As a child, teenager, or adult, you’ve probably wondered what it would be like to be a park ranger in one of America’s national parks: enjoying nature, preserving history, and sharing your knowledge with visitors. But your dog may have dreamed of being a “bark forester”.
Well, this dog dream could come true the next time you visit a national park. The National Park Service (NPS) offers pets and their human companions many opportunities to enjoy the scenery, hiking trails and surroundings of the most beautiful and historic places in our country with its more than 420 national parks. The “BARK Ranger” program offered in many parks allows dogs to have fun with the family without feeling overwrought or unsafe.
National Park Service ranger Daniel Willner hosts a BARK ranger hike in Grand Canyon National Park. Photo: Dr. Stephenie Slahor
What is the BARK Ranger Program?
“BARK” is actually an abbreviation for the four principles of the NPS initiative “Healthy People, Healthy Parks”:
- B is used to bag your pet’s rubbish and dispose of it in a public dumpster without leaving it on a trail, trail, or in forests or wild lands.
- A is to keep your pet on a leash at all times, no longer than 6 feet, so that you are in control of your pet.
- R stands for respect for the park’s wildlife.
- K is to know which areas of the park are dog-friendly places, where your pet is welcome or where your pet can walk with you.
How does the BARK Ranger program work?
Grand Canyon National Park is only one national park that offers the free BARK Ranger program. Park ranger Daniel Willner organizes a walk with pets and people along one of the canyon’s edge paths that are accessible to pets.
Not all parks have a BARK ranger program. “When creating a BARK Ranger program, all factors considered are the location, security, logistics, permits (if required), purpose of the program, and the food stalls that the participant will experience,” he says.
Once a park has set up the program, it’s time to inform the guests in the lodges, the campers, and the day visitors.
Ranger Willner explains, “There are many different ways to promote a BARK Ranger program. However, the platforms that I have found most successful have posted leaflets on the various contact stations and campsites, including the program in the Ranger Talks schedule (with lectures and presentations) as well as on the park website. “
Check all of these platforms to see if the park you are visiting currently has the program.
Rangers pose with a Catoctin Mountain Park BARK Ranger. This Western Maryland National Park has 25 miles of hiking trails. Photo: NPS.gov
Get involved in the fun
To participate, all candidates for the BARK Ranger honor must demonstrate two of the most important characteristics of Human Park Rangers: being friendly and sociable. The pet parents who would accompany the pets on the two-hour information walk are asked to bring water and snacks for themselves and their dog, garbage bags, sunscreen and the BARK Ranger booklet that will be given to participants.
Once the pet parents and dog have completed a BARK ranger program, the activity card or booklet can be taken to a park ranger for validation. The dog is then given the right to wear the coveted BARK Ranger dog tag, the headscarf, or both. Some national parks provide them for free, others have minimal costs.
Find a BARK Ranger program
Here is a list of some of the current sites, but, as in many cases, they can change depending on which people are running the program, what the budget, time, and other factors. Check with this park near your home or vacation destination for the latest information on bringing your pet with you.
Start with nps.gov/subjects/pets/visit.html to view a map of the parks. Those marked in red prohibit pets, but those marked in green have the welcome mat out. Just make sure your pet is on a leash and that the mat has no “debris”! By the way, cats are also included as pets for the purposes of the card. BARK Ranger programs:
- Yosemite National Park, California
- Shenandoah National Park, Virginia
- North Cascades National Park, Washington
- Cuyahoga Valley National Park, Ohio
- Mammoth Caves National Park, Kentucky
- Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona
- Acadia National Park, Maine (believed to be one of
most dog-friendly)
Also keep in mind that the national park system has many other locations for history, culture, lakes, canals, islands, terrain, etc.
Here are some that offer special considerations for pets:
- The Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site, North Carolina
- Castillo de San Marcos National Monument, Florida Fort Matanzas, Florida
- Friendship Hill National Historic Site, Pennsylvania
- Herbert Hoover National Historic Site, Iowa
- Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, Michigan
- Montezuma Castle National Monument, Arizona
And related to the love of dogs is Denali National Park in Alaska, the only national park with working sled dogs. The kennels are open to park visitors. Demonstrations and tours take place more frequently in summer, but the kennels are open all year round
Fur family fun
Says Ranger Willner, “I find the most rewarding aspect of creating and delivering BARK Ranger programs is that visitors and their one-legged family members can respectfully enjoy the resource together. Pets have a significant impact on our natural spaces as they are “visitors” to these wild lands and as visitors must follow house rules that by and large benefit both them and the park. ”
When pets are an important part of family activities, always check out the safest ways to enjoy our national parks with our canines around for fun. The BARK Ranger program provides dogs and their people with new knowledge about how to be good role models for responsible and safe visits to our national parks. And it’s a fun activity too!
Read Next: Hiking With Dogs: A Guide to Safe Hiking With Your Dog
