QuickTake:

Karen Noel is among the county’s handiest workers. She does carpentry, plumbing, welding and equipment installation throughout the county’s 66 parks.

Karen Noel is Lane County park ranger who keeps the equipment and machinery running at the parks.

Editor’s note: People are the heart of Lane County — which is why, each week, Lookout Eugene-Springfield will profile someone who is working behind the scenes to make our community better. If you have suggestions on others we should profile, send us an email.

Name: Karen Noel

Age: 62

Job title: Park ranger 

Agency: Lane County 

Years in role: 2½ years 

Years in agency overall: Seasonal park roles with the county since 2020

Noel is handy and works outdoors most of the time, fixing leaky faucets, installing informational kiosks and putting in new playground equipment. If an ice storm knocks down trees, county residents will see Noel cutting up fallen branches and clearing debris. Noel’s shop is based out of Armitage Park south of Coburg, but if the job is big enough, she may work at any of the county’s network of 66 parks, which also features five campgrounds, three marinas and 33 boat ramps.

The job is a natural fit for Noel, who loves the outdoors, grew her skills through remodeling houses and grew up in California, where her mother did maintenance work in parks.

Noel talked with Lookout Eugene-Springfield on Nov. 25, 2025, about her job. This interview has been lightly edited for clarity and brevity.

Lookout Eugene-Springfield: What do you do for Lane County? 

Karen Noel: We do a lot of repairs. For instance, today we’re installing new playground equipment. We ordered some new pieces to update our playground at Orchard Point, and I was out there helping install it. We were running the tractor with the backhoe to pull out the old footing so that we can install new ones. Any given day, it can be going out if there’s repairs that need to be done out at the campgrounds, out at the day-use areas. It could be fixing leaks, faucet repairs, bathroom repairs, it could even be carpentry. And we do a wide variety. 

When are Lane County residents most likely to meet you when you’re on the job? 

That would be out in the parks when we’re doing a repair, when we’re doing landscaping. We might be digging up a trench to repair some plumbing and working on kiosks. We always have projects we’d like to do in the wintertime, because then we have more access. We rebuilt all the docks. We’ve been installing a pickleball court at Deerhorn. We’ve been just doing all kinds of kiosks. We’re repairing and repainting and sprucing up, giving a facelift to the parks. And a lot of times, people will see me out there doing that, or they’ll see me during the times where I’m out patrolling or out talking to the public, making sure that they’re enjoying their stay.

What’s the most rewarding part of your work?

I love my job. Seriously, there’s quite a few things, but number one, the team. I’m very fortunate that I have a great group of people to work with. The people are awesome. They’re like-minded, and they’re outdoors people. What’s also right up there is once we complete a job, it’s really satisfying to look and say, “Wow, we made that so much better. And it looks great, and it’s something that’s going to be lasting.”

And, of course, we’re getting outdoors.

What’s the most challenging part of the job? 

Working in the weather that we have. It could be really harsh, but we’ve got the gear for it, and thank God we’re blessed with some good supervisors and leads, because they really take that into account. Because if it’s raining, you have to put on your raingear, and it could be really cold, but you’re still going out and doing that job. It can be really hot. You’re still going out and doing that job, but taking your breaks when you need to. 

What’s the most surprising or unexpected thing that people don’t know about your job?

When people look at you as a park ranger, I think most people think it’s just you driving around and talking to the public and doing lots of fun things. (But) you’re a carpenter, you’re a plumber, you’re a landscaper, you’re a welder. You wear many hats.

What’s the one thing you would want people to know about your job?

It’s not for the faint of heart. It’s hard work. You’ve got to be really willing to work. 

What attracted you to this type of work?

I love the outdoors. I knew I wanted to be outside working no matter what the weather conditions were. I just love it — being out in nature, doing something physical. I have sat behind a computer. Years ago, I was a web designer when it was first coming out. I did that for quite a few years, and I just didn’t want to be in an office. I wanted to be outside.

Where did you learn your skills before working at the county?

My mom was a park maintenance (worker) for the state of California. I learned a lot from her. Then I worked for a couple that were flipping houses. We would go in, and we would do all the landscaping, and then we’d do all the repairs on the homes that they had. Plus my brother had a landscaping company, and so I did landscaping with him, installing pipes and sprinkler systems and planting trees and flowers and shrubs. So I always have had a background in it.

When you’re not working, what do you do for fun in Lane County?

I love going horseback riding. I’ve got dogs, so I take them up hiking. I bike ride. I kayak. There’s so many fun things to do here if you’re an outdoorsy person. I live in Pleasant Hill, and we’ll pop into the Willamette River from our house and take it down to Mount Pisgah.

For two decades, Ben Botkin’s journalism career saw him criss-cross the West, a path with stops in rural Idaho, Las Vegas and, now, finally, Lane County. Ben reported on local government and the statehouse in Idaho before he moved to the Bulletin in Bend and covered education in central Oregon.

Then, for four years, he covered Clark County government, which has oversight over the Las Vegas Strip, and served as the lead political reporter during the 2016 election cycle. During that time, Ben wrote about the county’s child welfare agency, law enforcement, the start of Nevada’s medical marijuana industry and homeland security. His reporting sparked the criminal indictments and convictions of three government officials, including a city animal control supervisor convicted of animal cruelty.

He also covered national stories like the 2016 armed occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in eastern Oregon and the 2017 mass shooting in Las Vegas.

Since 2018, Ben has reported on Oregon state government, first for the Statesman-Journal in Salem and then for The Lund Report, a Portland-based nonprofit that covers health care. His reporting on gaps in children’s health coverage led to state Medicaid policy changes.

Most recently, Ben worked more than two years at the Oregon Capital Chronicle, where he covered criminal justice, health and human services. His work often incorporates the voices of vulnerable Oregonians from all walks of life.

As Lookout’s Politics & Policy Correspondent, Ben digs up the most intriguing and relevant stories about how Lane County decisions impact residents.