If you have an emergency where a NYS Forest Ranger is needed, call 911 and ask for DEC Forest Ranger assistance or call the DEC’s Public Protection Dispatch at 1-833-NYS-RANGERS (1-833-697-7264).

The mission of the Division of Forest Protection is to provide public safety and state land protection through expertise in wildland search, rescue, fire, law enforcement, and incident management throughout the State of New York. The Division protects five million acres of state-owned, department-managed lands and easements, as well as the people who use these lands. Forest Rangers promote an understanding of New York’s wild lands and the proper use of its natural resources. They teach both adults and children how to avoid life threatening situations, while promoting natural resource protection.

For more than 100 years, New York State Forest Rangers have extinguished wildfires, found and rescued the lost and injured, and enforced state land use and wildfire prevention laws. Over three million acres of lands and easements managed by DEC are in the Adirondack Park, but every region has substantial state land resources that support public recreational use, habitat protection, and open space.

The New York State Forest Ranger force is composed of 134 forest rangers, lieutenants, captains, and directors stationed at locations across the state, with the greatest numbers located in the Adirondack and Catskill Parks. Each ranger has a geographic territory in which they live and is responsible for the preservation, protection, enhancement of the state’s forest resources as well as the safety and well-being of the public using these resources.