Scott Emmerich, renowned Glacier Park ranger

Scott Emmerich, one of the finest rangers ever in Glacier National Park, died Aug. 11 after a two-and-half year battle with brain cancer. He was 61.

In 2010, Emmerich was awarded the Harry Yount National Park Ranger Award for excellence in rangering — the highest honor bestowed on a ranger in the National Park Service.

Emmerich learned to love the woods growing up in Wisconsin. His family camped and his dad was an archery hunter. In college he received a degree in psychology from the University for Wisconsin and then went on to work on his master’s in business administration. One semester short of his MBA, Emmerich joined the Student Conservation Association, an organization that places students in public service conservation jobs across the country.

Emmerich spent the summer at Goat Haunt as an interpreter. From there, he was hooked on Glacier, he said in a 2010 interview. He met Ranger Dick Mattson and Mattson told him the secret to getting a ranger job was training. The more the better, especially emergency medical training. Emmerich got his EMT, his MBA and the next summer, a job in Yosemite National Park as booker-jailer. The young ranger worked nights and trained during the day as much as possible. While there, Emmerich also met his wife, Jan Knox, who became the concessions manager for Glacier.

After some more summers of seasonal work, he took a position with the U.S. Customs Service on the Mexican border. For about two years, Emmerich investigated drug runners and other border crimes.

In the meantime, he put in for job and after job in the Park Service. No luck.

Then a job opened up as the subdistrict ranger at Lake McDonald. Emmerich leapt at the chance and since he worked in Glacier before, people knew him. He got the job. It was 1989. Two years later, the North Fork District job opened up and he was named to the post.

“I have the best district job in the National Park Service,” he said in in 2010. “It’s such a unique resource.”

The North Fork, with virtually all of its predator and prey ecosystem intact, is known as the North American Serengeti.

He recalled one incident with a grizzly bear that he had with fellow ranger and right-hand man, Regi Altop.

One day, a bewildered researcher came to his office with a big problem. The researcher accidentally caught a grizzly bear in a wolf trap. The trap had the bear by two toes. Accompanied by Altop, Emmerich went to have a look-see.

The bear was down behind a log. When the truck door slammed, the bear looked up for about three seconds.

“Regi,” Emmerich said with a smile. “You can go take care of that.”

But Altop noted that Emmerich had a significantly larger paycheck. They formed a plan. Since the bear stuck its head up only briefly when the truck door slammed, they decided to dart it with a tranquilizer gun. Emmerich first did three practice shots with darts filled with water at a nearby tree to get the trajectory right. He then loaded the real deal.

Altop opened the truck door and slammed it shut.

The bear perked up her head and Emmerich shot.

The dart hit her perfectly in the neck and she went to sleep. They removed the trap and she was no worse for the wear. Just another day at the office.

Emmerich called the North Fork home until he retired in 2014. Altop continues to serve as a seasonal ranger in the North Fork.

“My heart goes out to Jan, McKenna (their daughter) and Scott’s family,” said Steve Frye, who was chief ranger of Glacier National Park during the 13 years of Emmerich’s tenure. “He was a ranger’s ranger. He was in relentless pursuit of perfection in everything he did ... He embodied the ethos of visitation and resource protection that is core to the National Park Service.”

Outside of the park, Emmerich was a community leader and family man. He was a member of the School District 6 board for seven years.