignments.

Sources

Applications for seasonal ranger work can be found on the web at http://www.nps.gov/personnel/seasonal.htm Special local knowledge about a park near home can be useful in the National Park Service's local hire program. These are some of the ways you can begin a ranger career. To learn more about being a seasonal ranger at the Anchorage Alaska Public Lands Information Center, go to our http://www.alaskacenters.gov/job-opportunities.cfm for a PDF.

Look up open jobs on the National Park Service's website at http://www.nps.gov/index.htm. For jobs other than seasonal positions, check out USA Jobs at http://www.usajobs.gov/

Undergraduate and graduate studies focused on physical sciences, resource management and business administration or pertinent work experience can also help a candidate qualify for a ranger position. Find research programs with the National Science Foundation. Volunteering as a ranger is also a way to help you qualify.  

The Student Conservation Association cooperates with the National Parks with a volunteer program which provides valuable on-the-job training.

There are 17 Parks in Alaska: 

Alagnak Wild River,

Aleutian WWII Nat. Historic Area,

Aniakchak National Monument & Preserve, 

Bering Land Bridge Nat. Preserve,

Cape Krusenstern Nat. Monument, 

Denali Nat. Park & Preserve, 

Gates of the Arctic Nat. Park & Preserve, 

Glacier Bay Nat. Park & Preserve, 

Katmai Nat. Park & Preserve, 

Kenai Fjords Nat. Park, 

Klondike Gold Rush Nat. Historic Park,

Kobuk Valley Nat. Park,

Lake Clark Nat. Park & Preserve, 

Noatak Nat. Preserve, 

Sitka Nat. Historic Park, 

WWII Valor in the Pacific Nat. Monument, 

Wrangell-St. Elias Nat. Park & Preserve,

Yukon-Charley Rivers Nat. Preserve.