Traveling throughout the vast expanses of the last frontier, Alaska, LT librarian Brian Bardy spent this past summer as a seasonal park ranger. Stationed in Nome, Alaska and Bering Land Bridge National Park, Bardy provides education through interpretation to visitors and community members. In addition, he also partakes in an array of communal projects. He is hoping to retain his position going into the summer of 2017.

“Last year I flew out on May 26 and came back on Aug. 15, so I spent about 80-days in the Arctic,” Bardy said. “I had a tremendous experience working for the park service. I did an array of professional training such as completing a flight mission into the park itself on a single-engine plane.”

The National Park Service hires about 8,000 temporary workers, most of them seasonal park rangers, Bardy said. The rangers are offered roughly 1,039 hours and work between April and October. Depending on which park they are stationed at, the seasons’ lengths may vary along with the number of hours. He is one of two seasonal park rangers in the Bering Land National Park.

“As an interpretive park ranger that is here seasonally, he is involved in a lot of programs such as the Junior Ranger Program and Tundra Tots Program that both meet weekly,” said Bering Land Bridge Lead Park Ranger Katie Cullen. “People are very curious about the wildlife here such as what type of birds are passing through.

With a highly sought position in a remote location, Bardy likes to take advantage of the area’s beauty by going on wilderness excursions and bird-watching trips. Photographing Alaska’s unique birds has become a skill and hobby for him, said Bardy.

“He went on an 18-hour birding trip as part of his training,” said Cullen. “Nome is a very active community and a lot of people help out with these trips and enjoy them.”

On Jan. 23 there was a presidential memorandum put into place that froze the ability of the federal government to hire employees, according to the New York Times. Many full and part-time federal jobs nationwide, not including public safety and military jobs, were frozen for roughly 90 days, including Bardy’s position.

President Trump saw the “freeze” on various federal jobs as an opportunity to cut back on costs for hiring, Bardy said.

Following further clarifications and discussion, the Office of Personnel Management and the Office of Budgeting published a list on Jan. 31 regarding which positions were to be exempt from the memorandum which included most of the seasonal, federal jobs such as park rangers. In order for the National Park Service (NPS) to hire their seasonal park rangers, there needs to be a few extra steps taken.

“It’s [the exemption] a step in a positive direction for seasonal employee’s, but we are not 100-percent there yet in terms of offering certain positions,” Cullen said.

There is no doubt that the NPS shares a profound impact among other federal agencies when it comes to preserving natural landscapes and educating the public. Amongst the environmental disarray under President Trump, there lies much confusion and conflict as to what jobs are safe from being “frozen”.

“The Bering Land Bridge National Preserve contains 2.7 million acres, most of which is pristine wilderness,” Bardy said. “It is a really dynamic area with a lot of neat land features.”

Bardy looks toward remaining in the seasonal park ranger service despite the future unknown fate of the National Park Service under the current presidential administration.