Haines has gone a year without a full-time state parks ranger, and the wait for a new hire could continue through next summer.
Alaska State Parks didn’t receive an application from a “viable” candidate for the Haines area ranger position, Southeast area superintendent Preston Kroes told the Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve Advisory Council last week.
The position has been vacant since Travis Russell left to become a Haines Police officer in November 2021.
The state has four ranger openings across the state — one in Kodiak and two Kenai, along with Haines, state development specialist Wendy Sailors said. Only two positions were filled after Parks put out a call for applications in August.
Parks received 30 applications, which were submitted through a single form for all four positions. Applicants could indicate their preferred location.
Only 10 applications were filled out “appropriately,” Sailors said, and only two applicants met qualifications. They filled posts in Anchorage and Soldotna. The positions in Haines and Kodiak remain vacant, and two more have opened in Kenai since the hiring period closed, Sailors said.
Sailors said Parks has had an unusual number of law enforcement vacancies and a difficult time hiring since the start of the pandemic. She said Parks posted the opening in the Lower 48 and held a job fair in Anchorage to recruit but still came up short.
“I think that’s because a lot of the other law enforcement agencies are paying more, and they’re giving bonuses now,” she said.
Sailors noted that some of the hiring requirements, like prohibition of marijuana use within a year of applying, might deter potentially qualified candidates. The August job posting listed the position’s hourly wage between $27.62 and $30.66.
“I think we are looking at tweaking some of (the requirements). But we still want quality applicants,” Sailors said. “We don’t want to tap into bonus money even if we had it. We want people to want to come to Parks because it’s a great job.”
Kroes said Parks is planning another hiring effort in which people can apply for all open ranger positions statewide through a single application. He told the eagle preserve advisory council he didn’t have a timeline for filling the position.
“Basically the outlook is we will most likely not have a local ranger next summer again, unless we get somebody who can lateral transfer, like a current ranger from a different park, or somebody that is currently law enforcement that will not have to go through the February academy next year.”
The state’s Division of Parks and Outdoor Recreation oversees Chilkat State Park, Chilkoot Lake Recreation Site, Alaska Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve and Portage Cove State Recreation Site. The state also owns a campground at Mosquito Lake that’s in “passive” management, meaning the state doesn’t perform active maintenance there.
Without a local ranger this past summer Parks staff from Juneau made trips to Haines to assist with maintenance and oversight.