County Parks play a vital role in the grand scheme of parks. A County Park system usually manages parks that range from urban to wilderness. County Parks are often a stepping stone between City Parks and a family making the leap to recreating in State or National Parks. Mary Ann Bonnell has experience in City […]
Updates About Park Leaders
This week is a short episode to provide updates on what is going on with Park Leaders. Thank you for the great feedback about the episode with Betty Soskin. It was a delight to interview her, and I am pleased you liked it as well. If you haven’t listened to that episode yet, you don’t […]
Wisdom From the Oldest Park Ranger in America with Betty Soskin
This episode of the Park Leaders Show felt like I was talking to history. Betty Soskin is the oldest park ranger in the United States. Betty is 93 years old. Yes, that is impressive. But even more impressive is Betty did not become a park ranger until she was 85 years old. Talking with Betty, […]
Creating Magic in Parks with Lee Cockerell
Lee Cockerell, former Executive Vice President of Operations for Walt Disney World, returns to the Park Leaders Show to talk about how parks can create magic. Previously, Lee has been on the Park Leaders Show to talk about what parks can learn from Disney and nine customer service rules. Since the last time Lee joined […]
The Myth of the Well Rounded Ranger
When I was a park ranger, the former director of our agency used to preach the concept of the well-rounded ranger. I believe his message was that our agency needed to train rangers for more than law enforcement. He wanted us to think in terms of service, and not enforcement. If focusing on service […]
Connecting Parks to Communities
Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the most popular National Park in the United States. People come from all over the eastern half of the country to visit the Smoky Mountains and drive visitation higher than park service icons such as Yellowstone or the Grand Canyon. The key to operating Great Smoky Mountains is […]
Podcast Your Park with Jeff Brown
I am on a mission to get parks to start podcasting. Podcasting is a way parks can serve visitors in a new and unique way. To explore the idea of podcasting in parks, I went straight to one of the best podcasters around. Jeff Brown is the host of the Read to Lead podcast. Read […]
Being a Seasonal Law Enforcement Ranger with Amanda Llanes
Amanda Llanes returns to the Park Leaders Show to talk about her first season as a seasonal law enforcement ranger with the National Park Service. At the time of her first interview, Amanda was a cadet in the law enforcement academy. Now, she has been a seasonal ranger for one year. Amanda talks about her experience, […]
Life as a Seasonal Park Ranger with Kaitlyn Kunce
On the Park Leaders Show, I often talk to leaders in the National Park Service. Chief Interpreters, Chief Rangers and Park Superintendents have all been guests on the show. The one thing they all have in common is they all started as seasonal park rangers. That means the future leaders of the National Park Service […]
Developing an Entrepreneurial Spirit in Parks
If you have listened to the Park Leaders Show for awhile, you know Jack Hartt was a mentor of mine while I was a park ranger. It was my conversations with Jack early in my career which led me to believe that you would enjoy hearing similar conversations with leaders from all over the country. […]