Staff Spotlight, Justin Flinchum
Assistant Park Manager, Justin Flinchum
Dunns Creek State Park
After starting as an park ranger responsible for lawn maintenance, Justin Flinchum worked his way into a full-time ranger position just four months later. As a ranger he worked a variety of jobs at Ravine Gardens, including landscaping, resource management and interpretation.
Justin was eventually chosen to serve on the BAT Team (Backlog Abatement Team), whose primary task was to conduct prescribed burns and other resource management projects at parks throughout the district. He proudly served on this team for three years, gaining a wealth of knowledge and experience in prescribed burns and resource management, along with building leadership skills and the ability to work well with a large team doing difficult tasks. These skills came in handy when Justin was promoted to assistant park manager of Ravine Gardens State Park, Dunns Creek State Park and the Palatka to St. Augustine State Trail in 2015. Since then, Justin has been working on leading his team of park rangers in making steady improvements to the natural and cultural resources in both the parks.
Outside of work, Justin likes to fish and coach his son's Little League baseball team. He enjoys spending as much time as he can in nature with his son. He is proud to be a part of an organization that preserves, interprets and restores the natural resources that he loves.