Park rangers celebrate Betty Reid Soskin on World Ranger Day

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE    

Association of National Park Rangers

July 29, 2024

Contact: Tom Banks, ANPR spokesperson, tbanks@anpr.org

Meg Weesner, ANPR international liaison, mweesner@anpr.org

Greta Ketchner, ANPR internal communications, gketchner@anpr.org

Bill Wade, ANPR executive director, bwade@anpr.org

2024 World Ranger Day Toolkit

 (Tucson, Ariz.) – On World Ranger Day and all summer, the Association of National Park Rangers (ANPR) is celebrating the career of Betty Reid Soskin, the oldest full-time park ranger to have ever served in the National Park Service. Soskin, who is 102 years old, retired in 2021 at the age of 100 after gaining acclaim as “a teller of hard, honest, historical truths” said Tom Banks, spokesman for the Association. The group published a cover article in its summer magazine, Ranger, announcing that they had selected Soskin for a lifetime Honorary Membership. Soskin stood alongside President Barack Obama at the National Christmas Tree lighting ceremony in 2015 at the White House. “Ranger Betty has been an inspiration to me as I pursue a career as an interpretive park ranger. I strive to have the same dedication,” said Greta Ketchner, an ANPR board member. Bill Wade, executive director of ANPR, added, “She has truly become a National Park Service legend and an inspiration to many.”

 The Association of National Park Rangers was founded in 1977 as an organization to communicate for, about and with National Park Service employees of all disciplines; to promote and enhance the professions, spirit, and mission of National Park Service employees; to support management and the perpetuation of the National Park Service and the National Park System; and to provide a forum for professional enrichment. The membership of ANPR is comprised of individuals who are entrusted with and committed to the care, study, explanation, and/or protection of those natural, cultural, and recreational resources included in the National Park System, and persons who support those efforts. ANPR continually welcomes new members, both rangers and supporters.

 The International Ranger Federation celebrated the first World Ranger Day on the date of the Federation’s founding, July 31, 1992.  “On World Ranger Day,” the Federation stated on its website, “the international ranger community pauses to recognize the critical role that the ranger profession plays in maintaining life on earth. If it were not for rangers’ unwavering commitment and passion for conservation, many species would already be extinct, and our ecosystems in a more degraded and perilous state than they currently are. We, as humans, are increasingly experiencing the ramifications of [climate change,] biodiversity loss and our negative impacts on healthy environmental systems [and cultural resources]. Rangers are, in many cases, putting their lives at risk so that society can enjoy fresh air, fresh water, and a healthy planet.”

 The International Ranger Federation continued, “[We] recognize rangers as essential planetary health professionals for the critical tasks they perform, such as: protection, conservation, biodiversity monitoring, visitor services, fire management, law enforcement, education, first response, preventing zoonotic disease, community support and regulation of sustainable use. Protected and conserved areas cannot be effectively conserved without these functions and an adequate area-based workforce where rangers, either [federal,] state, indigenous, community, or voluntary guardians are at the forefront. In the recent paper by Appleton et al (2022), it was estimated that there are approximately 286,000 rangers across the world. The sector already suffers from a shortage of capacity, so to meet the 30x30 target [30% of the Earth’s land and ocean area as protected areas preserved by the year 2030], the number of rangers needs to increase to 1.5 million. Concurrently, there will need to be substantial improvements in resourcing, working conditions, conduct, and capacity, to ensure a competent, diverse, and professional ranger workforce,” the International Ranger Federation added. More information about World Ranger Day is available on the International Ranger Federation’s web page.

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