When park ranger Sarah Chalup was a child, her family traveled all over the country visiting national parks. They went west to the Grand Canyon, to parks closer to home in Ohio and participated in the educational interpretive programs at each one.
Chalup’s family moved to Empire when she was in second grade and she became very involved with the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. She interned with the Lakeshore in her senior year of high school and is now spending her fourth summer as a park ranger. Chalup’s father, brothers and sister-in-law all work for the Lakeshore, and her sister used to.
“My whole family loves the park service,” Chalup said.
Chalup attributes her interest in the national parks to the interpretive programs she attended at national parks her family visited.
“I probably wouldn’t have wanted to be a ranger if it weren’t for those programs,” Lakeshore park ranger Sarah Chalup said.
Now, she’s sharing the love of nature and public land with other young people as they attend Lakeshore programs like A Day Out With A Ranger, bike rides, dune dialogues and guided tours.
Although Lakeshore visitation dropped 28 percent in January through May this year, it isn’t a lack of programming that kept numbers down; Lakeshore officials attributed the drop to cool weather and high gas prices.
The Lakeshore and other national parks offer interpretive programs every day that are designed to teach park visitors about the area’s resources and help them connect with those resources as a means of protecting them.
Programs cover a variety of topics, like birding, Michigan habitats and sounds of the wilderness. Although programs are open to people of all ages, some are designed for certain age groups. Junior Ranger participants are mostly kids, but the program also draws an older crowd.
Chalup still attends Junior Ranger programs when she travels to other parks around the country.
“There’s really no standard age,” lead park ranger Lisa Griebel said. Griebel said the Junior Ranger program is interactive, educational, hands-on and helps visitors explore, learn about and protect the Lakeshore.
“It’s a great way to get to know the park,” Chalup said. “Even parents learn from it.”
Junior rangers fill out an activity book after visiting different areas of the Lakeshore. After completing enough activities like going on ranger-led hikes or doing service projects, junior rangers take the junior ranger oath and are awarded with a patch and a badge.
“If you go through that junior ranger book you’re going to learn something and you’re going to visit some places in the park,” Lakeshore deputy superintendent Tom Ulrich said.
The Junior Ranger booklet was just re-done with more graphic appeal, new activities and different requirements for completion. It’s a free program and emphasizes taking care of the park.
“We have a strong stewardship component where we ask them to do some kind of project in the park like pick up trash,” park ranger Susan Sanders said. “We want them to understand that to be a junior ranger means helping protect the parks.”
Other programs, like the Sleeping Bear Brain Bowl trivia game held weekly at the campgrounds, appeal to an older crowd.
Chalup is often surprised to see teenagers attend her interpretive programs. Although sometimes they can seem grumpy because of long family vacations, she likes to engage them by recommending good beaches and areas of the Lakeshore.
Lakeshore staff understand the importance of reaching all young people and engaging them in the park.
“If they come out and make connections they can make a lifelong connection to the national parks,” Griebel said.
Chalup especially likes working with kids because they are more open to learning. The look of awe on their faces when they discover new things makes running the programs worthwhile and fun.
The Junior Ranger program has been around for years, but National Park Service staff moved it this year to more popular areas of the Lakeshore, like Esch Beach, in order to attract visitors who wouldn’t normally attend the sessions.
Integrating technology like cell phones and mobile applications is an important way to reach the younger visitors, and Sanders said the Lakeshore is working on improving that aspect of the park experience.
“We have to stay with the times,” Sanders said. “We want to bring in more of the younger audience and to connect with them where they are.”
The NPS has been expanding the Cell Phone Tour, which gives visitors automated messages after they call a number at certain stops throughout the Lakeshore. Sanders said the next stop was working with mobile applications with images and sounds for the tour. The Lakeshore also has a Facebook page, and Sanders is interested in expanding the web site’s interactive aspects. Staffing issues have slowed those initiatives.
Another way young people get engaged in the Lakeshore is through school groups and Boy and Girl Scout troops, Griebel said. Groups attend ranger-led educational programs about topics like history and geology, and sometimes participate in service projects like replanting native dune grass.
“They do all kinds of really meaningful projects that help us and help them preserve and protect this area,” Lakeshore historian Marie Scott said.
This year, the Lakeshore also expanded its Families Uniting in Nature (FUN) program into the summer months. FUN is a family-oriented outdoor activity club that gives monthly opportunities for families to get outside and learn about nature. Families earn points for participating in FUN events, and can receive prizes like field guides, a compass and a backpack.
Getting families and young people into the Lakeshore is important for the future preservation for national parks. Chalup said that young people need to recognize the opportunities and responsibilities that come with having ownership in public land like the Lakeshore.
“Every U.S citizen has 394 parks that are theirs, that they have to take care of,” Chalup said.
Hopefully, junior rangers and other young park stewards will grow up with that responsibility in mind.
By Carol Thompson
Enterprise intern
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