Explain to your child that forest rangers help sick and injured animals get better. When abandoned baby animals, injured animals or animals that have been ostracized are discovered by park rangers, they transport them to special clinics where they can receive treatment. In some cases, animals are nursed until they are well enough to be released back into the forest. In other cases, they may live in special enclosed sanctuaries or park officials may adopt them.
When hikers go missing or a plane crash in the wilderness, forest rangers are sent out for search and recovery missions. Explain to your toddler that forest rangers have special training to find lost people in the woods. They use special tools to navigate any terrain in any condition. Forest rangers have advanced knowledge of first aid, rope rescue techniques and land navigation skills. They save lives by finding missing people who get hurt or lost.
Tell your child that sometimes a forest ranger has to act like a fireman. When wildfires start, forest rangers fight the fires alongside the fire department to help keep the tress and plants safe. They also sit in really tall towers that are placed in various areas of the forest so they can spot fires. Forest rangers use binoculars to spot activity in the park and special radios to alert other rangers and the fire department when fires grow too large.
Preschoolers might think a scientist is an old man in a white lab coat looking through a microscope. Inform your child that some park rangers have gone to college to become forest scientists. Conservation scientists and foresters study the elements in the lake water, take soil samples, study trees and plants, and make sure all aspects of the forest are healthy. If water gets contaminated it can hurt fish and animals. It can even hurt people who swim in the water. Park rangers with college degrees in conservation science work hard studying the forest to keep it a safe place for kids can to have fun exploring and playing.