Today (Jul 31) is World Ranger Day, an international day of recognition for park rangers around the world. A newspaper article today in Wisconsin leads off with this great quote from the first director of the National Park Service, Steven T. Mather, in 1916:

If a trail is to be blazed, send a ranger; if an animal is floundering in the snow, send a ranger; if a bear is in a hotel, send a ranger; if a fire threatens a forest, send a ranger; and if someone needs to be saved, send a ranger.

Let's give a nod of thanks to the current and former park rangers out there today. The classic image of rangers on patrol is as much a part of the iconography of the National Parks as is Old Faithful or the Grand Canyon. Beyond the romanticized vision though are real folks doing a hard job as a labor of love. You can make a career at this, but you probably won't ever get Bill Gates rich in the process. NPS Director Mary Bomar said this in a letter to all park employees today,

Our rangers are the visible public face of park management. While their duties vary from country to country, agency to agency, and even park to park, rangers are the front-line presence who protect resources and visitors and provide the direction and information that make park attendance a memorable experience.

Film maker, and Australian park ranger, Sean Willmore has created a movie to document ranger activities around the world. His movie, 'The Thin Green Line', premiers today around the world. Willmore sold his car, remortgaged his house and traveled the world for 12 months to create this story. The movie is described as being, "a compelling story of men and women who everyday cope with corruption, ignorance, politics and greed. Often undergunned, under-resourced and outnumbered they daily risk their lives. Their passion, dedication and skills see them prevail ... mostly."

To see if there is a premiere of this movie in your area today, check out the schedule on this website. Here are a few audio clips from the movie. Sounds like rangers dealing with bears in Canada, gorillas in Uganda, then wildland fire in the good ol' USA.

Get the Flash Player to see this player. Note: the Flash audio player will not show up in the RSS feed, even if you have Flash installed. Please visit the website to listen to the piece.