About
My name is Susan L. Chase
As a park ranger, I learned how to arrest people, install a sign, present a campfire program, and bandage a wound, but I didn't learn how to navigate life after contracting Lyme disease on the job and having to retire early because of its effets. I have been on a multi-year journey since, learning how to navigate chronic Lyme disease. To do so, I needed to work on healing past traumas, coping with autoimmune diseases that sprang up after, and calming my hyperactive immune system through art, writing, exercise, and time in nature. I spent nine years writing Chick Ranger, about my twenty years as a park ranger, while raising my family. The title is a play on words. As a feminist and naturalist, I have learned that chicks can evolve into not only doves and sparrows, but hawks and eagles. They're all valuable and good.
Meet Susan Chase
Susan Chase grew up in the greater San Francisco Bay Area during the 1960s-70s. After earning a BA in Environmental Studies at UC Santa Cruz, she worked for 20 years in various parks as a California state park peace officer ranger, while helping raise her family. Her last assignment was in the Sierra foothills as a supervising ranger, where she retired early after contracting Lyme disease. She moved to a small town on the central coast of California with her husband and pets. She devotes much of her time to art and writing projects. With the help of her local writing group, Rough Writers, she spent nearly a decade writing a memoir about her exploits as a female ranger. She was a finalist in the 2025 Next Generation Short Story Awards Anthology of Winners. When she’s not on a trail with her dog, she’s nerding out over her garden and birds.
COMING SOON
