Op-Ed | Volunteers In The National Parks

Editor's note: There is a long history of volunteerism in the National Park System, and indeed volunteers play invaluable roles. But do they arrive at the cost of permanent rangers and professional interpreters? Bruce and Sara Schundler long have worked as seasonal rangers in the parks, side-by-side with volunteers. This is their take on the matter.

More and more people are visiting our national parks, and some parks are not just busy but getting overwhelmed and overcrowded. Meanwhile, the prospect of more money being budgeted for more staff is unlikely.  Consequently,  many parks should begin considering using volunteers, and those that do….should consider using more volunteers and using volunteers in more meaningful ways.

The overcrowding at some of our more popular parks probably has been caused by several things:  the Ken Burns series woke up many people to the many treasures we have in America, the National Park Service’s centennial year advertising was very successful, millions of “baby boomers” are retiring and beginning to work on their “Bucket Lists,” many Americans increasingly are concerned about foreign travel, and the American economy has improved.

Admittedly, there are many parks that have been using volunteers, and some have used them in creative and meaningful ways for years. When my wife and I worked as seasonal park rangers at Cape Hatteras National Seashore, for instance, there were volunteers who literally did everything we did---they worked alone behind the visitor information desk, led tours and programs, walked in teams on the beaches and as rovers around the lighthouse, and worked at every level of the lighthouse. Some of the best campfire programs we’ve attended have been led by volunteers at places like Canyonlands National Park and Big Cypress National Preserve.

On the other hand, we’ve visited parks that simply don’t use volunteers---sometimes because there’s no need and sometimes because a conscious decision has been made not to use them.  And many parks use volunteers in only limited ways.  At Ellis Island, part of Statue of Liberty National Monument, for instance, when my wife and I first began volunteering all we could do was rove, greet visitors, and help at the information desk … if another Park Ranger was present. Meanwhile, they haven’t accepted new volunteers for two years while the training and use of volunteers is evaluated and a new volunteer program is developed.   

When we worked at Mesa Verde National Park, volunteers could answer basic questions before visitors purchased tickets for the various tours and they could sell water at one of the sites, but nothing else. And when we worked at Old Faithful in Yellowstone National Park, volunteers could only pick up litter in the geyser basins and help with traffic jams (caused by bear or bison sightings).

The overcrowding probably won’t stop until more and more Baby Boomers begin traveling in wheelchairs and walkers instead of cars and RVs,  and when PBS stops showing the Ken Burns series on the national parks, and when travel abroad becomes attractive again.  Meanwhile, more funding for the Park Service may happen someday, but probably not in the foreseeable future.

So, what should we do now!

Some would argue we should do nothing.  Just keep doing what we’re doing and eventually either fewer people will come or Congress will appropriate more money. But that’s not a good option. It would mean millions of Americans will not have a good experience visiting our parks, and for many, their one and only chance in a lifetime to see Old Faithful, or drive the Going-To-The-Sun Road, or climb the Statue of Liberty, will be a disappointment. Visitors simply will not have as good of an experience at our parks as we might be able to provide.

There are some things that we cannot do, and some things that we can’t change. But using more volunteers is a fairly easy alternative—and an alternative that could let many visitors have a more positive experience of our parks fairly quickly.

Consequently, I will say again, many parks should begin considering using volunteers, and those that do should consider using more volunteers and using volunteers in more meaningful ways.

In our travels through all 50 states before we were retired, and in 49 states in our RV since we retired, we have visited many parks (county, state, and national parks), and many zoos, botanical gardens, and museums that rely heavily and very successfully on volunteers.  Why can’t more of our national parks consider using them?

With a minimal amount of training, volunteers could work behind information desks and probably answer many question as well as many part-time seasonal rangers. Volunteers could lead tours, run special interpretive programs, watch and rove in unattended parts of parks, and be available to visitors in hundreds of ways. 

When we worked at Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty in 2010 and 2011, there often was mass confusion: visitors wondering what to see, what to do, where to go, and volunteers could have helped simply by greeting people when they arrived in the ferries, or in the screening sites, or around the Statue.  Significantly, during the last two years some of those problems have been addressed (in part with help from volunteers.)   When we were at Mesa Verde there were sites like Sun Temple and the Far View sites that were unattended every day.  And at Yellowstone, we easily could have had help from volunteers just walking the boardwalks, or being present at some of the areas often unattended by rangers (e.g. sites like Black Sand Basin, Biscuit Basin, and Midway, for instance).

Quite frankly, my wife and I applied for and became park rangers not because we needed additional income after retiring, but because we wanted to give back to others some of the wonderful experiences we had had in many national parks ... and then we discovered that to do tours, and programs, and to have a meaningful role in interpretive programs, we simply had to become park rangers. Many parks wouldn’t let us do these things as volunteers.

Working with volunteers isn’t as easy as working with employees. They aren’t as qualified sometimes, they aren’t as reliable, and they may have other commitments or obligations. Nevertheless, if so many of our state parks, zoos, museums and botanical gardens can work so well with volunteers, why can’t the National Park Service?  And since solutions to overcrowding and the lack of funding for more staff  don’t seem imminent, maybe it’s time for every park to look seriously, creatively, and quickly at what volunteers can do and how they can help.