| Ranger
Mary Welborn has been the Ranger at Bridle Trails State Park
for over twenty-two years. When she began the job
she figured she would be around two to five years because
by then she would have seen and experienced all there was.
She readily admits she was wrong! As she says “The
Park just grows on you” and every season, every
type of weather condition, brings a new experience. For Mary,
and all of us who love the Park, every section of it holds
its own special appeal.
Mary achieved a degree in Forestry from the University of
Washington and went to work for the Federal Bureau of Land
Management organizing and leading youth projects. At the insistence
of one of her Professors, Mary took the test for becoming
a State Park Ranger. Her first position was in West Port.
Having been around horses most of her life Mary was
very interested when the position at Bridle Trails Park opened
up.
On Mary’s second day on the job, she was sitting under
a tree eating her lunch when two men approached on horseback,
positioned their horses at her feet and said “So, you’re
the new Ranger” when Mary said indeed she was, the other
man said, “You need a horse.” Subsequently,
they brought Mary a seasoned trail horse and Mary’s
working partnership with horses began. When fall
hunting season arrived and the horse’s owner came to
take the horse, Mary cautioned the man that he shouldn’t
discipline the horse if he stops under every tree. You see,
Mary had taught him to stop and allow her to do trail maintenance
from horseback! |
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