I love being a park ranger. One of my favorite aspects of the job is talking to visitors. But there are times when a visitor will come in with a question or comment that you just don't know how to respond to. Well tactfully anyway. Today was such a day.
A gentleman came into the Visitor Center and informed me that he just moved here from New York City and was interested in learning about the lake and fishing opportunities. I gave him a map and told him where he could launch a boat or fish from the shore line. We chatted a bit about the types of fish in the lake and animals he might see then he looked at me and asked, "Well what about snakes?" "What about snake?" I said. "Are there any in the area?" he replied. "Yes sir there are snakes here at Falls Lake." I responded. The man then got this very disgusted look on his face and said, "Well you would think a place like this would have a management plan in place to control snakes." I wasn't real sure how or if I should answer this. I tried to be as polite and tactful as I could be. I said, "Sir this is the outdoors. It is a natural area and you will encounter things that you would commonly associate with nature...snakes included. We do have a management plan in place here for snakes...we leave them alone. That is our plan and it works really well. Snakes are a valuable part of the ecosystem buy helping to maintain rodent and amphibian populations...yadda yadda yadda." He then looked at me with even more disgust and said, " I just don't understand why we can't just have a park for people. " Then he turned around and headed out the door.
Maybe if he wants a park for people he should head back to NYC where everything is paved and buildings block the horizon. I can't imagine not being able to get out of the city and hike out into the woods and see birds, deer, turkey, and snakes. It is a great way to relax and just de-stress from the pressures of life.
"How long can men thrive between walls of brick, walking on asphalt pavements, breathing the fumes of coal and of oil, growing, working, dying, with hardly a thought of wind, and sky, and fields of grain, seeing only machine-made beauty, the mineral-like quality of life?" (Charles Lindbergh)
