• Email this page
• Print this page
• del.icio.us
• digg
• Comments
• Feed

A Field Guide to The Maine Woods

Whenever Forest Ranger Jim Downie's travels take him near Bar Harbor, people often mistake him for an Acadia National Park Ranger, even though his job is not remotely like that of a park service ranger. "It's the uniform," he says. "If people see me in the woods they think I'm a game warden. In the Forest Service we get that all the time. I think that identity question is true in all of the different agencies."

Forest rangers. National park rangers. State park rangers. Game wardens. Even state biologists. It can be hard to keep them straight. They all range about the woods, generally speaking, and wear uniforms that can be remarkably similar. Here's a handy primer on the various personalities you might meet if you venture into the woods on your Maine vacation.

Game Warden
The 127 members of Maine's Warden Service are essentially cops, with all the authority and responsibilities of police officers in urban areas. They have attended the Maine Criminal Justice Academy and wear uniforms and badges, pack sidearms, investigate crimes, write summonses, and make arrests - it just so happens that their beat is the woods. Wardens work for the state's Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, doing a job that dates back to the 1880s. They patrol large districts on foot, on ATVs, on snowmobiles, in trucks, in canoes, and in planes, enforcing fishing, hunting, and environmental laws. (But they can also pull you over for speeding or for any other offense.) In addition to their law-enforcement duties, wardens direct search and rescue operations and work with fisheries biologists, animal control agents, and wildlife rehabilitators. Base pay: $25,646 per year.

Forest Ranger
If Maine's game wardens are the police officers of the woods, forest rangers are the firemen. Not to be confused with park rangers, forest rangers work for the Maine Forest Service, and their primary responsibility is prevention and suppression of forest fires. To that end, they travel about in their green Forest Service pickups, checking fire permits, looking into reports of blazes, making sure loggers have spark arresters on their chainsaws, coordinating with various community fire departments, and even teaching park rangers how to fight fires. They also work with the Department of Environmental Protection to make sure timber-cutting operations are not negatively affecting water quality, watch the forests for illegal dumping, and ensure the state's wood-harvesting outfits are cutting in accordance with the law. They don't carry firearms, but do investigate crimes and enforce laws. Base pay: $18,636.

Park Ranger, State
The rangers who work for the state park system are assigned to individual parks, so you won't find them ranging very far. Each of the state's recreation areas has a few rangers, usually in seasonal positions, who are the front line with the public, meeting and greeting and checking people into their campsites as well as pointing people toward the park's sights. Park rangers enforce park rules, maintain camping areas and buildings, keep activity reports, and do search and rescue missions. Prerequisites vary from park to park, depending upon the location and facilities, but most seasonal ranger jobs require little formal training, though familiarity with the outdoors and the ability to relate to the public are key. Although technically state parks, Baxter State Park and the Allagash Wilderness Waterway each have their own management structures and thus have different requirements for their rangers. Base pay: Seasonal rangers make an hourly wage, starting at $10.42.

Park Ranger, National
The rangers at Acadia National Park do many tasks similar to those working at Maine state parks, though they are federal employees and can transfer - or be reassigned - to other national parks. Their ranks are broken down into various categories - seasonal and full time, general rangers, interpretive rangers, and law enforcement rangers. The "general" rangers are much like their state cousins, working closely with the public, keeping up buildings and sites, enforcing rules and regulations of the park, and doing search and rescue operations. Interpretive rangers lead the nature programs that the national parks offer and are otherwise involved in educating the public and looking after natural resources. Law enforcement rangers are just exactly that: cops who patrol national parks with the full authority of the law behind them. Base pay: Starting salary for a summer ranger with a college degree is based on an annual rate of $18,687, full-time rangers start at base pay $20,908 to $31,680.

IF&W Biologist
Inland Fisheries and Wildlife biologists are scientists who oversee the conservation and management plans of the state's upcountry natural resources. Which means in essence that they work in the woods and on the state's freshwater bodies making sure fish, game, and even the water itself are healthy. Most are assigned to a specific region - or even a particular animal species - and may do research and investigation in offices and labs as well as high up on mountaintops or off on remote lakes. Base pay: $33,196 per year.

Smokey the Bear
Rarely seen in the North Woods these days, Smokey the Bear was quite a celebrity in the seventies and early 1980s, when his face was plastered everywhere. He had one urgent task: to warn people — specifically YOU — of the dangers of forest fires. While actual live sightings were infrequent, you couldn't go anywhere without spotting Smokey's likeness, letting you know that only YOU could prevent forest fires. Big blazes in the woods are still a threat - maybe more so than ever - but Smokey seems to have gone into hibernation. Most likely retired to Florida. Base pay: Unknown, but presumably at least in the six figures, for such a famous face.