[pct-l] Park rangers

[mkwart at gci.net]

Brick is right about there being a difference between the law 
enforcement rangers and other Yosemite Park employees who wear the park 
uniform. I worked in Yosemite as the Prescribed Fire Specialist from 
1998-2000. To those who work in the national park system, Yosemite is 
the New York City of national parks--crowded, high profile and a boon to 
a rising career in the park service if you can manage to get a permanent 
job there. This was especially true for those working as law enforcement 
rangers. The crowded park provided a litmus test of challenges for the 
gung ho park police type of personality, and this includes wilderness 
rangers--they are still part of the law enforcement fraternity.

It was well known among all park employees about the speed traps in the 
Valley and the entrapment scenarios that the law enforcement rangers 
pulled off in pursuit of dope smoking climbers and hangers on at Camp 4 
and other places in the park. Yosemite is a city. But keep your head 
down, follow the rules and there should be no problem. When I was there 
people were still harrassed by park law enforcement officers in Yosemite 
Valley for looking scruffy and giving the appearance of loitering, a 
description that may apply to many hiker trash--I don't know if this 
profiling still goes on today. I avoid the Valley whenever possible.

--Fireweed