Dan Sealy, who lives at Bethesda, Md., is a Natural resource manager-park ranger, National Park Service, George Washington Memorial Parkway.

Whether taking inventory of plants and animals, sending fire-fighters to the fire-ravaged West (and sometimes fighting fires himself), or showing schoolchildren a bald eagle, Dan Sealy says he is a happy man.

Working each day with "the greatest, most dedicated group of people" - rangers, resource managers, maintenance workers, interns, volunteers, and visitors - he follows the lead of his inspirations: John Muir, David Brower, and his parents.

Sealy, who has been a ranger since 1978, says he especially enjoys seeing "the lightbulb go off in someone's head." At that moment, he says, he can tell that the person understands what he or she can do to save wildlife, forests, and rivers for future generations.

And being out on his job makes it all the better, "It was not being gay that affected my work - it was not being out," Sealy says. "And by deciding to be out, I have made that my world rather than waiting for the world to come around to me."