An award-winning photographer and longtime arts educator, Beth Reynolds made what seemed like a big career leap in 2022: She became a park ranger. Seems like she made a good decision: This year she was named Interpreter of the Year for Florida State Parks.
It’s no surprise she is doing so well in her new gig. Her post at Honeymoon Island draws on all of her skills as teacher, photographer and nature enthusiast. And as it happens, it’s a job she’d always dreamed of.
“As much as I’ve loved my career in the arts,” she told me in a recent interview, “I always had a plan in the back of my mind to retire at some point and go and try and be a park ranger somewhere.”
She’d been finding fulfillment as a volunteer at state parks and conservation groups, so it seemed like it would be a logical next step—eventually.
Then, after moving on from a long and successful career at the Morean Arts Center, she decided to take advantage of an opportunity at another museum—only to have that job cut brutally short after only 30 days.
“That experience opened a door for me,” she remembers. “Honest to goodness, after searching two or three weeks, the job at Honeymoon turned up. It was education and community outreach and volunteers, all of which I had been doing at the Morean for years. And I thought, ‘This is the time.’”
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Now 59, she’s a long way from retirement. “I hope to be with the park system another eight or nine years and really leave some good legacy programming.”
As a Park Services Specialist, Beth leads tours of Honeymoon when the weather’s not too hot. On other days, she does “roving interpretation,” when she might roam the beach to pick up trash and answer visitors’ questions. Her leadership in post-hurricane cleanup efforts won her another accolade this year: The City of Dunedin named her its Environmental Hero of the Year.
The chance to be with nature whatever the weather is a major perk.
“Clouds have just become my muse. Just being on the beach, seeing the storms come in… Everybody’s running, trying to get their stuff in the car, and I’m like walking out onto the beach photographing.” (She takes about 80% of her shots with an iPhone 16 Pro.)
And she’s clearly in love with Honeymoon’s critters. I ask her to name a few favorites.
Skimmers: “I think they’re just very dramatic birds—when they place their beak in the water to skim for food, their wings go perfectly parallel to the water. And they are great parents.”
The gopher tortoise: “They’re underappreciated. Over 300 species share their habitats, so if we lose gopher tortoises our ecosystems will begin to collapse.”
The Atlantic pygmy octopus: “I had no idea that little thing even existed. It is the sweetest little octopus.”
Of course, there are some creatures at Honeymoon that don’t automatically suggest sweetness. Rattlesnakes, for instance. When Beth gets a call that a park visitor has spotted a rattlesnake, she uses it as an opportunity to educate.
“I will stand there and babysit it and explain that it’s just trying to solar-load itself and enjoy the sunshine just like you are. It has no desire to bite you.”
The park ranger also monitors a menagerie at her home in Lakewood Terrace: “It’s kind of like The Land of Misfit Toys.” Her pets include three rescue dogs ranging in age from four to 13 years old, all a bullypit mix; a five-year-old African spur-footed tortoise that could live to be 100; and Boo Boo Kitty, a 20-year-old street cat that’s missing all its teeth and part of an ear.
“I’m allergic to cats,” Beth acknowledged. “I invest in a lot of Flonase.”
Though these are tough times for rangers at our national parks, thanks to massive DOGE-driven layoffs, Beth sees no threats on the horizon for Florida’s 175 state parks, adding, “The wonderful residents of Florida have shown they love their state parks.”
And when she’s out and about and wearing her uniform with its telltale park-ranger patch, she frequently is stopped by park fans who say, “Wow, that must be a great job.”
For Beth Reynolds, it definitely is.
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