Patrick Haulter
~story and photos by Ryan Stacy
I
’ll admit it: I’m a little…uncomfortable around snakes. So when I found myself enjoying the experience of being between two large reptilian specimens recently—one venomous, even—I was kind of proud of myself. Credit for my peace of mind that day goes to Patrick Haulter, Interpretive Naturalist at Brown County State Park. As he does almost every day on the job, Patrick was moving throughout the park’s Nature Center, striking up conversations with visitors about the exhibits and answering their questions. In the aisle between the glassed-in homes of a large, black rat snake and a timber rattler, a small crowd of inquiring minds had gathered. Armed with his friendly demeanor and extensive knowledge, Patrick took his cue, and soon had the group engaged in a dialogue about the behavior and habitats of the two animals and their role in the local ecosystem. Before long, I found myself absorbed in the impromptu nature lesson, and forgot my anxiety over the rattlesnake at my elbow. “I’m just genuinely a people person, with the gift of gab,” Patrick says of his work. “I’m here to help people enjoy the
24 Our Brown County • Sept./Oct. 2018
Shares his Love of Nature park at its full potential and have a good time. I’m in the service business, really.” And Patrick’s made it his business to turn his education and experience into a real benefit for anyone visiting the park. As Naturalist at Brown County, he designs a range of educational and recreational programs that bring in the public from all over, year-round. “We’ll do wildflower tours and live raptor shows when it’s warm out, and hikes in the dead of winter to a man-made lake that was never completed,” he says. It was a family trip out west when he was a boy that first sparked his interest in parks work, Patrick recalls. “I thought a woman we met at the national park we visited had such a cool job, and she told me she was a park ranger. That’s when I knew what I wanted to do.” A few years later, he says, a middle school guidance counselor tried to dissuade him, telling him he should consider a more “realistic” career path. “I was the type of kid who took anybody telling me I couldn’t do something as a challenge, so here I am,” Patrick laughs. After high school, Patrick took a seasonal position at Clarksville’s Falls of the Ohio State Park, and eventually earned a bachelor’s degree
