Retirement usually brings with it a lot of changes. But if you’re a ranger at a state park, you often have one pressing need when you take off your uniform for the last time: finding a new place to live.
For rangers and naturalists of Table Rock State Park Scott StegengaThat need will become apparent this November when he ends a 35-year career at what many would consider the most beautiful park in South Carolina.
He established a home and raised his family in the housing provided by the park, but what he and his wife will do after his retirement is still an open question.
Putting down roots
The soft-spoken park naturalist’s love of nature developed during his childhood on a farm in Minnesota, and the roots of that love deepened over the course of several summers working at a naturalist camp in California’s San Bernardino Mountains.
Stegenga moved to South Carolina and became a ranger at Table Rock State Park in 1989. He expected to serve four or five years, but in fact it turned out to be decades.
With his experience working with young people at California Camp, Stegenga took on the role of park naturalist, where he taught the animals, plants and geology of Table Rock to generations of children visiting the park.
At the same time, he raised three sons who inherited his love of nature, not least because they grew up surrounded by the natural beauty of the more than 3,000 hectare park.
The thought of possibly having to say goodbye to all that and move away, perhaps to be near family in Minnesota or to be with her sons and their families in Georgia or Washington state, is bittersweet, Stegenga said.
“My situation is very uncertain because I’m staying in park-provided housing,” he said. “It’s just a whole new adventure… kind of scary and kind of exciting, and we’ll have to wait and see how it pans out.”
An experienced observer
A methodical person by nature and a keen observer of his surroundings, Stegenga has witnessed many slow times of change in this idyllic corner of the Upstate. For one thing, technology has become as much a part of the park as the mountains and valleys, plants and animals that so many want to see.
Wi-Fi is now a given in the cabins built by the Civilian Conservation Corps decades ago during the Great Depression. However, many corners of the park still have no cellular reception.
Over the years, the number of park visitors to Stegenga has increased, especially after the pandemic. People come from all over the US and the world, and this year they have already come from 12 different countries.
For more than 20 years, Stegenga has carefully recorded the park’s weather as a weather observer for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
“I’ve always enjoyed the weather and just like capturing things,” he said.
Stegenga says, based on years of observation, it appears that the number of major winter snowfalls has decreased and average temperatures have increased. He also recalls that when he first started his career, black bear sightings were relatively rare — maybe a few sightings per year. Today, hardly a week goes by without hikers or other visitors reporting a bear sighting.
Although there are probably more bears in the park than there used to be, it is undeniable that far more people come to Table Rock and the surrounding state parks each year.
Stegenga said it has not been uncommon on summer weekends in recent years for Table Rock to be overrun by crowds of tourists from Devils Fork and Jones Gap state parks.
“I guess it’s a good problem to have, but we’re trying to control the impact,” he said.
As a naturalist who has been educating people about the park’s plants and animals for decades, he understands the balance between preserving and protecting the park while providing access so people can learn about and enjoy this natural beauty.
“I’m just very cautious about the way we manage things to conserve and protect plants, animals and habitats, and sometimes it’s a fine line,” he said.
Although the work has been rewarding, Stegenga said he is ready to pass the baton to a new generation.
“I don’t want to have to leave here limping,” he said. “I want to leave while I can still do what I do.”
Number of animals
Naturalist Scott Stegenga has been monitoring specific wildlife species at Table Rock State Park for nearly 35 years. He regularly monitors:
- 5 boxes of wood ducks
- 12 nesting boxes for blue tits
- 6 bat houses
Brief information about Table Rock State Park:
- Founded in 1935 and one of 16 state parks established by the Civilian Conservation Corps
- Covers 3,083 acres in Pickens County
- 14 cabins available — nine of which were built by CCC
- 94 campsites
