Working the forests through the trees: Early career as a ranger has been memorable

“Flame lengths over 50 feet were pushing our line. It looked like a wall of fire and sounded like a freight train coming through the middle of the woods.”

That description, frightening to picture for most, was shared by County Ranger Michael Ward with the N.C. Forest Service in Washington County. Ward was recalling one of his most memorable incidents thus far in his career.

Ward is serving in his fifth year as a ranger. Being in the Forest Service wasn’t a childhood dream for Ward, but that changed in 2019.

“Being a ranger wasn’t really on my mind coming out of school. However, when I learned about the opportunity in Washington County back in 2019, my interest was piqued,” Ward said. “I have always enjoyed being outside, and the ranger positions allow for a lot of that.”

Ward said meeting some of the people that he would be working with made the decision easy.

“It was clear to me then,” Ward recalled that first interview with the team who would become his colleagues, “and still is now — that I would be surrounded by folks that would help me grow and develop, both on and off the job.”

Beginning as an assistant county ranger, Ward was promoted to county ranger in 2020 and enjoys the fact there aren’t any typical days.

“The beautiful thing about the ranger jobs is that there isn’t really a typical day,” Ward noted. “Our days can change at the drop of a hat, whether it’s due to the pager going off for a brushfire or a landowner calling with concerns about managing their property.”

Ward said rangers also keep tabs on logging jobs for water quality issues and help come up with solutions with the loggers to resolve any problems that may arise.

“Our days can also involve working at events where we are able to meet with the general public on a larger scale and talk about forest management or fire suppression,” Ward added.

North Carolina has more than 18.6 million acres of forest land contributing a major economic value to the state and adding to the quality of life for residents. The second largest industry in the state, forestry contributes more than $30 billion annually to the state’s economy while providing 97,000 jobs for North Carolinians. The forests provide innumerable benefits to residents and visitors, including improved air and water quality, wildlife habitat, aesthetics and recreation.

Protecting eastern North Carolina’s forest land is a top priority for Ward.

“The major concern I have daily is protecting our state’s forestland. We do that through a few ways, from monitoring forest health to outreach to fire control,” Ward said.

Fire control, Ward noted, is the most common threat to the state’s forestland. North Carolina rangers responded to 4,671 wildfires statewide in 2023, Ward said, and the area affected totaled 69,690 acres.

“From the first of 2024 until the end of April, rangers have responded to about 2,600 wildfires for over 10,000 acres,” he added. “These fires are at all times of the day, often requiring us to respond at night or on the weekends. Fire does not take vacations, and we must maintain readiness at all times to be prepared for that.”

Ward was ready that Father’s Day in 2022, when a wind shift pushed that 50-foot wall of flames in his direction.

“You could see those flames and the fire building from miles away, and it was clear that it was going to be big,” he recalled. “By the time we got on scene, this fire was probably 200 acres and growing fast. We initially put three dozers on this fire, with two more coming. I was working with the first three dozers trying to put a fire break around this fire to hold it from getting any bigger than what it already was.”

Ward said he had always heard about the big fires in the region’s history, such as the Evans Road fire in 2008 or the Pains Bay fire in 2011.

“This fire was the closest thing that I had ever seen to compare to those,” he added.

Ward called it the most intense fire behavior he had ever seen up close.

“We were finally able to put a line around that fire by about 1:30 the next morning,” Ward said, which was about 13 1/2 hours after the fire was reported.

“It was estimated at that time to be around 600 acres,” Ward pointed out about the size of the fire. “It was the Ferebee Road fire that burned about 2,000 acres and burned in the ground for nearly two months.”

The driving force behind Ward’s enthusiasm for the job is the opportunity to contribute in properly managing North Carolina’s forests while assisting others with their forest management.

“North Carolina is not getting any more forestland and having a hand in properly managing what forests we do have is what gets me to work every day,” he said. “We interact with landowners of all sizes, from a single tree in a yard to thousands of acres of timberland. We can visit a tract and make recommendations that will help accomplish the landowners’ goals for their property.”

Those goals vary, Ward pointed out, from landowners who want to manage timberlands to provide better habitat for wildlife through prescribed burning or thinning, to property owners seeking recommendations for harvesting timber and needing assistance with reforestation afterwards.

For Ward, becoming a ranger was a wise and an exciting career move.

“This job is what you make of it. It comes with late nights and long days,” he said. “I have met many people who I have learned a lot from, and I would trust them with anything I have. This job has taught me a lot and has rewarded me in ways that I didn’t know that I would be.”

For someone who has always enjoyed being in the woods, Ward said the best way for him to provide that same opportunity for his children is to “protect what we have, and this job gives me the chance to do just that.”