British rangers use vacation to volunteer, learn conservation methods

When most people think of vacation, they don't necessarily think about work. But for visiting Britons Kate Dziubinska and Charlie Winchester, their work is the reason for their vacation.

Winchester, 35, and Dziubinska (pronounced Juh-bin-skuh), 29, arrived in Wrangell on July 11 as part of a multi-country tour to learn how other countries are doing conservation work in wilderness areas. It's taken a lot of planning and saving (as most of their travel is self-financed), but it's yielding a world of information.

The two worked as park rangers in Britain and are currently volunteering with the U.S. Forest Service's district office in Wrangell. Dziubinska has a degree in ecology and Winchester has an undergraduate degree in geography and a master's degree in environmental science. They took time from their busy schedule on July 26 to talk about why they came to Alaska, what they're learning and contributing, and where they will go from here.

Where are you both from?

Charlie Winchester: "We were both working in the southeast of England in a county called Sussex. That's where I was born and grew up."

Kate Dziubinska: "I'm originally from the northwest of England, kind of near Manchester and Liverpool. Blackpool. Nobody ever knows where Blackpool is, so I say Manchester and Liverpool and people say, 'Oh, yeah! The football clubs!'"

What work were you doing?

KD: "We were working as national park rangers. The U.K.'s newest national park is the South Downs National Park. It's about an hour from London, hour and a half. It's a very busy national park. Very highly populated. Lots of big towns and cities on the edges, as well."

CW: "It was officially designated in 2011. We met, I started the job and Kate was already there, this was back in 2017, and that's how we met. We were both doing the same job, both working as rangers."

Why did you come to the U.S.?

CW: "Around the time of the pandemic, we were looking into working abroad, doing something related to being a ranger in other countries. The U.S. is obviously iconic for that kind of work. We were looking into that, talking to some people in Washington, D.C., then the pandemic happened and it all got put on hold.

"Once travel was possible again, we were determined to do something internationally. We got back in touch with people in the U.S. They set up some opportunities for us, and, initially, that was with the Forest Service. Our first placement was with the Forest Service in the Boundary Waters (Canoe Area) Wilderness in Minnesota. We had a placement lined up with the Petrified Forest National Park (Arizona) with the National Park Service. Then it kind of developed from there.

"How we came to be in Alaska was we wanted to extend our time in the U.S., and we were talking to people in different national forests, and I really wanted to come to Alaska because it's so iconic and beautiful and everyone talks about how amazing it is for wildlife.

"We got in touch with the Tongass National Forest, and fortunately (district recreation staff officer) Tory (Houser) reached out and said, 'We might be able to have you in the Wrangell Ranger District.' That's sort of how it came to be. It was a sequence of events where we went from one forest to one national park and eventually found ourselves in Wrangell."

What work have you been doing here?

KD: "We've been helping to maintain and clean up campsites and do some maintenance on cabins, trails work. We took a trip to Anan (Wildlife Observatory) yesterday (July 25) to take a visit to see the bears, which was amazing. In the next couple of weeks, we have some work with archaeologists to do some monitoring and surveys for a Forest Service project. We're also hoping to do some work with the biologists and ecologists here. I'm really interested in the muskegs and ecology of those because in England we have a lot of peat bogs. I'm interested in the similarities. Then Charlie wants to do some work with fisheries and learn more about that.

CW: "In my role in the U.K. I did a fair amount of work on fisheries and river restoration and habitat work in wetland habitats. I'm fascinated to see what the fish biologists do here."

What are some of the differences and similarities you've noticed?

CW: "I think the National Park Service actually has turned out to be much more different than we first imagined to our jobs as national park rangers. It's the Forest Service which is the most similar because national parks in the U.K. they're multiple use ..."

KD: "And conservation rather than preservation."

CW: "(In Britain) we're much more focused on managing the land as a resource for multiple uses: For recreation, for biodiversity, for local businesses. Having those different pressures is much more similar to how the Forest Service does things. I think we found that more similar than we expected. Obviously, there's some big differences in terms of the habitats and the landscape, especially in Alaska. The most similar place we can think of in the U.K. is the Highlands of Scotland. It seems a bit like that."

KD: "We don't have wilderness. We just don't have that concept or that designation. There's a huge movement where people are talking about re-wilding, but because America has such huge landscapes, I feel like you can much more easily protect a whole watershed or desert system as a wild space as a whole and working ecosystem. Whereas in the U.K., our landscape is too small and much more fragmented to translate that concept to the U.K. It's been really interesting to see how that concept works here."

What do you think of Wrangell?

CW: "(Kate was) saying the other day it feels like the place - because we've stayed at quite a few places now - the place with the strongest sense of community. Everyone seems to know each other. We've noticed how everyone waves at each other when they're driving. Immediately, the sense we got when we got here is everyone is really friendly."

KD: "Everybody helps each other, but everyone seems to do it pleasantly and willingly."

What has been your biggest takeaway from this trip?

CW: "There's a lot of received wisdom and set ways in doing things in the jobs we do. I think part of the reason for coming out there, apart from curiosity, is just seeing how you can do often the same task but in a different and better, more efficient way. I also think just learning different ways of looking at things, the different ideologies, like the wilderness ideology in America that's been applied to conserving your public lands is really fascinating. Broadening our horizons, broadening our understanding of nature conservation as a whole is, I think, a big part of it. Ideally, in some sort of fantasy world, I'd like to write a book about all our experiences and put it in a story. I've been keeping a journal the whole time."

KD: "The whole thing has been a great learning experience for us, as well as the selfish part, just wanting to travel and see new places and wildlife. For us, it's been a great way to do it because the American system is set up that they can support volunteers with accommodation, sometimes with a food stipend and whatever support they can offer. That's helped us to be able to travel to these amazing places, whilst being able to afford it with our savings because we had to save up a lot for this trip."

Where will you go from here?

KD: "This is our last placement in the U.S. We'll return to the U.K. for a little while (in mid-September)."

CW: "This is part of the bigger international journey, so in October we'll be going on to Malta and Switzerland. In January, we're going to go work in Cambodia and then on to Australia and New Zealand. And the focus is all working with national parks, designated nature reserves, protected areas."