On Stage, These Guys Are Naturals : Rangers Moonlight as Environmental Troubadors

Denise was afraid of bats.

In her child’s mind, bats were huge, hairy creatures with big fangs that dripped blood.

But one day last year, Carver Elementary School in Stanton got a visit from the Dusty Rangers, who brought out a fuzzy bat puppet and through song and skit showed students that winged mammals aren’t bad after all.

“I didn’t know that bats don’t attack people,” Denise later wrote the Dusty Rangers, enclosing a drawing of a happy girl with a bat perched on her shoulder. “Thank you for coming to our school.”

Just another job well-done for Ron Nadeau, Jim Simkins and Sam Edwards, three county park rangers who describe themselves as the Pied Pipers of Ecology.

Formed in 1994, the Dusty Rangers have carried their environmental message from the parks to thousands of children in Orange County schools, hospitals and conventions.

Tongues firmly implanted in cheek, they sing, joke and dance their way through a show consisting of original songs written to help young people understand the roles of humans and wild animals in the wilderness parks of Orange County.

“Radical Raccoon” tells children that they shouldn’t feed wild animals. “Punky Little Skunk” describes a late night encounter between a skunk and raccoon and shows why kids shouldn’t handle wild creatures.

Simkins and Nadeau sing and play guitar while Edwards dashes from backstage to the children with a variety of puppets and stuffed animals, from cockroaches to dragons.

For “Punky Little Skunk,” the bespectacled, roly-poly Edwards waved a stuffed skunk, climaxing the song by lifting the animal’s tail and squirting streams of water from hidden water pistol into the audience.

Teachers and parents cracked huge smiles as the children screamed in shocked delight.

“Kids do love gross humor,” said Esther Lee, interim principal at Tustin Ranch Elementary School, where the Dusty Rangers performed before a group of kindergarten through second-grade students on Wednesday .

“I think the material sticks with children more if done in a funny way,” said Lee, also a Cal State Fullerton professor who teaches educators how to become principals. “These men have perfected how to put educational concepts on a young child’s level. They obviously love children and the environment.”

The idea for the Dusty Rangers grew out of a trip to Wyoming, where Simkins and Nadeau attended a seminar on campfire performance.

Both men have entertained county park visitors for years at small campfire shows and interpretive field trips. Driving back from Wyoming, they began talking about how to translate their environmental knowledge for children.

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“I felt there was a huge void,” said Nadeau, the group’s guitarist and chief songwriter. “People want campfire songs.

“Managing the environment is about managing the people, and I wanted to hopefully teach kids about the environment.”

And then maybe, “the kids will teach their parents,” Simkins added.

Starting with classroom performances, then school assemblies, the Dusty Rangers are now in demand for shows like the Eco Expo in Los Angeles and the Kids Expo at the Anaheim Convention Center.

At first, the rangers had to schedule shows on their days off. When their popularity grew, the rangers were allowed to use work time, although the county now charges $200 to $300, depending on the number of performances.

And the schools clamor for more. After a performance, the Dusty Rangers invariably receive dozens of letters from children and are invited to return by school officials.

Unfortunately, the group’s real-life ranger jobs force them to limit appearances. However, the county is training a second set of Dusty Rangers to take up the slack.

The group is also looking for private or corporate sponsors who could help pay for the group to visit schools or children’s organizations. Anyone interested in helping can call (714) 771-6731, Ext. 17.

“With all the budget constraints on schools in recent years, there are a lot less field trips to the parks,” Edwards said. “This is a way to bring the parks to the schools.”

Tim Miller, county parks manager, said the Dusty Rangers capitalize on the positive image of park rangers.

“People in uniform mean something,” he said. “It seemed to be a natural that the best way to protect the environment is to educate people about it. These guys have found a way to communicate with children that’s effective because it’s fun.”