Ranger likes diversity of job, people at Lakeshore.

Collecting money from visitors to the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore while being stationed in a booth might not seem like a fun way to spend a summer.

Nick Seguin, however, believes otherwise, in part because he does a lot more than collect fees.
Seguin has spent four seasons with the Lakeshore, and he’s also worked at other National Parks in Colorado and Maine. Somehow, he always ends up returning to the Leelanau area.

"I went to school at Michigan State for natural resources. I had my first job here while I was still in school," said Seguin. "My first experience in a National Park was here. I came back here to get married … this was where I wanted to end up."

Though he's had more exciting work that involved using hiking alone in the wilderness for days in Colorado and Maine, Seguin said this is home.

"I grew up coming out here," he said. "I like this area best."

His official job means more than collecting fees at campgrounds and park sites. He now works at the Leland harbor to assist visitors heading to the Manitou islands, and at D.H. Day campground.

First and foremost, however, he's a ranger.

"I'm lucky because I worked at the dunes and scenic drive my first three years," said Seguin. It was at those locations where he met the most interesting people, many while working at the fee station. He also said it was hard to be bored because he was entertained watching children bound down the dunes.

"Families come through and want to know everything about the park. These are often the only locations where people get to meet a ranger. They don't stop at a lot of the other areas of the park," said Seguin.
He said when given the opportunity to tell people about the park, they’re more likely to see locations that might not otherwise have known about.

"I see people at the campground now and give suggestions of places to go," he said.

And, like any park and recreation area, there are always the “regulars” who he enjoys interacting with.

"There's one guy who would come in and bike the scenic drive. He'd drop off his water bottle and we'd time him," he said.

Seguin also takes satisfaction in knowing that the work of rangers and others helps the park from an economic standpoint.

"We bring in a lot of money; 80 percent of the fees that we collect stay in the park for interpretive programs and maintenance and 20 percent goes out to other National Parks that don't have fees," he said.

"We can improve areas and programs, the things that benefit the park."