The position of park ranger, especially in our national parks, has always been one of authority. There’s the uniform for one thing, which changes with the seasons and weather and varies from park to park, but is invariably best worn ironed with the shirt tucked in. And then there’s the knowledge of the land they maintain, and how best to appreciate and interact with it. As tourists continue to behave moronically, that latter duty becomes an especially serious, potentially punitive one. Which is why, in part, the park rangers have taken their talents online.
While they’re not yet on TikTok, many of the 431 national park sites in the United States (just 63 of these get the full title of “National Park” in their names) operate individual Instagram accounts on which rangers and other members of the staff dance and show off their outfits, but also disseminate practical safety tips to a public that violates a lot of the rules for, well, the sake of Instagram. It’s a strategy that Matt Turner, National Park Service (NPS) social media strategist, says is very intentional.
“We want to lean into the personality and the humor to engage with that online audience,” says Turner, “in order to pull back the curtain from this large, bureaucratic government agency and get some old-school messages out there. Messages about being safe and keeping your distance from bears, bison, and other wildlife, but also about trip planning. There’s so much to learn about all of the different national parks, because there’s 431 out there now, and it’s not just the big ones like Yellowstone and Grand Canyon.”
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