Oh, Ranger!

My name is Dean Reese, and I've been a member of the National Park Service community at Grand Canyon National Park since 1998. I started as a seasonal employee, working for the revegetation program on the South Rim. I studied botany in college, and love the desert, so in many ways, this was a dream job—working with plants, hiking on the weekends, interacting outdoors with volunteer groups. 

As I hiked the trails and came to know some of the more remote areas of the canyon, I realized that a person could spend their whole life here and still see only a small fraction of the myriad wonders. 

I stayed with the vegetation program for several years, but recently switched to the Division of Visitor and Resource Protection at the Backcountry Information Center. The two disciplines sound entirely different, but their goal is the same: protecting resources at Grand Canyon National Park. In my revegetation position, I worked with volunteers to heal landscapes. Now my job involves giving people the information they need to protect the landscape before it becomes damaged.

I believe visitors want to take care of this special place. As a ranger, I'm happy to encourage this stewardship.