Experts in the Field: Lessons from Greg Hunter

Thursday, June 22, 2017 1:00 PM by Taylor Studios in Professional and Industry Tips


Continuing the theme, Great Outdoors Month, Taylor Studios brings you another expert in the field—this time, the literal one! Please stay tuned as we continue to talk with interpreters, educators, scientists, resource officers and other professionals who work outside.

Greg Hunter is the Director of Natural Resources for Dixon Park District in Dixon, IL. He has previously served as an Illinois Conservation Police Officer and a Park Ranger for the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.

Taylor Studios (TSI): Greg, thank you for taking the time to talk with us about your experience in the field! What inspired you to pursue a career in the outdoors?

Greg Hunter (GH): Growing up on a dairy farm, and knowing farming was not going to be in my future, I chose the next best thing: being a park ranger.

TSI: Any particularly memorable wildlife encounters?

GH: While backpacking in Rocky Mountain National Park in 2014, I encountered a cow moose browsing on the trail I wanted to walk down. I backed away, giving her all the room she wanted. I sat down and thought to myself that I was on “moose-time,” and I had a snack. A short time later, I saw her peek around a boulder, presumably wondering what I was and where I had gone to. She continued browsing, eventually going off in another direction. I shouldered my pack and continued on my way.

TSI: As a naturalist/interpreter, what is the most important lesson you try to impart to your visitors?

GH: A love of nature that, I hope, will lead to its protection.

TSI: What do you think is the most difficult thing to teach people?

GH: The most challenging thing is teaching people that we are part of a very complex system. Humankind has a place within the system, but we need a myriad of other parts to make it all work.

TSI: What is your most valuable interpretive tool that you use in your job?

GH: It all starts with Lowell Park. Beyond that, it is no one tool, but the wise use of a number of interpretive tools to tell the story and educate the visitor in hopes they will become engaged in protection.

TSI: What’s your best advice for someone starting out in this field?

GH: a great love of those things wild and free, backed with scientific knowledge and the skill to share this enthusiasm and knowledge with the public.

TSI: What natural site (anywhere, anytime) has made the greatest impression on you?

GH: The dairy farm I grew up on is where I learned many life lessons that brought me to where I am today.  Not so natural I guess, but it was my Rocky Mountain National Park in my imagination for most of the year when I could not be there. We had a great timber that I built trails and campsites in with my sister.

TSI: What is the most challenging aspect of your job?

GH: The most challenging aspect of my job is the lack of the public’s first-hand exposure to nature, complicated by the lack of science-based knowledge of our natural world.

TSI: What is special to you about your site, Lowell Park?

GH: Lowell Park is a 211-acre refuge from one’s busy everyday life that our visitors have easy access to in order to rejuvenate their souls.

I once spent three days cutting up a 177-year old bur oak that had fallen near the entrance to Lowell Park. As I worked, I thought of all the history it had witnessed and wanted to honor the tree and tell the story of all it had seen.

That experience was the initial spark that led to the design and development of a History Wall, now on display in the Lowell Park Nature Center.

To learn more about Lowell Park or plan your visit, click here: http://dixonparkdistrict.com/lowell-park/

For more information about History Walls by Taylor Studios, click here: https://content.taylorstudios.com/blog/my-product/history-walls/

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