WEBVTT - Why Is It More Dangerous to Be a Park Ranger Than an FBI Agent? 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:00.760 Guess what will? 0:00:00.960 --> 0:00:01.640 What's that mango? 0:00:02.000 --> 0:00:04.720 So I found this thread from Reddit on some of 0:00:04.760 --> 0:00:07.280 the stupidest things that park rangers have had to deal 0:00:07.320 --> 0:00:09.119 with every day, and I just had to share some 0:00:09.160 --> 0:00:11.959 of these ridiculous stories. So there are people who try 0:00:12.000 --> 0:00:13.600 to take selfies with bears. 0:00:14.960 --> 0:00:16.200 Yeah, I say that's pretty stupid. 0:00:16.680 --> 0:00:19.080 There are people who try to take home baby gators 0:00:19.120 --> 0:00:21.640 from the Everglades because they think they're so cute, which 0:00:21.680 --> 0:00:24.520 is partially dumb because these things obviously grow up, but 0:00:24.560 --> 0:00:27.960 also because baby gaters apparently cry and that puts all 0:00:28.000 --> 0:00:30.840 the mamma gators in the area in attack mode. Oh wow. 0:00:30.920 --> 0:00:33.800 And there's a family who thought that bear spray, which 0:00:33.880 --> 0:00:36.280 is like a heavy duty pepper spray, was supposed to 0:00:36.280 --> 0:00:38.640 be applied on their bodies like mosquito spray. 0:00:39.240 --> 0:00:41.520 Yeah, I'd say that takes the crown. That's pretty bad. 0:00:42.040 --> 0:00:45.199 Yeah, should have made for a rough day. But the 0:00:45.320 --> 0:00:47.519 saddest and funniest thing to me is the complaints that 0:00:47.560 --> 0:00:50.440 they get. So apparently one woman balled out this park 0:00:50.520 --> 0:00:53.840 ranger because the tree she traveled to visit looked exactly 0:00:53.880 --> 0:00:55.280 like the trees in her backyard. 0:00:55.800 --> 0:00:58.080 I like that she was bawling out of park range, Like, 0:00:58.280 --> 0:01:01.040 I kind of don't think that's the range Here's fault exactly. 0:01:01.280 --> 0:01:03.920 Yeah, it is an n ridiculous tourist. Are the least 0:01:03.960 --> 0:01:06.560 of what these heroic park rangers have to deal with today. 0:01:06.600 --> 0:01:10.360 We're talking about how they've foiled poachers, saved species, and yes, 0:01:10.520 --> 0:01:12.080 help plenty of tourists along the way. 0:01:12.400 --> 0:01:36.480 Let's dive in, Hey their podcast listeners, Welcome to Part 0:01:36.520 --> 0:01:39.119 Time Genius. I'm Will Pearson and as always I'm joined 0:01:39.120 --> 0:01:41.399 by my good friend Mangesha Ticketer and on the other 0:01:41.440 --> 0:01:44.000 side of the soundproof glass, decked out in a Smoky 0:01:44.080 --> 0:01:47.280 the Bear cosplay man. This is just going all out. 0:01:47.360 --> 0:01:51.000 That's our friend, producer Tristan McNeil. He's even wearing this 0:01:51.080 --> 0:01:53.880 fuzzy brown sweater. I guess is this is this because 0:01:53.880 --> 0:01:55.800 smoke he always refuses to wear a shirt or what. 0:01:56.520 --> 0:01:59.200 Yeah, but dressing like a bear is a pretty sharp 0:01:59.240 --> 0:02:02.000 look because trist And really pulls it off it really does, 0:02:02.240 --> 0:02:03.640 you know. I didn't have the heart to tell him 0:02:03.680 --> 0:02:06.160 that Smokey's actually a symbol of the National Forest Service, 0:02:06.360 --> 0:02:07.800 not the National Park Service. 0:02:08.400 --> 0:02:10.120 Well, I think you have to be fair here because 0:02:10.120 --> 0:02:13.480 the hat is part of the National Park Rangers' uniform. Now, 0:02:13.560 --> 0:02:16.560 speaking of hats, park rangers wear a bunch of different 0:02:16.600 --> 0:02:20.200 hats figuratively speaking. And that's because national parks, no matter 0:02:20.240 --> 0:02:23.080 how safe they might feel to us, there's still wild 0:02:23.120 --> 0:02:26.160 places and anything can happen there, and that means park 0:02:26.200 --> 0:02:28.240 rangers have to be prepared to serve the public in 0:02:28.280 --> 0:02:32.839 whatever way is needed, whether that's teachers, tour guides, EMTs, 0:02:32.919 --> 0:02:37.079 search and rescue workers, even law enforcement officers, and sadly, 0:02:37.240 --> 0:02:40.359 even as coroners you know, sometimes all in the same day. 0:02:41.040 --> 0:02:43.440 So with all the rigors of the rangers job in mind, 0:02:43.639 --> 0:02:45.720 we thought we'd show a little appreciation by devoting an 0:02:45.919 --> 0:02:49.000 entire episode to them. We'll talk about how park rangers 0:02:49.000 --> 0:02:51.239 got their start, how the job has changed over the 0:02:51.320 --> 0:02:53.440 last one hundred years, and we'll also learn some of 0:02:53.440 --> 0:02:56.800 the tricks rangers used to contend with whatever nature throws 0:02:56.840 --> 0:02:59.560 their way. I mean, we're talking things like grizzly bears 0:03:00.080 --> 0:03:02.520 and even these annoying tourists. So where do you want 0:03:02.520 --> 0:03:05.000 to start, Mango, Well, believe it. 0:03:05.040 --> 0:03:06.400 Or not, I actually want to stick with the hats 0:03:06.440 --> 0:03:08.960 for a second, because the ranger hat we've been talking about, 0:03:09.040 --> 0:03:12.239 which is I guess that flat hat with what's called 0:03:12.240 --> 0:03:15.600 a lemon squeezer on top. It's actually a really interesting 0:03:15.639 --> 0:03:17.840 holdover from the earliest days of the national parks. And 0:03:18.200 --> 0:03:20.359 this is back when they were patrolled and protected by 0:03:20.440 --> 0:03:23.680 military soldiers rather than park rangers. 0:03:23.280 --> 0:03:26.360 Which isn't something most people know, I imagine, So clueus 0:03:26.360 --> 0:03:28.200 in on this. How did the military wind up in 0:03:28.280 --> 0:03:29.720 charge of the national parks? 0:03:30.080 --> 0:03:33.880 So it was really out of necessity essentially. President Grant 0:03:33.960 --> 0:03:37.000 designated Yellowstone as the world's first official national park, and 0:03:37.040 --> 0:03:39.520 this was way back in eighteen seventy two, but the 0:03:39.600 --> 0:03:42.840 National Park Service wasn't established until about forty years later, 0:03:43.280 --> 0:03:46.120 and in the meantime, there was no specialized government agency 0:03:46.160 --> 0:03:50.080 task with overseeing national parks. Instead, that responsibility fell to 0:03:50.120 --> 0:03:52.640 the Department of the Interior, where you know, there were 0:03:52.680 --> 0:03:56.120 administrative duties that were passed from one point to the next, 0:03:56.120 --> 0:03:59.360 but no one was particularly skilled or even that interested 0:03:59.360 --> 0:04:03.480 in managing Stone properly, and as a result, poachers just 0:04:03.680 --> 0:04:07.640 reaked havoc on the parks, like they decimated the bison population, 0:04:07.880 --> 0:04:11.480 the elk population, the deer population. And it wasn't just poachers, 0:04:11.480 --> 0:04:14.040 like it was a total free for all timber companies 0:04:14.080 --> 0:04:18.359 cut down forests there, vandals graffitied rock formations and the geysers, 0:04:18.400 --> 0:04:21.720 and visiting ranchers even fed their herds there. And there 0:04:21.760 --> 0:04:24.200 was also this problem of former settlers who were now 0:04:24.279 --> 0:04:28.160 illegally squatting in a national park. So rather than leave quietly, 0:04:28.279 --> 0:04:32.400 these furious locals would set fires and destroy hundreds of 0:04:32.400 --> 0:04:35.880 acres of parkland. And this all kept the administrators scrambling 0:04:35.920 --> 0:04:38.080 to put it out. Like once word of all this 0:04:38.200 --> 0:04:41.599 chaos reached Washington Congress, and the politicians were just so 0:04:41.800 --> 0:04:45.440 mad that they refused to allocate any additional funding for Yellowstone, 0:04:45.440 --> 0:04:47.839 And for a minute, it actually seemed like the dream 0:04:47.880 --> 0:04:49.680 of a national park system might not make it to 0:04:49.720 --> 0:04:50.640 the twentieth century. 0:04:51.480 --> 0:04:53.839 And so is this where the military steps. 0:04:53.600 --> 0:04:56.919 In or what that's right? So Congress basically reached a 0:04:56.920 --> 0:04:59.719 compromise with the Department of the Interior, and it said 0:04:59.720 --> 0:05:02.479 that Yellowstone would only continue to be funded as long 0:05:02.520 --> 0:05:04.960 as the day to day management shifted to the military. 0:05:05.120 --> 0:05:08.320 So this is in eighteen eighty six, which is fourteen 0:05:08.400 --> 0:05:11.880 years after Yellowstone's founding, but a troop of sixty US 0:05:11.880 --> 0:05:14.880 cavalrymen came to stand guard there over the park's two 0:05:14.920 --> 0:05:17.640 point two million acres. And you know, if you think 0:05:17.640 --> 0:05:20.800 about a sixty people covering two point two million acres 0:05:20.800 --> 0:05:22.119 of land, isn't a lot of people. 0:05:22.240 --> 0:05:24.160 Yeah, yeah, But this was still a. 0:05:24.080 --> 0:05:26.680 Major improvement over the park's civilian run days, when there 0:05:26.680 --> 0:05:29.680 were only about ten people on patrol, and plus only 0:05:29.720 --> 0:05:32.480 about five hundred people were visiting Yellowstone each year in 0:05:32.520 --> 0:05:35.239 the eighteen eighties, so a small staff kind of worked 0:05:35.240 --> 0:05:38.599 well for the most part. And as more people started visiting, 0:05:38.680 --> 0:05:41.479 the military's presence increased too, and by nineteen ten there 0:05:41.520 --> 0:05:43.880 were actually a total of four sixty man troops in 0:05:43.960 --> 0:05:47.240 Yellowstone and the yearly park attendants had grown to nineteen 0:05:47.320 --> 0:05:48.160 thousand people. 0:05:49.000 --> 0:05:51.840 Wow, all right, but I don't want us to lose 0:05:51.839 --> 0:05:53.719 track of the hats. We were talking about the hats earlier, 0:05:53.800 --> 0:05:56.440 So so you're saying these cavalrymen, they were the first 0:05:56.440 --> 0:05:59.400 to wear the flat hats that we associate with park rangers. 0:05:59.560 --> 0:06:01.760 That's right. But it wasn't just a fashion choice. So 0:06:01.960 --> 0:06:05.640 the hats actually served a very practical purpose and it 0:06:05.680 --> 0:06:07.760 has a history from eighteen ninety eight. This is when 0:06:07.800 --> 0:06:10.840 American cavalry had been sent to fight in Cuba and 0:06:10.880 --> 0:06:13.680 the Philippines, and this is during the Spanish American War, 0:06:14.279 --> 0:06:16.160 and while they were there, they had to deal with 0:06:16.279 --> 0:06:19.440 intense tropical rains, you know, like monsoons that would just 0:06:19.560 --> 0:06:22.560 soak them to the bone. And the soldiers wore army 0:06:22.600 --> 0:06:24.960 issue hats that were pretty similar to the modern ones 0:06:25.000 --> 0:06:28.000 worn by rangers, but according to the regulations at the time, 0:06:28.000 --> 0:06:29.919 they were only supposed to increase the hats in the 0:06:29.960 --> 0:06:33.000 front and back. But the soldiers found that if they 0:06:33.320 --> 0:06:36.080 pinched it in quadrants, it actually shed the rain water 0:06:36.160 --> 0:06:36.760 off better. 0:06:37.040 --> 0:06:39.479 So that's where you get what you call that lemon 0:06:39.520 --> 0:06:40.359 squeezer pinch. 0:06:41.040 --> 0:06:43.520 Yeah, that's right. So if you actually want to get technical, 0:06:43.560 --> 0:06:45.600 that particular kind of hat pinch is known as the 0:06:45.600 --> 0:06:46.479 Montana peak. 0:06:47.000 --> 0:06:49.400 Anyway, I definitely want to get technical. If it's called 0:06:49.400 --> 0:06:52.000 the Montana peak, that's just the Yeah. 0:06:52.080 --> 0:06:54.760 Well, veterans of the Spanish American War brought their hats 0:06:54.800 --> 0:06:57.520 back and other soldiers realized it was worth doing the 0:06:57.560 --> 0:07:01.440 same squeeze, and by nineteen eleven, the Montana peak was 0:07:01.440 --> 0:07:04.760 officially added to the troopers uniform, and then a few 0:07:04.800 --> 0:07:08.280 years later, when civilian park rangers took over the new 0:07:08.400 --> 0:07:10.040 recruits adopted that same fashion. 0:07:10.640 --> 0:07:12.840 Well, that's pretty cool, and I'm glad you directed as 0:07:12.880 --> 0:07:15.400 to the military's early role in all of this, because 0:07:15.600 --> 0:07:17.360 you know, not only did they set the bar for 0:07:17.600 --> 0:07:20.360 the park ranger fashion, but they also pointed the way 0:07:20.400 --> 0:07:23.000 forward in terms of the work that they did. You know, 0:07:23.040 --> 0:07:26.240 for instance, pretty much from the moment troops arrived in Yellowstone, 0:07:26.560 --> 0:07:29.680 they started waging war with the poachers there, and from 0:07:29.720 --> 0:07:32.400 what I've read, this was no easy task, especially because 0:07:32.480 --> 0:07:34.800 you know, the military didn't really have legal authority to 0:07:34.840 --> 0:07:38.040 punish these poachers, or at least not in any significant way. 0:07:38.800 --> 0:07:41.560 Right. There weren't any national protections for wildlife at the time, 0:07:41.600 --> 0:07:44.840 so soldiers basically had the authority to like confiscate gear, 0:07:45.240 --> 0:07:47.000 or they could kick connors out of the park, but 0:07:47.480 --> 0:07:49.720 really there wasn't that much more they could do beyond that. 0:07:50.360 --> 0:07:53.240 Yeah, in most cases, that wasn't enough to dissuade these 0:07:53.280 --> 0:07:56.280 people from coming back with new supplies the next week. 0:07:56.600 --> 0:07:58.720 So I asked Gabe to pull the numbers, and a 0:07:58.720 --> 0:08:02.160 fresh bison scalp could fetch you three hundred dollars back 0:08:02.200 --> 0:08:04.480 in the eighteen nineties, and that was the equivalent of 0:08:04.520 --> 0:08:07.960 about eight grand today, So for poachers, a shot at 0:08:07.960 --> 0:08:10.720 that kind of money was well worth the stern talking 0:08:10.760 --> 0:08:13.360 tos that they might get from the military. And of 0:08:13.400 --> 0:08:16.080 course the soldiers at Yellowstone felt a little deflated about this, 0:08:16.200 --> 0:08:19.160 so they decided to get creative and sort of stretch 0:08:19.200 --> 0:08:21.720 the limits of the legal penalties that they could impose. 0:08:22.320 --> 0:08:24.840 Sometimes they'd lock poachers in the guardhouse for a couple 0:08:24.840 --> 0:08:27.120 of weeks, or you know, they'd force them to scrub 0:08:27.200 --> 0:08:30.520 graffiti off the rocks. But probably the most effective practice 0:08:30.520 --> 0:08:33.080 I'd heard about was that soldiers would march a group 0:08:33.160 --> 0:08:35.640 of poachers to the south entrance of the park and 0:08:35.679 --> 0:08:38.079 then inform them that all of their guns and supplies 0:08:38.120 --> 0:08:41.000 they were, you know, available for pickup at the park headquarters, 0:08:41.000 --> 0:08:44.160 which was conveniently located about seventy five miles away at 0:08:44.200 --> 0:08:45.280 the park's north enters. 0:08:46.360 --> 0:08:48.600 Well, I mean it serves them right in of course, 0:08:48.640 --> 0:08:51.840 park rangers have upheld that zero tolerance stance on poaching 0:08:51.920 --> 0:08:55.120 ever since, so this actually has nothing to do with poaching. 0:08:55.160 --> 0:08:57.480 But I do have to mention it. Do you hear 0:08:57.480 --> 0:08:59.839 about the park superintendent who kicked the KKK out of 0:08:59.840 --> 0:09:00.280 the park? 0:09:00.920 --> 0:09:02.640 No, but I definitely want to hear the story, So 0:09:02.920 --> 0:09:03.480 what happened? 0:09:03.920 --> 0:09:05.640 Well, to start with it, it helps me know that 0:09:05.679 --> 0:09:08.319 the Klan was super active in Colorado during the mid 0:09:08.400 --> 0:09:11.920 nineteen twenties. And not only that, but the group actually 0:09:12.040 --> 0:09:15.280 received like open acceptance from a number of politicians, like, 0:09:15.920 --> 0:09:18.040 I want to say, the governor, the mayor of Denver, 0:09:18.240 --> 0:09:21.240 even a US Senator named Rice Means, and Wow. In 0:09:21.320 --> 0:09:23.920 nineteen twenty six, Senator Means held his pr event in 0:09:23.960 --> 0:09:27.000 Colorado's Mesa Verde National Park, and of course, like a 0:09:27.040 --> 0:09:29.760 bunch of clansmen came out to support their boy. Some 0:09:29.800 --> 0:09:32.160 of them even tried to convince the park's superintendent, this 0:09:32.200 --> 0:09:34.400 guy Jesse Nussbaum, to join up with them. 0:09:34.640 --> 0:09:37.040 So let me guess he declined the offer, at least 0:09:37.040 --> 0:09:37.600 I hope he did. 0:09:38.040 --> 0:09:40.560 Yeah, he did. And once the Klan knew where he stood, 0:09:40.640 --> 0:09:43.800 they started threatening to hold a torchlide parade through the 0:09:43.840 --> 0:09:47.160 park like it was supposed to culminate with this giant 0:09:47.280 --> 0:09:50.320 rally and burning crosses right in front of the ruins 0:09:50.320 --> 0:09:53.959 of this famous Native American settlement. But Nussbaum wasn't having 0:09:54.000 --> 0:09:55.960 any of it, so he told a clan they weren't 0:09:56.000 --> 0:09:58.120 welcome in Mesa Verde, and just to make sure he 0:09:58.160 --> 0:10:00.920 got his point across, he armed his small park staff 0:10:00.960 --> 0:10:03.920 with these pickaxe handles and other makeshift weapons, and he 0:10:04.000 --> 0:10:06.680 positioned them where the clansmen could see them. And for 0:10:06.760 --> 0:10:10.120 whatever reason, this intimidation tactic worked because the klan left 0:10:10.160 --> 0:10:10.840 without incident. 0:10:11.440 --> 0:10:14.520 Wow. That's pretty amazing though. It falls completely in line 0:10:14.559 --> 0:10:17.760 with the ranger motto, which is to protect the park 0:10:17.760 --> 0:10:20.600 from people, the people from the park, and the people 0:10:20.640 --> 0:10:21.360 from the people. 0:10:21.720 --> 0:10:24.080 Yeah, and well what Nusbaum did definitely take two of 0:10:24.120 --> 0:10:27.840 those boxes. You know, Preserving natural spaces really takes a 0:10:27.840 --> 0:10:30.760 lot of nerve. I mean, I feel like sometimes park 0:10:30.880 --> 0:10:33.280 rangers are almost viewed as being on the softer side 0:10:33.320 --> 0:10:35.680 when it comes to law enforcement officers, but their jobs 0:10:35.679 --> 0:10:37.120 are really really hard. 0:10:37.640 --> 0:10:39.840 Oh definitely, And actually I think you'll love this story 0:10:39.880 --> 0:10:42.680 I read about from Glacier National Park and this happened 0:10:42.679 --> 0:10:45.200 in the seventies when the park was apparently overrun with 0:10:45.280 --> 0:10:48.800 a bunch of snowmobilers who just kept illegally cutting through 0:10:48.800 --> 0:10:51.600 a stretch of the park that runs along the Montana Highway. 0:10:52.200 --> 0:10:54.760 This really ticked off one ranger in particular, a guy 0:10:54.840 --> 0:10:57.840 named Art Sedlek, who he was just sick of issuing 0:10:57.880 --> 0:11:01.040 these warnings over and over for this same stupid offense. 0:11:01.600 --> 0:11:03.880 So one night in December, the ranger stopped yet another 0:11:03.880 --> 0:11:06.480 group of snowmobilers and gave them the usual speech, you know, 0:11:06.559 --> 0:11:08.400 to stay out of the area so they wouldn't get 0:11:08.400 --> 0:11:11.000 a ticket. And it was less than an hour later 0:11:11.080 --> 0:11:13.880 he heard the sound of snowmobiles in the distance, so 0:11:14.160 --> 0:11:15.880 of course he hops on his four x four to 0:11:15.920 --> 0:11:18.400 go investigate, and when he caught up with them, he 0:11:18.480 --> 0:11:21.320 realized it was the same four offenders from earlier. So 0:11:21.360 --> 0:11:23.600 of course the guy was really mad and just about 0:11:23.640 --> 0:11:26.080 to lose it, and so he pulls up alongside the 0:11:26.120 --> 0:11:28.360 lead vehicle and he starts trying to pull out all 0:11:28.400 --> 0:11:31.319 of its spark plugs and couldn't get a good enough grip, 0:11:31.360 --> 0:11:34.160 and so he decided just like go all action movie 0:11:34.160 --> 0:11:37.440 on them, and he used a slightly different approach. So 0:11:37.480 --> 0:11:40.760 he pulls out his standard issue thirty eight caliber pistol 0:11:41.120 --> 0:11:45.840 and fires it directly into the snowmobiles engine. That's insane, So, 0:11:46.120 --> 0:11:48.160 I mean I could identify with that sort of anger. 0:11:48.200 --> 0:11:50.720 Though if that was happening over and over and over, 0:11:50.880 --> 0:11:51.160 you know. 0:11:51.880 --> 0:11:55.280 I guess but uh, what happened to the other perfs, Like, 0:11:55.320 --> 0:11:56.360 did they just speed away? 0:11:57.240 --> 0:11:59.080 Well, what do you think? I mean, they pulled over 0:11:59.160 --> 0:12:02.000 and once they were in custody, each trespasser was forced 0:12:02.000 --> 0:12:07.120 to pay a whopping twenty five dollars in fines, So that. 0:12:07.200 --> 0:12:11.160 Was totally worth it. But what about the ranger, Like, 0:12:11.320 --> 0:12:14.040 I feel like that kind of behavior either you get 0:12:14.080 --> 0:12:16.600 a promotion or you get put in jail, like depending 0:12:16.600 --> 0:12:18.560 on who your boss is. I guess well. 0:12:18.440 --> 0:12:20.000 It was actually neither of those. I mean, he was 0:12:20.120 --> 0:12:22.920 reprimanded for firing the pistol, but he kind of became 0:12:22.960 --> 0:12:25.920 a hero among the other officers, which you know, I'm 0:12:25.920 --> 0:12:27.920 sure took away some of this thing from that, but 0:12:28.400 --> 0:12:30.400 he had the locals on his side for sure, and 0:12:30.520 --> 0:12:34.400 for years after the incident, the Montana Wilderness Association gave 0:12:34.400 --> 0:12:37.760 out this SEDLK Award for displays of creativity and defense 0:12:37.840 --> 0:12:39.960 of public lands. That's amazing. 0:12:40.440 --> 0:12:43.920 Well as exciting as arm standoffs and high speed snowmobile 0:12:44.000 --> 0:12:46.120 chases are, we should probably talk a little bit about 0:12:46.160 --> 0:12:49.040 some of the more low key but still super vital 0:12:49.080 --> 0:12:51.960 work that park rangers do, especially when it comes to 0:12:52.000 --> 0:12:53.679 repopulating in endangered species. 0:12:54.000 --> 0:12:55.679 Absolutely But before we do that, why don't we take 0:12:55.679 --> 0:13:10.719 a quick break. You're listening to part Time Genius, and 0:13:10.760 --> 0:13:12.760 we're talking about the highs and lows of being an 0:13:12.760 --> 0:13:15.800 American park ranger. So, Meg, for as long as there 0:13:15.800 --> 0:13:18.200 have been national parks, there have been poachers looking to 0:13:18.280 --> 0:13:20.640 exploit the wildlife there. And you know, one of the 0:13:20.679 --> 0:13:24.560 earliest species they targeted was, sadly, the American bison. Now, 0:13:24.600 --> 0:13:26.800 a few centuries ago, tens of millions of bisons roam 0:13:26.960 --> 0:13:29.880 freely across the plains of North America, but by the 0:13:29.960 --> 0:13:34.480 late eighteen eighties, excessive hunting and poaching had drastically reduced 0:13:34.480 --> 0:13:38.280 those numbers. In fact, by nineteen oh two, yellowstones, once 0:13:38.360 --> 0:13:42.120 great herd, had decimated to just under two dozen animals. 0:13:42.600 --> 0:13:45.600 I mean, that just feels absurd, especially when you consider 0:13:45.640 --> 0:13:49.320 that Native Americans had hunted bison for centuries, but you know, 0:13:49.400 --> 0:13:51.960 they didn't have guns and horses, so it made it 0:13:52.000 --> 0:13:54.920 a bit of a faerofight. Also, Native Americans had always 0:13:54.920 --> 0:13:57.400 showed such a deep respect for buffalo and they were 0:13:57.440 --> 0:13:59.600 careful to use every part of the animals they killed, 0:13:59.600 --> 0:14:02.199 and this wasn't the case for American poachers, who were 0:14:02.240 --> 0:14:04.600 only interested in the body parts that commanded the highest 0:14:04.600 --> 0:14:07.839 prices on the market, and you know, you just had 0:14:07.840 --> 0:14:10.079 these enormous carcasses that were left to rot in the 0:14:10.120 --> 0:14:12.480 fields for some poor park rangers to stumble upon. 0:14:13.240 --> 0:14:15.080 Right. I feel like that's an aspect of this we 0:14:15.160 --> 0:14:17.560 don't think about much, like the people who find the 0:14:17.600 --> 0:14:20.440 horror shows that the poachers leave in their wake. The 0:14:20.520 --> 0:14:22.640 fact that it's usually people who have sworn to protect 0:14:22.640 --> 0:14:24.880 these animals and the land that they live on it 0:14:24.920 --> 0:14:26.560 actually makes it that much more tragic. 0:14:27.320 --> 0:14:30.840 Yeah, but thankfully, the American bison story doesn't end in extinction, 0:14:31.080 --> 0:14:33.600 or at least it hasn't yet, because once the park 0:14:33.640 --> 0:14:37.920 officials realized the sorry state of Yellowstone's bison population, they 0:14:38.040 --> 0:14:40.240 immediately set to work on fixing the problem. 0:14:40.360 --> 0:14:42.120 And remember this was still. 0:14:41.920 --> 0:14:44.520 A decade or so before the actual National Park system 0:14:44.640 --> 0:14:47.400 was formed. At the time, Yellowstone was still under the 0:14:47.480 --> 0:14:50.720 jurisdiction of the US Army, and it was actually these 0:14:50.720 --> 0:14:53.320 soldiers who helped launch one of the world's first attempts 0:14:53.360 --> 0:14:57.520 to preserve a wild species solely through protection and also stewardship. 0:14:58.480 --> 0:15:01.640 I mean, that's pretty cool, But what did they do exactly? Well, 0:15:01.880 --> 0:15:05.280 the first step was to try and rebuild the bison's numbers. 0:15:05.320 --> 0:15:08.120 So to that end, Yellowstone bought twenty one bison from 0:15:08.440 --> 0:15:11.200 private owners and think gradually started to mix them in 0:15:11.240 --> 0:15:14.560 with the free range population. And when the NPS took 0:15:14.560 --> 0:15:18.040 over the operation, the rangers kept up those husbandry methods 0:15:18.080 --> 0:15:20.760 while continuing to crack down on poachers. And now they 0:15:20.840 --> 0:15:22.960 also had the backing of new laws for a nature 0:15:22.960 --> 0:15:26.880 species from Congress, and these efforts ultimately proved super effective. 0:15:27.360 --> 0:15:30.840 By nineteen fifty four, the bison's numbers it skyrocketed to 0:15:30.880 --> 0:15:34.160 about thirteen hundred animals, and today Yellowstone actually has about 0:15:34.200 --> 0:15:37.200 five thousand American bison, which makes it both the largest 0:15:37.360 --> 0:15:41.200 and the oldest free roaming bison herd in the whole country. Wow. So, 0:15:41.240 --> 0:15:43.120 you know, so bison are obviously on the larger end 0:15:43.120 --> 0:15:45.320 of the spectrum of animals that the National Parks are 0:15:45.360 --> 0:15:48.040 helping to preserve. But let's talk about a smaller animal 0:15:48.080 --> 0:15:50.600 that could still use a lot of help, and that's 0:15:50.600 --> 0:15:52.920 sea turtles. Because you know, at this point, just about 0:15:52.920 --> 0:15:55.960 every species of sea turtle on the planet is classified 0:15:56.000 --> 0:15:59.040 as endangered. We're talking all over the world. Adult sea 0:15:59.080 --> 0:16:01.440 turtles are hunted for their eggs, or their skin, or 0:16:01.480 --> 0:16:03.960 their meat and shells. I mean, all of this goes 0:16:04.000 --> 0:16:06.720 for big bucks on the black market, and things aren't 0:16:06.720 --> 0:16:08.520 any easier for their offspring. I mean, they have to 0:16:08.600 --> 0:16:11.560 run the gauntlet of these crabs and raccoons and seagulls 0:16:12.080 --> 0:16:13.760 just to get to the water after hatching. 0:16:14.600 --> 0:16:17.000 And even if they do make it to that like water, like, 0:16:17.040 --> 0:16:20.200 the babies still have to dodge like nets and pollution 0:16:20.560 --> 0:16:23.000 and predators like sharks. It's crazy. 0:16:23.400 --> 0:16:25.840 Well, in fact, less than one percent of sea turtle 0:16:25.880 --> 0:16:29.000 eggs wind up producing a turtle that survives to adulthood. 0:16:29.080 --> 0:16:30.960 Isn't that crazy? Less than one percent? 0:16:31.360 --> 0:16:34.080 Yeah, I mean such grim numbers. But what are the 0:16:34.160 --> 0:16:35.960 National Parks actually doing to help these little guys? 0:16:36.080 --> 0:16:38.360 Well, anything they can really. I mean, for instance, at 0:16:38.360 --> 0:16:41.480 the Canaveral National Seashore in Florida, you've got specialists there 0:16:41.480 --> 0:16:44.640 who are helping the green turtle population recover, and they 0:16:44.680 --> 0:16:47.240 do this by keeping local predators from chowing down on 0:16:47.320 --> 0:16:50.680 the unhatched eggs. Beyond that, the National Parks work to 0:16:50.760 --> 0:16:53.440 keep the coastline as clean and safe as possible for 0:16:53.480 --> 0:16:56.080 the sea turtles that are nesting there. And I don't 0:16:56.080 --> 0:16:57.840 know if you noticed or not, but most of the 0:16:57.840 --> 0:17:01.360 threats to sea turtle survival we listed from humans. So 0:17:01.440 --> 0:17:03.920 being able to preserve a pristine stretch of beach that's 0:17:03.960 --> 0:17:07.919 safe from developers and free of artificial noise and light pollution, 0:17:08.359 --> 0:17:11.320 it goes a long way toward getting baby sea turtles 0:17:11.359 --> 0:17:14.240 into the water. And actually I've noticed, you know, several 0:17:14.320 --> 0:17:16.080 times when we go on trips down to the shore, 0:17:16.160 --> 0:17:19.120 especially if it's in more remote areas, you'll see these, 0:17:19.200 --> 0:17:21.520 you know, signs on the you know, on the buildings 0:17:21.520 --> 0:17:23.080 that you stay in or on the houses that you 0:17:23.119 --> 0:17:25.840 stay in that will remind you to turn your outdoor 0:17:25.920 --> 0:17:27.960 lights off at night for that very reason. 0:17:28.880 --> 0:17:31.520 Yeah, but I mean, even with those protective measures, like 0:17:31.560 --> 0:17:35.000 those odds still seem really slim. And you know, the 0:17:35.080 --> 0:17:38.479 rangers have to be a little despondent about this, right, 0:17:38.520 --> 0:17:41.480 like they're fighting this losing battle to some degree, especially 0:17:41.520 --> 0:17:44.520 when I guess, like one hungry shark or a careless 0:17:44.520 --> 0:17:47.760 fisherman could you know, destroy the effort of the little 0:17:47.800 --> 0:17:49.480 hatchling that finally makes it to the water. 0:17:50.040 --> 0:17:53.200 Well. And it's certainly stressful, but there's some encouraging signs 0:17:53.359 --> 0:17:55.840 so staff members that Canaveral counted fewer than one hundred 0:17:55.880 --> 0:17:58.200 nests each year back in the mid to late eighties, 0:17:58.560 --> 0:18:01.960 but since launching their program, those numbers have risen sharply. 0:18:02.359 --> 0:18:05.040 In fact, twenty fifteen was a banner year for green 0:18:05.119 --> 0:18:08.160 sea turtles, with more than thirty five hundred nests found 0:18:08.160 --> 0:18:10.960 along the shore there at Canaveral. But at the same time, 0:18:11.119 --> 0:18:13.680 park rangers aren't blind to what they're up against. I mean, 0:18:13.920 --> 0:18:16.399 they know they can't save all or even most of 0:18:16.440 --> 0:18:19.000 these animals, but it never stops them from doing what 0:18:19.040 --> 0:18:21.399 they can. For instance, I read this account from a 0:18:21.480 --> 0:18:24.240 former park ranger. Her name is Andrea Lankford, and she 0:18:24.320 --> 0:18:26.959 spent some time working at Cape Patteras at the National 0:18:27.000 --> 0:18:30.359 Seashore there in North Carolina, and she routinely prowled the 0:18:30.400 --> 0:18:33.560 beaches in search of sea turtle nest and then documented 0:18:33.600 --> 0:18:35.960 the location so she could check back in from time 0:18:36.040 --> 0:18:38.760 to time. One day, she comes across this tiny baby 0:18:38.800 --> 0:18:42.080 loggerhead turtle in the dunes, and the experience, which was 0:18:42.240 --> 0:18:45.119 early in her career, it really made her reflect on 0:18:45.200 --> 0:18:48.280 whether or not her work was truly worthwhile. So this 0:18:48.320 --> 0:18:51.000 is from an article in backpacker dot Com and Andrea 0:18:51.000 --> 0:18:53.720 writes this. She says, holding this single turtle in my 0:18:53.800 --> 0:18:56.400 hands brought my decision about being a park ranger into 0:18:56.520 --> 0:18:59.320 sharp focus. How could I not fight to keep this 0:18:59.400 --> 0:19:02.480 in danger? It's she's from becoming extinct. How could I 0:19:02.520 --> 0:19:05.560 not risk my life jumping from helicopters or fording rivers 0:19:05.560 --> 0:19:08.480 so this baby turtle could someday return and lay its 0:19:08.520 --> 0:19:13.280 own eggs, retirement benefits, health insurance, decent housing. On my 0:19:13.359 --> 0:19:15.919