What is a park ranger's life?

• A wild bear who favors Kentucky Fried Chicken
• A fugitive wanted in eight states
• A dog that saves his owner's life
• Wildland firefighters battling nature and fire
• A ghost haunting a colonial mansion
• Hikers who stay lost because they think searchers calling their names are wild animals
• Being willing to risk your life to make our parks safe and help preserve them for the future

These are just a few experiences you will read about in A Park Ranger's Life. Drawn from the thirty-two-year career of National Park Ranger Bruce W. Bytnar, you will discover what it takes to be a park ranger, what threats to visitors and resources they deal with on a daily basis, and what you can do to help protect and preserve our national heritage.

Reviews:

"Pride, Integrity, Service is the motto of the United States Park Rangers and Bruce Bytnar is regarded as one of the finest examples of the competence and commitment for which the men and women of the ranger force are famous.Highly skilled in a variety of disciplines, his career took him from assignments as varied as firefighting across the western mountains to VIP protection details in eastern cities to rescue mission in the rugged Appalachians to tracking criminals through forests and fields and finally to the response in the nation’s capital after the attacks of September 11. Bytnar captures the many facets of rangering with the humor and insight of a master storyteller and paints the picture of life inside "the best idea we ever had" our national parks."

— John Garrison, Former Chief Ranger of the Blue Ridge Parkway