Anna Marrant Barsotti: Lamenting loss of rangers to unlock nature's wonders

Image: Anna Marrant Barsotti/2017##

Image: Bob Wick/Bureau of Land Management##

I was recently at the beach, just approaching the Yaquina Head visitor booth, when a “hydrologic event” hit. The ranger apologized that the normal hours had been shortened, as half of the frontline Bureau of Land Management staff had been fired as one of the new federal administration’s cost-cutting measures.

Starting our walk to the lighthouse, the wind picked up and the pounding sound of the surf added to the blues and greens, browns and grays of a place where the land meets the rocky sea. I was taken back to a time I chaperoned a school group from McMinnville on their field trip to this very place.

I remembered the eager kids pressing warm faces to the bus windows, tumbling down the stairs, lining up and barely able to contain their joy as they descended to the round black rocks below. I remembered how the park rangers had warmly welcomed the children’s boisterous energy with equal measures of their own, encouraging safe exploration as they fed student curiosities with digestible information.

Things the students had learned in classrooms came alive as they experienced the Oregon Coast, some for the very first time.

The driving rain brought me out of that memory, and we ducked into the lighthouse. There, we engaged with a ranger, asking about those who had been fired under recent government cuts.

He lamented losing their enthusiasm, their professionalism and all their up-to-date research and knowledge. He worried about the time and financial investments they had dedicated to earning advanced degrees.

Unsaid questions hung in the air: Would they be able to find similar employment? Were they supporting families? Could they pay rent and school loans? How were these and other similar cuts affecting the economic and societal structures of the communities?

I thought back to the kids I had been with as they wondered and wandered among the rocks and tidepools. Will groups of kids still be able to make the trip out with the new limited hours? Upon arrival, would they have the magic bridge of connection that only interpretive rangers can provide?

Without skilled, dynamic rangers, what other educational opportunities are being missed by visitors seeking out our beaches, parks and forests? And if people aren’t as connected, how will they learn to understand, then care, then protect and preserve?

The science is irrefutable. There are proven ways to promote our health as humans.

People benefit from fresh air and physical movement. From building healthy relationships with themselves and others. From curiosity. We are better off when we find ways in the world to be in awe and connection with something greater than ourselves.

We need less screen time. We need more shared language and common ground.

Our parks and beaches and forests can meet all those needs. But the people that provide the powerful bridges that take information and translate it into accessible knowledge are critical to that.

The wild places that are home to flora and fauna and gracious hosts to visitors are vital. Without government support, these experiences are in danger of being lost.

We battled wind gusts, sandblasted raindrops and flying seafoam hiking back to the car. The rivulets of rain running down my face were now mixed with tears — tears for the shifted dreams of the park rangers, the ever-shrinking protection of animals and land, and tears for all of us, especially students eager to know more, connect more and hopefully love more about themselves and the real world around them.

About the writer: Anna Marrant Barsotti is a Mac High grad whose first paid job involved refereeing soccer and selling concessions at Joe Dancer Park. She has spent the majority of her career serving the McMinnville community in the nonprofit and educational fields, most recently as a school garden coordinator and skill builder at Duniway Middle School. She is the proud mom of two MHS students, one of whom also went on to ref Parks and Rec soccer herself.