Daily News from New York, New York • 457

PULLOUT SECTIONS Daily News, Sunday, August 5, 1984 YOU 1 By JOHN LEWIS 'You'll be eaten alive." People who had been using the parks for years had been doing anything they wanted, whether it was holding a picnic or having a bonfire on some park lawn." To help them get through difficult situations, the rangers attended training in mediation and conflict resolution. Video recordings were taken as the rangers played 'out a series of roles in which efforts were made to rattle them. The videotapes were then played back to see what the rangers did wrong. The idea was to teach the rangers when to get involved in various situation and how far to go, Lewandowski For more serious matters, the Parks Department established within the Urban Park Ranger program a Parks Enforcement Patrol (PEP). They wear the ranger uniform but See RANGERS Page 3 Park Rangers, "is to provide a uniformed presence in the parks, a stewardship in which the rangers describe the history and natural features of city parks.

We want others to see and appreciate the parks the way we do, with no litter or vandalism, and impress upon them that parks are not there by accident." Lewandowski was herself one of the original 110 rangers when the program started in 1979 under Gordon Davis, then parks commissioner. Unarmed, and with just a tin badge on their chests, the Urban Park Rangers are masters of "friendly persuasion" as they go about telling park users what the regulations are and how to comply with them. Adrian Benepe, another original ranger and now head of the Parks Department's public information section, said that when they first went into the parks they were told, yrfjOV PROBABLY HAVE SEEN them by now, decked out in their Smokey the Bear hats and snappy green and grey uniforms, patrolling city parks or, surrounded by groups of eager faces, telling of the wonders and beauty of the thousands of acres of parkland. They are the Urban Park Rangers, a new breed of goodwill ambassadors whose job is to preserve, protect and provide information about one of New York's great natural resources our city parks. Rangers administer first aid, help control crowds, enforce rules and regulations, conduct workshops and lead walking tours of the city's 572 parks and 15 miles of beaches.

"Our basic function," said Dotty Lewandowski, director of the Urban LIFE Of Tff EDGE! Drag racers talk about their lives in the fast lane LEISURE 1 ftr vy 1 'V-. Vs TV AWAITS 'COMEDY ZONE' This wacky new show is already struggling with prime-time censors TRAVEL Ranger paints faces during Native American Weekend. ueiow, two rangers pairui oiaicri iai kmi 'i Hi, 4, "si FRANCE BY CAR OR TRAIN Want an adventure? Try exploring the little known provinces.