It's a job unlike almost any other: part smiling host for vacationing visitors, part interpretive officer for the country's wild and historic treasures.
Yet, of the 4,000 or so National Park Service rangers, 1,500 of them are all cop. They just have to cover more ground.
On any given day, a ranger such as Margaret Anderson, the 34-year-old mother of two who was shot to death Sunday at Mount Rainier National Park, may help fight a wildfire, set up signs at a snowshoe area, help rescue a stranded climber or teach colleagues emergency medicine. But a ranger also may assist a fellow law-enforcement officer who is chasing a heavily armed suspect up a remote icy road in one of the nation's 397 national parks.
"Many people still think of us as the people who clean toilets or go on walks or respond to hiking accidents," retired park ranger and special agent Ken Johnson said. "That's just not the case anymore."
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