Isle Royale's team of all-women rangers provides unique perspective on park

UPPER PENINSULA — At Isle Royale National Park, the lower 48’s most remote and least visited national park, an all-women complement of park rangers reminds us that all it takes to work in nature is a passion for conservation, a love for the outdoors and an appreciation of the little things.

The women provide a crucial interpretation component that’s been credited with making Isle Royale the most revisited park on the roster.

“It wasn’t intentional at all,” said Katie Keller, lead ranger at Isle Royale. “Hiring for the parks is different every year, so we were just as surprised as the visitors when we had all-women rangers two years in a row.”

The summer of 2022 was Keller’s ninth season on the island, her first with an all-women ranger complement. After fielding multiple reactions from visitors, the rangers launched the “Listening to Women in Wilderness” media series, a program designed to highlight how women have always played an integral role in park preservation, from Yellowstone botanist and author Herma Albertson to Margaret Murie’s work to establish Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to the all-women Save the Redwoods League that halted the rampant clearcutting of California’s coast redwoods.

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But how did these talented women all converge on the island at the same time?

Keller refers to herself as the “Unlikeliest Ranger.” An Illinois native, she didn’t realize she’d be working on a remote island in Lake Superior until the park’s call-back caught her attention while she was searching for summer internships.

Fifteen years later, Keller couldn’t imagine doing anything else.

“I’m really fortunate to be here,” Keller said. “It’s not common for a park ranger to stay at one park for a long period. We usually jump from park to park, but I fell in love with Isle Royale and became the lead ranger with a focus on park interpretation.”

Keller defined "park interpreters" as rangers who help connect visitors to sustainability.

“We’re the flat hat rangers who talk about nature and history,” she joked. “But really, instead of interpreting one language to another, we’re connecting people to park stories. Whether that’s the island’s billion-year geologic history, wolf and moose population, fishing history, mining legacy or significance to Indigenous peoples. Park rangers help connect people to the island which leads to appreciation and action on the part of visitors, whether that’s visitors practicing Leave No Trace or something as simple as not making illegal fires. It’s all about educating people and empowering them to participate in park preservation.”

The staff rotation system the National Park Service utilizes makes the all-women complement in 2022 and 2023 particularly unique. Most of the rangers are not like Keller in that they are seasonal workers and are not permanent staff at the island and its land base in Houghton.

“Because the island is only open in the late spring, summer and early autumn, most of the rangers come and go depending on what the National Park Service needs in any given year,” said Keller.

Yet despite the rangers’ diverse backgrounds, all who work there agree two factors make the island a one-of-a-kind place to work. Even the rangers who come to the island from far-off western parks remark that Isle Royale is extremely isolated, a location that is both humbling and awe-inspiring.

“It takes some adjusting, working on the island,” Keller said. “But the other factor we hear from rangers is how incredible the community on the island is. Our professional and personal lives become interwoven as our small complement of rangers interacts with the support staff, volunteers, lodge custodians and ferry and sea plane concessionaires. We all come together to make Isle Royale visits possible.”

Keller also described park protection as a significant part of a ranger’s job.

“People go to the island and they get the feeling that it’s disconnected from the world,” she said. “And while it is remote, it’s not untouchable. Some of the threats are from the people there, say in the form of wildland fire threats. Sometimes, it’s things that come from far away, like pollution and invasive species. Then there’s algae blooms cropping up in inland lakes that make it challenging for visitors to source clean drinking water. And given that we are so isolated, organizing resources to address each of these issues can be extremely challenging.

“Preparation is key, be ready for any weather and give yourself more time than you think you’ll need to visit the places you want to see,” Keller added, describing ways visitors can prepare for a pleasant trip. “We also created the ‘Stay Wild’ principles to ensure visitors have a great experience. Know before you go, Play it safe, Protect your park and Share the space. These principles are geared towards having a good time and leaving the park in a good condition for others. If we can inspire visitors to follow these principles, we’re doing our job as rangers.”

Keller is just one of many Isle Royale rangers with a unique backstory. Bridget Byrne is an eight-year park ranger with the past two-and-a-half years spent as a Visual Information Specialist on Isle Royale. Byrne, who’s worked in multiple national parks, understands the dramatic scope of diversity on full display in America’s protected lands.

“My park story began in Theodore Roosevelt National Park, in North Dakota, which is about as different from Isle Royale as you can get,” said Byrne.

As with Keller and other visitors and Park Service employees, what makes Isle Royale special to Byrne is intangible, ethereal and often without verbal description.

“The island provides me with a sense of calm, safety, peace, growth and healing in ways that no other place could,” said Byrne. “I think the isolation of the place makes it a haven for me and countless others.”

Byrne spends her days on and off the island creating multimedia projects to assist in park interpretation and helping out wherever she is needed, including responding to the island’s 2022 Mount Franklin Fire. During that event, Byrne joined other rangers and support staff to respond to the fire and prevent its spread.

It’s a job that seems like a lot of fun, but one thing both Keller and Byrne emphasized was that Isle Royale’s park rangers take their jobs seriously. The occasional emergencies like fires, severe weather and visitor injury demand a tempered mind and quick-to-act reflexes. But they also stressed that most days don’t involve emergencies or rescue operations.

Finally, the love of the work was more than apparent. For those who truly love the work they do, their lives do not feel like work, and this applies to Keller and Byrne.

“After my shift, I like to row out to the barrier islands in Rock Harbor Channel,” said Byrne. “The geography and ecology of these islands never cease to amaze me. I feel like a kid again when playing on the rock cliffs and gazing into tide pools.”

Ren Brabenec is a Brimley-based freelance writer and journalist with The Sault News. He reports on politics, local issues, environmental stories, and the economy. For questions, comments, or to suggest a story, email hello@renbrabenec.com.

This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Isle Royale's team of all-women rangers provides unique perspective on park