No two days are ever the same when Rangering in Askja
“Although we have a quite structured time plan during each shift, no two days are ever the same when Rangering in Askja” – says Júlía Björnsdóttir, ranger of Vatnajökull National Park for many summers on the highlands north of Vatnajökull - in an interview in Scramble, the magazine of the Scottish countryside rangers association.
In the interview, Júlía tells about her daily work as ranger in the highlands, which consists largely of conversation, education and information to visitors to the area. Information about the weather and conditions is very important in the highlands, where there are long travel routes between places, the weather is constantly changing, the highland roads are slowly passable and there are dangerous fords in many rivers, it is necessary to consider where hikers can access drinking water in one of the largest sand reserves in the world, etc. Daily interpretative walks in Holuhraun and Askja, road Rangers work, restoring and recovering damage to nature caused by off-road driving and cooperation with research partners are also a large part of the work. You can read more in the article that can be read in the magazine found below.
Diverse work and experience stories from rangers
In the mazine, you can find different work and experience stories from rangers in Scotland, on the island of Macquarie in the South Pacific where major operations are underway to curb spreading of invasive species and the effects of climate change on the island's special ecosystem, from a trip around the diverse Oceania, a story about sending a gift to a rangers in Uganda and an Indian ranger's experience of changes in culture and nature and his role as a ranger in that context, to name just a few.
"Ranger, it means guarding and healing the landscape as well as the cultural heritage that is intrinsically part of it" - says the Scottish Amanda Dudgeon, who now visits diverse ranger sites in Oceania.