As the ranger’s education specialist, Bajardi conducts a lot of outdoor educational programs, like “Life as a Ranger,” where he brings the gear out and talks about what rangers do. He also led the new Junior Ranger program initiated this year, geared toward providing teens ages 13-15 with a foundation to move into the field of outdoor education or a career that requires a naturalist background. Bajardi met once a month with the youth group to go over skills that include rock climbing, wildfire ecology and wilderness first aid, and will end the course this week by leading the dozen youths on a backpacking excursion in the Adirondacks along with Anna Harrod, one of the Preserve’s education coordinators.
Bajardi is quick to point out that the staff at Mohonk includes other specialists in addition to himself, like ranger Frank Tkac, who is the search-and-rescue specialist. “The Mohonk Preserve rangers are a team,” Bajardi emphasizes. “I have my skills, but I’m no good to anyone if I don’t have the support of my team, just as they need support from me. I’m only one person of the seven, and several of the other rangers are rangers that brought me up in this position. I’ve been very fortunate to have their support and we have a great team.” In addition to Frank Tkac, the other Mohonk Preserve rangers are Bob Elsinger, David Lucander, Elizabeth Elliott, Roger Ennis and David Gates.
Recently, New Paltz Times sat down with Andrew Bajardi to ask him about what a day’s work involves for a ranger at the Mohonk Preserve.
What do you like most about the job? What is most rewarding?
I think the days that fuel me — the days that motivate me to become better at what I do — are the days where we have to provide support to visitors who are in some sort of predicament, whether it’s illness or injury; solving complex problems where I’m required to act and become what we call “incident commander;” that’s the official term, but it’s just being the person who can more or less save someone’s day. We have a large amount of incidents such as those over the course of a year. And it’s on a spectrum: There are the days we can do a lot for somebody and then the days where all we can do is provide support. Along the same lines, when I teach a program and I can see how meaningful it appears to be to the person I’m communicating with, those are the experiences that make me so happy to be doing what I do.
Is there a typical day for a ranger?
There’s mid-week and then the weekend. The visitor use of those tends to change. I have an office at the ranger station where we keep a lot of our resources; that’s home base. Then the front desk at the visitors center is like our dispatch when we’re in the field. The people at the front desk are like Swiss Army knives, too; they do a lot of things. The caliber of work that we need to provide at the Preserve is similar to what you might find in an EMS dispatch center or something of that nature. We have so many different departments and employees in the field, and we truly work with each other; we communicate a lot and see a lot of each other.
How long have you been a ranger here? What did you do before this?
August will begin my eighth year as a ranger for the Mohonk Preserve. Before that I taught a lot of initiative-based outdoor education programs.
What inspired you to become a ranger?
I’ve always had a great connection to the outdoors. I moved here about eleven years ago and fell in love with the area; I’ve been rock climbing since I was about 14 and there was a great allure to the area because of that. I wanted to develop a career for myself that was stable in an environment I was happy with and I started working here as a trailhead assistant. Although when I was interviewed, I made it clear my intention was to become a ranger. I was fortunate that I didn’t have to wait as long as other rangers did for a position to open up: some of them had to wait three to six years, but I had to wait just a little less than a year.
What brought you to New Paltz eleven years ago?
A girl! I was going to SUNY New Paltz at the time and that’s what originally brought me here.
Where did you grow up?
My family moved from Queens to the suburbs of Connecticut when I was 12 and I’ve traveled a lot; I lived in Vermont a little bit and have been out west probably 15 times.
What kind of certifications are necessary to be a ranger?
There is a basic standard we expect of somebody coming into the position. Our need to rock climb at certain times in order to support visitors or other staff is great, and that’s a skill you can’t just teach right away. It takes time to develop your skills to be a safe and efficient rock climber and that’s one of the most important factors in considering someone as a ranger for the Mohonk Preserve. I was fortunate to have the background; the rock climbing experience and the basic first aid.
What kind of first aid training?
I, myself, had national EMT certification, my wilderness EMT, another program called Geo Medic, which is geared toward disaster relief, I had CPR training, land search-and-rescue and Leave No Trace [a national program emphasizing wilderness ethics].
What personal attributes are necessary to do your line of work?
I think you have to be kind, and you have to be non-confrontational, to an extent. Rangers have a duty to act, however, the level of visitors that come up here on a regular basis is so large that we have to provide customer service, so to speak. So being kind, being able to solve problems, and being able to think quickly on your feet and under pressure in sometimes high intensity situations. And that can be something in the field of search and rescue, but can also be a conflict between two people over a parking spot or someone who is frustrated because they don’t agree with our day fee. We have to be able to mediate many situations!
What would be a bad day at work?
A bad day can happen at any level, whether it’s a fragile eco-system that we have affected that we can’t counteract or whether it’s someone’s personal safety, where there’s injury or illness that someone can’t move forward from. With the inherent risk of being up in the mountains, these unfortunate situations do happen, but it’s my duty to take the experience that we go through as rangers and get the very best learning experience out of it that I can. Sometimes the best I can do with a situation is to make sure we improve and know that we’ve exhausted what resources we have.
How has the job changed in the eight years since you started?
Rock climbing has become a very popular endeavor, and you could say it’s generational. New York City has greatly increased the rock climbing gyms they have, so we have a lot of rock climbers who are new to the sport. At the same time, Mohonk Preserve continues to grow and with all the land acquisitions we’ve had, we’re definitely evolving. And cross country skiing has become the big winter activity up here.
Has technology played any part in the nature of your work changing?
Yes, completely. There’s many ways that technology has helped us become better at what we do. We’re able to communicate with each other more efficiently and there are apps that relate to the work that we do. We’re all trained how to use a map and compass, but if we need it, there’s an app where we can GPS where we are and see exactly on a topographic map our location. Technology helps the education portion of our program and with training for EMS and search-and-rescue, things of that nature; the resources online help us provide a good understanding.
What advice would you give someone going into your field?
Practice, practice, practice! This position is something where you can become trained in the fundamentals that you need for a foundation, but the true life experience in the position is what is going to help you the most. But if you put the effort in, motivation and determination will carry you through.
Do you see yourself at the same job ten years from now?
I hope so! That would be a wonderful life.
