Dianne Swisher

My love of nature has always played an important part in my everyday life.

For example, when I go diving, I want to identify all the fish I see. In the spring I go turtle-watching in hopes of catching a sea turtle laying her eggs. I go star gazing when I am in a dark sky. I watch the sunset and will get up in the middle of the night to catch a lunar eclipse or meteor shower. When I relocated to Florida as a real estate broker, I studied the native flora and fauna.

The world around me has always been my classroom.

In my encore, I am a Volunteer Park Ranger at Bryce Canyon National Park. I was motivated to do this ever since falling in love with the park when I visited it in 2008. I have a degree in biology and having the opportunity to work in a National Park just expanded my opportunity to study and teach what I love and share it with others.

I spent six weeks studying the geology, flora, fauna, history and astronomy at Bryce. Now I am able to go out on the trails and enhance visitors’ experience here by sharing knowledge about the park and what they are seeing. I am also blogging my summer experience and sharing it with over 200 friends worldwide.

What I would like the world to know is that working at something you love in this stage of life is not work. It is exciting and energizing. It is also nice to know I am benefitting others by my volunteering. Our national parks would not be able to operate without the help of volunteers. This is a national treasure and I am happy to be a part of it.