What does a park superintendent do?
Park superintendent responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real park superintendent resumes:
- Provide leadership and supervision by managing day-to-day operations for a county park facility.
- Operate equipment such as chain saws, tractors, mowers, weed trimmers, and blowers to facilitate park operations.
- Approve and/or prepare revenue reports, expenditure reports, purchasing documents, and payroll.
- Operate farm tractor with attachments, mowers, string line trimmers and various power hand tools.
- Ensure payroll are accurately adjust bi-weekly.
- Provide emergency medical responder care to wide variety of patients in park, operating within scope of responsibility.
- Provide emergency medical responder care to wide variety of patients in park, operating within scope of responsibility.
Park superintendent skills and personality traits
We calculated that 16% of Park Superintendents are proficient in Grounds Maintenance, Equipment Maintenance, and Patrol. They’re also known for soft skills such as Analytical skills, Management skills, and Physical stamina.
We break down the percentage of Park Superintendents that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Grounds Maintenance, 16%
Supervised seasonal and part-time employees for grounds maintenance and equipment management.
- Equipment Maintenance, 10%
Rent and water collections, lawn care, meter reading, and equipment maintenance.
- Patrol, 7%
Managed the activities of Parking Patrol Officers, standard operating procedures involving enforcement of parking regulations were under my direction.
- Trail Maintenance, 7%
Maintained general park operations and worked on trail maintenance and improvement projects
- Budget Preparation, 6%
Assist with budget preparation and monitoring, purchasing, and daily administration of park operations.
- Construction Projects, 6%
Assist in all other construction Projects.
Common skills that a park superintendent uses to do their job include "grounds maintenance," "equipment maintenance," and "patrol." You can find details on the most important park superintendent responsibilities below.
Analytical skills. One of the key soft skills for a park superintendent to have is analytical skills. You can see how this relates to what park superintendents do because "conservation scientists and foresters must be able to evaluate results from field tests and experiments to determine potential impacts on soil, forest lands, and the spread of fires." Additionally, a park superintendent resume shows how park superintendents use analytical skills: "entered and maintained departmental data using microsoft excel and various databases. "
Management skills. Many park superintendent duties rely on management skills. "conservation scientists and foresters must be able to lead the forest and conservation workers and technicians they supervise.," so a park superintendent will need this skill often in their role. This resume example is just one of many ways park superintendent responsibilities rely on management skills: "completed all construction projects from design, hiring of contractors, preparing contracts, grant management and safety compliance. "
Physical stamina. Another skill that relates to the job responsibilities of park superintendents is physical stamina. This skill is critical to many everyday park superintendent duties, as "conservation scientists and foresters may walk long distances in challenging terrain, such as steep or wooded areas, and may work in all kinds of weather conditions." This example from a resume shows how this skill is used: "observed physical conditions, cleanliness, upkeep, drainage, wear-and-tear, and damages in recreational areas and to public-use facilities. "
Communication skills. Another common skill required for park superintendent responsibilities is "communication skills." This skill comes up in the duties of park superintendents all the time, as "conservation scientists and foresters must convey information to firefighters, forest and conservation workers, landowners, and, sometimes, the public." An excerpt from a real park superintendent resume shows how this skill is central to what a park superintendent does: "assisted park visitors and served as the primary law enforcement ranger, enforced park rules and regulations through education and communication. "
The three companies that hire the most park superintendents are:
- Swinerton3 park superintendents jobs
- City of Detroit2 park superintendents jobs
- Delaware State Government
1 park superintendents jobs
Compare different park superintendents
Park superintendent vs. Interpretive naturalist
Naturalists are people who educate the public on environmental-related matters. The core responsibilities of this position are preserving, restoring, maintaining, and protecting natural habitat. Other duties performed by a naturalist are; guide work, conducting field studies of local and natural habitats, educating and providing the general public with recreational activities, assisting with administrative tasks that relate to parking admission, and leading and offering guidance during trips and nature walks for both adults and children.
These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of a park superintendent are more likely to require skills like "grounds maintenance," "equipment maintenance," "resource management," and "osha." On the other hand, a job as an interpretive naturalist requires skills like "natural history," "interpretive programs," "public speaking," and "natural resources." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.
On average, interpretive naturalists reach similar levels of education than park superintendents. Interpretive naturalists are 0.4% less likely to earn a Master's Degree and 0.5% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Park superintendent vs. Natural resource educator
While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that park superintendent responsibilities requires skills like "grounds maintenance," "equipment maintenance," "resource management," and "osha." But a natural resource educator might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "education programs," "public speaking," "environmental education," and "water quality."
In general, natural resource educators achieve higher levels of education than park superintendents. They're 7.3% more likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 0.5% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Park superintendent vs. Naturalist
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, park superintendents are more likely to have skills like "grounds maintenance," "equipment maintenance," "resource management," and "osha." But a naturalist is more likely to have skills like "nature programs," "cultural history," "cpr," and "natural history."
Naturalists typically earn similar educational levels compared to park superintendents. Specifically, they're 0.8% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 1.1% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Park superintendent vs. National park ranger
Even though a few skill sets overlap between park superintendents and national park rangers, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a park superintendent might have more use for skills like "grounds maintenance," "equipment maintenance," "resource management," and "osha." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of national park rangers require skills like "yellowstone," "visitor safety," "nps," and "natural resources. "
The average resume of national park rangers showed that they earn similar levels of education compared to park superintendents. So much so that theyacirc;euro;trade;re 1.2% less likely to earn a Master's Degree and more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree by 1.4%.Types of park superintendent
Updated January 8, 2025
