For love of the outdoors
Norris Dam State Park ranger turns love of nature into a career
Park ranger and interpreter Jacob Gorman takes a small group through the history of Norris Dam during a program on Friday, June 18. (photo:Collin Riggs )
“I’ve loved it, personally,” he said. “I’ve always loved the outdoors and I’ve always seen myself doing something with this line of work, but I just never had the chance until now. It’s been really eye-opening seeing behind the scenes. Some people grow up saying, ‘Hey I want to be a park ranger,’ and that was me. I’ve loved it.”
While Gorman said there’s been plenty to love about working with the park, there have also been surprises and a surprising amount of work.
“What’s surprised me a lot is the amount of free fun activities we have for the public,” he said. “I went to a lot of parks growing up, especially the dam because I’m somewhat close to the area, but I had no idea that there were so many things going on.
“There’s a lot of effort put into things that I had no idea required that much effort. Stuff like Ranger Joe putting on the CCC [Civilian Conservation Corps] baseball during the summer. We’re not just doing law enforcement and not just maintaining the park. There’s a lot of programs involved. It’s definitely opened my eyes.
“For instance, I’m constantly trying to come up with new ideas for programs,” Gorman said. “Some of them aren’t very good, but I do have some that I’m planning and that I’m super excited for. I do have to put a lot of effort into them, but I’m excited for them. I’m doing a ceramics program in July where I’m going to make some pottery art with people. That should be fun, but it’s getting the clay and the resources and things. I’m also trying to do a time capsule program where I have people come and build time capsules with me.”
When asked what his favorite part of the job was, Gorman had two answers.
“I personally like the recreation stuff, like the critter creek crawl, where we take kids down into the creek and wade around looking for critters while we teach them about invertebrates and stuff. This past week I just planned and put on a basket-weaving program that I was told was the first of its kind. It was really successful and fun, but really stressful. I cut down a bunch of my mother-in-law’s weeping willow branches and prepared them. It’s a lot of stuff that I didn’t realize I would be having to prepare for every week, but I like that aspect.
“I really like showing people the history of the dam and showing the connection between TVA and the CCC and how it all ties into this era. I like showing people the process and point them in that direction when we deal with history. This wasn’t always a big monstrous thing. The dam was built by a lot of people putting in a lot of work. I like things that show the building process or how items are used.”
Gorman said that one particularly difficult part of the job has been catering the programs in a way that they can entertain and appeal to kids and adults at the same time.
“One of the hardest parts is making sure people have a good time, but also that they learn something —the combination of the two,” he said. “It’s especially intimidating to do campfire programs with a large group of people, because you have to keep them engaged while also dealing with adults and children, and you have to cater to both. It’s fun, but really stressful.”
Gorman said he hopes people will discover the things he’s learned regarding the park, so they can understand just how much the park offers to the community.
“I think a lot of people are always surprised about the animals we’ve rescued and had on property, especially the snakes.” he said. “I love showing them to people. We just acquired two new birds as well. We have a red-shouldered hawk and our little screaming owl, Rufus. Another big thing I don’t think people realize is the vastness of the park itself and just how much there is to it. They either get caught up on one side or the other, or they only notice the trickle-down part from the dam and they don’t know about all the hiking and the trails and everything else and just how much of those things we have.
“People also don’t know that we’re building up mountain-biking trails,” Gorman said. “It’s getting to be a bigger sport here in the Southeast. It’s really cool.”
Norris Dam State Park puts on programs for the public every day.
Check out Norris Dam State Park’s website or Facebook page for details or to sign up for programs.