Driftless

Mr. Rabbit, Mr. Rabbit.

Poor Mr. Rabbit.

This is delicious.

Can you taste the celery?

Celery, onions, cumin?

Ancho chili.

Ancho chiles.

When are you gonna make that

amazing braised squirrel again?

The next time you run one over.

Check this out.

Nailed to a tree.

Hmm, what's it about?

- Racism equals pride in your Aryan culture.

Are they complaining?

I don't even get the connection.

Remind me why we do this again.

To protect the park from the people

and the people from the park.

And the people from the people.

How you likin' law enforcement?

(scoffs) Not!

12 weeks of training over the winter,

I can't get used to carrying a firearm.

I've written a few citations.

It wasn't fun and, people treat me differently.

Good career move though.

So they say,

I haven't gotten a pay raise so there is that,

a degree in resource management

wasn't enough to make a living wage.

So what's the buzz about

the state shut down over the budget?

I'm not sure what the latest is,

but we'll find out soon.

They have to make a deal by midnight tomorrow.

I just, I can't support the government

keeping people out of parks that Americans own.

Hmm, who took it from the Sioux?

Touche.

Are you Sioux?

- My dad, Lakota, my mom's a paleface from Moab,

they married after he got back from Vietnam

and, they're still married, I'm not sure why but, they are.

Big weekend coming up.

Yep, you going back to the lookout?

After the meeting.

Not a bad gig.

Best job in the world.

Mmm.

Good morning Nova, you're early.

I just caught a guy digging

in the Thunderbird effigy mound.

This early?

Quite the industrious trespasser.

Looter.

He had a pointing trowel, brushes, mesh sieve

and a rock pick, which I confiscated.

I'm texting you his mugshot, license and vehicle tag.

You let him go?

With the citation.

What is up with people these days?

Think you can just take what doesn't belong to you.

- Finders keepers has a long history in this country.

What is this, lemonade?

River water.

That can't be good.

It's not.

I need my coffee.

I unlocked the door.

All right, I'll make the coffee, my turn.

Help!

Nova what happened?

I'm so embarrassed.

What for?

Claustrophobia, I can't control it.

We've all got our demons.

It's okay, you're safe.

I'm afraid it was me.

I didn't know you were in there.

Forgive me.

Morning, everyone.

Let me start by introducing you to Hannah Bach Meyer.

Hannah comes to us from Michigan.

We're lucky to have her for the rest of the summer season.

Hannah will have a thankless job

of working at the entrance station.

Happy to be here.

I love the Driftless area

and this is my first gig as an actual ranger.

You'll fit right in Hannah.

Cody and Nova here are our full time

law enforcement rangers.

Nova just got her certification.

Sherman does history and cultural talks

here at the visitor center

and this scraggly creature is Theo who's stationed

up at the cabin in the back country.

- He comes ever few days, we feed and water him,

and send him right back.

I am the freak on the peak.

Welcome aboard Hannah.

- Thanks, you do law enforcement way up there?

No, I'm not trained for all that.

I'm just a seasonal like you.

And me.

- Cody and Nova do all the law enforcement around here,

they keep the park safe year round.

Is there a lot of that?

Crime?

We do have arson's here,

we do have burglaries here, we do have assaults on people,

we do have people driving under the influence

of alcohol and other things.

Fortunately though we have not

had anything much worse happen in this park.

- I started as an environmental scientist for EPA.

found my first job as a ranger

in the San Bernardino National Forest.

They gave me a gun.

I kept it underneath the seat of the car in a bath towel.

You know, keep the dust out.

I was instructed to do my law enforcement by bluff.

You should be able to use the uniform,

the badge the flat hat, the whole ranger image

as it's called, you should be able to do a lot with that.

But it's the person who wears it.

Nova has an almost mystical skill for deescalation.

I just love people and the majority

of the visitors here are lovely human beings

so I practice what I call ranger law enforcement.

- I just love people to but there's no such thing.

We have the same training as police do

and we have the same authority in this park.

Now fourth of July weekend is the worst.

This job becomes people management, not resource management.

Nova go with Hannah today,

show her the ropes at the entrance and make your rounds.

You got it.

- Okay folks, let the holiday weekend begin.

Rock and roll.

Rock and roll.

You preferred native American or American Indian?

Neither.

I don't identify as an American.

I'm a member of the Ojibwe nation

on lands occupied by the United States.

- So I guess you don't celebrate the 4th of July.

- The declaration of independence describes

my people as merciless Indian savages.

So not so much.

Bye Theo.

See you kids around some time.

Yeah, have fun up there.

He's funny, I like him.

Theo's great.

Cody's kind of intense.

Yeah, Cody's been here the longest,

but he's good at everything.

Patrol investigation, firefighting, search and rescue.

He is like the perfect ranger that all of us want to be.

- The late Woodland period thousands of years ago was when

construction on these mounds of began.

Mounds of earth and in the shapes of birds,

bear, deer, lynx, turtle, bison,

and panther are some of the more common images.

Are you an Indian?

- You can call me that you could call me Ojibwe.

Ojibwe?

Or Chippewa.

Chippewa?

That's right and what do we call you?

Jimmy.

- Okay ranger Jimmy, you wanna see some arrow heads.

Heck yeah.