Krista Johnson works in some America's most beautiful places.
Krista H. Johnson of Montgomery served as an interpretive ranger at Everglades National Park, Florida. Johnson is a "seasonal" employee of the park service, working three- to six-month assignments. She has since moved to Crater Lake National Park, Oregon. Krista H. Johnson's family in Montgomery worried about her when she took a job at Everglades National Park in Florida.
"They were concerned about me being in a place that is home to alligators, snakes and Florida panthers," Johnson said.
But by far, Johnson said, the most fearsome creature in this subtropical paradise is the mosquito.
Krista H. Johnson of Montgomery presents a program on "Mosquitoes: The Most Fearsome Animal in Flamingo," to visitors at Everglades National Park, Florida. A graduate of Gateway Regional High School in Huntington and Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Johnson was an interpretive ranger at Flamingo, one of the park's four visitor centers. Johnson, 31, was an interpretive ranger at Everglades, gateway to the largest wilderness in the eastern United States and habitat for such subtropical native species as the American crocodile, alligator, Florida panther and the invasive Burmese python.
Those creatures will generally avoid humans and won't draw nearly as much blood as mosquitoes will.
"Nothing prepared me for the mosquitoes," Johnson said. "You cannot wear shorts or short-sleeve shirts here. Mosquitoes cover you the moment you step outdoors."
Diminutive and energetic, Johnson held the attention of a group of visitors in February as she delivered "Mosquitoes: The Most Fearsome Animal in Flamingo." (Flamingo is one of the park's four visitor centers.)
The ranger said there are 43 species of mosquitoes in the Everglades but "only 13 of those species bite people." There are 167 species of mosquitoes in the United States, she said.
Clearly, Johnson knows her mosquitoes.
She knows a lot of other stuff, too.
"An interpretative ranger works in education," Johnson said.
"We interpret and explain to visitors what is happening around them. We kind of serve as public-relations representatives for the park; we explain to visitors why these places are special and why they are protected."
Johnson offered eight programs unique to Everglades National Park, such as canoe trips and nature walks focusing on birds and tropical trees. She presented a "Croc Talk" and led caravans of visitors through the park, stopping "at some of the highlights along the way."
In addition, she handled the park's "Mobile Museum," a cart full of natural-history paraphernalia, "skulls, wood samples, shells, snake skins," that she would roll out and talk about its contents with curious visitors.
Rangers research and develop their own programs, Johnson said, emphasizing there are no "canned" programs that are merely memorized.
"It is kind of a daunting process when you first start," she said, "very much like being in school again."
Johnson was graduated in 1999 from Gateway Regional High School, Huntington, and in 2003 from Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, where she majored in biology and minored in dance.
At Mount Holyoke, Johnson said, "I took an ornithology class with Professor Susan Smith, which was wonderful. It was the first science class I took that really emphasized being outside. For our labs we would study skins of birds and then go bird-watching around campus. It was so much fun. It was so nice to be doing science outside of the lab; it was really refreshing."
Johnson is married to Jordan L. Neumann, 33, of Middlefield, a law-enforcement ranger with the park service.
Prior to and following marriage, both worked for private concessions in the parks.
"After working in Yosemite, Jordan and I thought that being able to work in national parks full-time would be such an awesome way to see them. While flipping burgers was a great way to get to live in Yosemite, it wasn't really the apex of our career aspirations."
They moved on to volunteer at Saguaro National Park, Arizona; guided hikes at Yellowstone in Wyoming, Montana and Idaho, interned at Kings Canyon and became rangers at Sequoia and Death Valley national parks, all in California.
"I think that it is places that are going to draw us, rather than hope of advancing up the (career) ladder," Johnson said.
"There are a ton of amazing parks. ... We would really love to work in Alaska, especially Denali. Any of the Utah parks would be great, too. You can always find something unexpected in the places that you move ..."
In May, Neumann was assigned to Crater Lake National Park, Oregon, and Johnson said she is excited about the change. "I am looking forward to hiking and skiing ... although I think I'm probably going to freeze, even in summer."
Johnson has been hired as a seasonal ranger at Crater Lake, where she expects to be "leading boat tours, trolley tours and giving short geology talks" through mid-September. Timing of their move, she said, "was great, because the mosquitoes were starting to hatch in the Everglades."
Norm Roy, a retired production editor for The Republican, lives and travels in a motorhome. He is eager to hear from readers about their own travel adventures. His e-mail address is: lollygaggeratlarge@gmail.com