DEC commissioner defends current ranger staffing
January 25, 2019
Scott van Laer, a ranger in the High Peaks Wilderness and a union representative, urged legislators to add staffing. There are 106 field rangers statewide and some supervisors, and 50 permanent rangers who patrol 2.6 million acres in the Adirondacks. That compares to 330 federal rangers who patrol the Yellowstone National Park’s 2.2 million acres, he said.