City of Issaquah Park Ranger Program
By Alex Anderson, Park Ranger, City of Issaquah
“Wow, I’ve never seen a ranger out here…” is probably the most common way I’m greeted out on the trail. While it’s a somewhat strange way to say hello, it’s also a great conversation starter for who I am and what I do.
Nestled between the three peaks of the Issaquah Alps, the City of Issaquah manages a surprising amount of public land for a municipality of its size. For a city of only about 40,000 people, we oversee 28 parks, 43 miles of trails, and over 1500 acres of open space (about 20% of the city land cover), including over 425 acres of forested open space of the Tradition Plateau Natural Resource Conservation Area (NRCA).
For many years, there was no formal ranger presence on City-owned public land. Issaquah hired its first Park Ranger in 2021 to address problems such as off-leash dogs, resource damage, visitor conflicts, unsanctioned camps, and other concerns. I followed on in late 2022 as the City’s only full-time ranger.
Park Ranger Alex Anderson, photo courtesy of City of Issaquah.
As a ranger, I patrol City-owned parks, trails, and open spaces to ensure that our public lands are safe, well-maintained, and accessible. I contact individuals for a variety of reasons and provide education on our park code. I also develop and deliver educational programs, including guided hikes and classroom presentations on a variety of outdoor-related topics.
When I’m not out in the field, I’m working with various City departments and regional partners on a wide variety of topics related to community science, ecological restoration, and wildlife management. This includes education and co-existence initiatives for our local beavers, urban carnivores, salmon, amphibians, and more.
I also facilitate the City’s Junior Ranger program, an outdoor education booklet, designed by the talented Mina Jun, a former Gibson Ek intern with the Parks & Community Services Department. Individuals of all ages and skill levels are encouraged to learn about the natural world and explore the outdoors, earning a collectable wooden badge to mark their achievement.
Photo courtesy of City of Issaquah.
As many of you well know, there are different types of rangers out there—from interpretive specialists and wildlife biologists to law enforcement officers. Sometimes this can lead to understandable confusion about what precisely my job is, or what kind of authority I have.
It also means I often get asked why I don’t write tickets or carry a gun, to which the response is simply, “Well, I’m not that kind of ranger…”
Issaquah has a non-commissioned ranger model, meaning that I lead with a primarily educational approach to address park issues. I provide visitors with information about relevant laws, remind folks our public lands are community spaces that we all have a shared responsibility to steward, and provide possible alternatives to undesirable behavior.
This approach is known as the “authority of the resource” technique, a method that uses the inherent influence of the protected area itself to encourage a sense of personal responsibility, rather than relying purely on the deterrent effect of citations and fines.
Everyone recreates in different ways and for different reasons, but the simple fact is that no one likes to be told what to do. The way in which land managers engage the public matters. Writing someone a ticket and sending them on their way does not necessarily guarantee a lasting change in behavior and can even have the paradoxical effect of encouraging noncompliance in the future.
When framed as a conversation about “Me & You vs. The Problem,” rather than “Me & The Rules vs. You,” folks are generally more receptive to changing their behavior. The end goal of any public contact is always to emphasize the reason why these regulations exist in the first place: to preserve our public lands for generations to come.
Thanks to all of you for being steadfast advocates for—and enjoyers of—our public lands. I could not do the work that I do without your passion and support.
If you’re interested in learning more about Issaquah’s Park Ranger program, I encourage you to check out https://www.issaquahwa.gov/3381/Park-Ranger.
You can also join me on September 27th to celebrate National Public Lands Day with a hike along Issaquah Creek or visit my outreach table that day at the Issaquah Farmer’s Market.
Or if you have further questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to email me at: alexa@issaquahwa.gov.