environment. I love the diversity of my job. Every day is different. Most tasks require creativity. Now that I am an experienced naturalist, I have the freedom to plan my own day and make decisions about the types of programs that we offer at Peninsula.
42. _____________
In my first naturalist job, I spent four out of five days leading school field trips and visiting classrooms. As a state park naturalist I still work with students, but more often lead programs like bird walks, nature crafts, outdoor skills, and trail hikes. I also find myself increasingly involved in management decisions. For example, sometimes the park naturalist is the person who knows where rare orchids grow or where ravens nest. When decisions are made about cutting trees, building trails, or creating more campsites. naturalists are asked to give the ecological perspective.
43. _____________
Perhaps the grossest thing Ive done as a naturalist is to boil animal skulls. Visitors like seeing bones and skinsat least after they have been cleaned up! Once, our nature center needed more skulls. A trapper gave me muskrat, raccoon and fox skulls but I had to clean them. First, I boiled the skin and meat off. Boy, did that stink! Then I used dissecting tools and old toothbrushes to clean out the eyeballs. Finally, I soaked the skulls in a bleach solution. Ive had some embarrassing experiences, too. On my first hike as Peninsulas new naturalist, I was so excited that I identified a white pine tree as a red pine tree! Thats quite a mistake since the trees are so easy to tell apart. White pine needles are in bundles of five and red pine needles are in bundles of two.
44. _____________
Not all state parks are as busy or as big as Peninsula. Not all park naturalists spend the seasons as I do. Nevertheless, park naturalists share certain common interests and responsibilities: A park naturalist might notice that branches of a red maple growing in a field reach out to the side while those of a red maple in a thick forest reach up, and wonder why the trees look different. A naturalist makes things happen. It might be working with workers to clean up part of a river. Park naturalists share knowledge in different ways, but all of them communicate with people. A love of learning--from other people, from plants and animals, from books, and moreis an essential quality. Most naturalists dont work in places of rare beauty. Many work in city parks or in places that show wear and tear. If you can wonder about an inchworm, a juniper bush, or a robin and cause others to wonder, too, then you are ready to become a park naturalist.