Santa Clara County appoints its first female chief park ranger

A century after Marguerite Lindsley became the first female National Park Service ranger, Santa Clara County has appointed its first woman as chief park ranger to oversee operations of more than 55,000 acres of public park lands.

Ali Henry, a 15-year veteran of Santa Clara County Parks, was appointed to her new role on July 7, where she will serve as the fourth chief ranger in the organization’s nearly 70-year history.

Henry accidentally stumbled upon her future career path in 2011, when she was a 20-year-old student at Gavilan College in Gilroy. At the time, the county was looking to hire park services attendants to work at entrance kiosks.

“I thought, ‘I could do that,’” Henry recalled.

For the next several years, she worked at the county’s power boating reservoirs, soaking up all the information she could about the role of a park ranger. When she hit the maximum annual hours she could work as a temporary employee, she volunteered for more than 500 hours as as docent, helping order and improve signage throughout the park system and installing lighting at flag poles so flags don’t have to be taken down every night.

During that time, Henry said in an interview that she “fell in love with the profession,” and after she graduated college, she was hired on as a park ranger.

Working as a ranger, she said that “you never know what you’re going to get on any given day.”

“Park rangers for Santa Clara County Parks are generalists. That means we have to be really good at a lot of different things,” she said. “Not only do we do the law enforcement component, we’re emergency medical response, we’re wild land firefighters, we do a ton of community outreach and engagement — and I love that about the job.”

In her new role, Henry is now more likely to be found behind her desk than in one of the county’s 28 parks. But being in a leadership role, she said, allows her to support the rangers out in the field and ensure they have all the tools and resources they need. She currently oversees about 100 employees between park rangers and non-sworn civilian staff, but the department is looking to grow and Henry wants to put recruiting a diverse workforce at the forefront.

“I want to reach all different types of folks, and I really do want people to see — especially young women and girls — that this work in public service is possible, that they can do it and maybe they see themselves doing that work in the future,” Henry said.

The National Park Service has committed to diversifying its own rank and file in recent years. In 2023, only 16% of the National Park Service’s law enforcement workforce were women.

Joe Aguilera, the deputy director of visitor services and facilities for Santa Clara County Parks, called Henry’s hiring an “important milestone” that represents the county’s “commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion.”

“There’s no question why Chief Henry was selected for the job: her leadership, tenacity and commitment to public service makes her the right person to lead Park Ranger Operations for the Department,” he said in a statement. “Working with Chief Henry for the past three years, I’ve witnessed not only the positive impacts of her leadership on staff and the public, but also her dedication to upholding the mission of the department: to provide, protect, and preserve regional parklands for the enjoyment, education, and inspiration of this and future generations.”