Maintenance Supervisor Beau Bowers

For Beau Bowers, working outdoors has always felt like a natural fit. Growing up in Berea, South Carolina, Beau spent much of his childhood hiking, fishing and exploring the outdoors. Today, that lifelong appreciation for the outdoors has turned into a career helping care for one of South Carolina’s most beloved state parks.

Beau joined South Carolina State Parks in 2023 as a maintenance ranger at Table Rock State Park. After a little more than two years in that role, he was promoted to maintenance supervisor in October 2025. Table Rock is the only park where he has worked, and he has even made his home nearby, living just about 10 minutes from the park.

His path to state parks wasn’t exactly traditional. Before joining the agency, Beau worked in sales but quickly discovered that an office environment wasn’t for him. He had always been interested in becoming a park ranger, but never thought of it as a realistic career option.

“I was trying to transfer to a different position, and it just wasn’t really working out,” Beau said. “I kind of looked back on my childhood thinking about being a park ranger and was like, ‘Let me Google park ranger and see if there are any jobs around me.’”

That search led him to a maintenance ranger position at Table Rock — a role that turned out to be a perfect fit.

Beau enjoyed working with his hands, being outside and taking on projects, while the ranger side of the position allowed him to interact with visitors and be part of the park’s daily operations.

His hands-on skills began long before his career with state parks. Beau credits his father, who was always willing to tackle projects himself, with teaching him many of the skills he brought to the job.

“I learned a lot of those skills from him,” Beau said. “And I learned a lot of skills on the side, but the two years that I was the maintenance ranger here, I developed and grew a lot in the skills that I had.”

That learning hasn’t stopped. In fact, Beau says there is always something new to learn when working in a dynamic environment like a state park.

As maintenance supervisor, Beau oversees three employees directly, while also helping coordinate larger projects involving additional staff. His responsibilities cover nearly every aspect of maintaining the park, from facilities and grounds to trails and equipment.

There is also a significant public-facing component to park maintenance that visitors may not always realize. Because maintenance staff spend so much time working throughout the park, they regularly interact with guests while completing projects, responding to issues and keeping the park running smoothly.

At Table Rock, tree work and trail maintenance are especially important parts of the job.

For Beau, tree work is also his favorite.

“Tree work would be my number one,” he said. “It’s a good day if you see me running a chainsaw.”

One of the projects Beau is particularly enjoying right now is the renovation of the Nature Center deck at Table Rock. The project is being completed in phases and includes a new bridge. The maintenance team is currently working on the foundation and concrete portions of the deck, with hopes of completing the current phase later this year before moving into the bridge construction and subsequent phases.

Beau takes pride in every project he works on, but the scale and hands-on nature of the Nature Center deck project has made it especially rewarding.

“I take pride in everything,” he said. “If I’m involved with it, it goes to a certain standard just because I take pride in what I do.”

That pride is important in a job where things don’t always go according to plan. One of the biggest challenges Beau faces as a supervisor is coordinating all the moving pieces of park maintenance and trying to make sure everything comes together at the right time.

“There are a lot of puzzle pieces that have to fall into place that you want to control, and sometimes you just have no control over them,” he said.

The physical demands of the job can also be challenging. Maintenance work often means long days outdoors and plenty of physically demanding tasks, but Beau finds the work rewarding.

For anyone considering a career in park maintenance, Beau recommends being curious, adaptable and willing to learn.

“With maintenance in general, you have to be a jack-of-all-trades,” he explained. “The biggest thing is to ask questions and really be willing to learn — be in a constant state of learning.”

Throughout his career, Beau has also had opportunities to assist at other state parks, including Caerars Head, Jones Gap,  Battle of Musgrove Mill, Keowee-Toxaway and Devils Fork. Those experiences have given him a chance to see how maintenance needs can differ from park to park.

Outside of work, Beau enjoys fishing and spending time outdoors with his family. He and his wife are avid anglers and have been slowly working toward visiting more of South Carolina’s state parks. Santee State Park holds a special place on their list after they spent their fifth anniversary there, combining his interest in visiting state parks with his wife’s desire to fish there.

These days, Beau is also introducing the next generation of his family to the outdoors. He and his wife have a nearly two-year-old daughter, and he enjoys spending time outside with her and watching her discover the same things that made the outdoors so special to him growing up.

“She is amazing; she loves the outdoors even as young as she is,” Beau said. “So I spend a lot of time being outside with her and showing her how enjoyable it can be to be outside.”

From a childhood spent exploring the outdoors to maintaining trails, facilities and forests at Table Rock, Beau has found a career in South Carolina State Parks doing what he enjoys.

For someone who once thought becoming a park ranger was out of reach, finding that opportunity may have been as simple as deciding to look. If you’ve ever wondered whether there’s a place for you in South Carolina State Parks, take a look at what opportunities are out there. Click here to see our current full-time job openings or reach out to a park near you for part-time opportunities!