Staff Spotlight, Cristina Lopez
Admin Assistant Cristina Lopez
Jonathan Dickinson State Park
Cristina was born in Colombia to a family that loves, enjoys, respects, and values natural resources. From a very young age, she was able to enjoy the outdoors with her family; going fishing, canoeing, camping, horseback riding, and taking wonderful long road trips that allowed Cristina to see much of her country.
After completing studies and traveling to various countries, including visiting the United States, Cristina decided to move to Florida in the early 2000s and start a new life in Miami with her two kids. Around 2008, Cristina met two rangers at Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park who inspired her to start volunteering with their beach cleanups and sea turtle nest programs.
In 2009, Cristina became an AmeriCorps member learning multiple skills and earning different certifications. She became a wildland firefighter, participating in and helping other state parks with their prescribed fire programs. In 2010, Cristina's dream job became real when she became a Park Ranger at Jonathan Dickinson. She began training with a group of amazing rangers who shared their knowledge, skills, and love for Florida's natural resources. Cristina served as a ranger until 2022 when she had the opportunity to join the administration team and learn the day-to-day tasks required for operations. This role allows her to continue learning, training, and inspiring our amazing new team of rangers.
Cristina's favorite place in the park is the ancient scrub community with its evergreen oaks and sand pines, where dancing lady orchids hide and where you can find scrub jays, Florida mice, spotted skunks, scrub lizards, and the red widow spider.
Her favorite part of being a ranger is, and always will be, the opportunity to share our beautiful park with visitors and campers and to inspire them to continue protecting and preserving our resources for future generations.