Walt Dabney graduated from Texas A&M University in 1969 with a degree in Recreation and Park Management. That summer, he began his career with the National Park Service as a student trainee (ranger-naturalist) at the Old Faithful District of Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming.

Upon graduation, Dabney transferred to his first park assignment as a ranger at Yosemite National Park in California, where he learned basic ranger skills. Over the next few years, he worked at Mt. Rainier National Park in Washington as the Paradise District Ranger and at Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming as the South District Ranger.

As a field ranger and emergency medical technician, Dabney was involved in numerous search and rescue operations, law enforcement actions, bear incidents, and wildland and structural firefighting. He was sent to Alaska in 1979 as a leader with the Alaska Ranger Task Force to establish the NPS presence on 50 million acres of newly established National Monuments.

In 1983 he transferred to Everglades National Park in Florida as the Chief of Resource Management. Responsibilities included the management of the oldest prescribed fire program in the NPS. Dabney was selected to become the National Park Service Chief Ranger stationed at the Department of the Interior in Washington, D.C., where he stayed for five and a half years.  In this post, he had national level policy promulgation and oversight for all ranger related programs including: law enforcement, search and rescue, emergency medical services, fee collection, rules and regulations, camp ground management, wilderness management, uniforms, aviation programs, and structural and wild land fire management.  

As chief ranger, Dabney held the role of the NPS chief law enforcement officer.  He directly supervised the NPS Branch of Fire and Aviation Management at the National Fire Center at Boise, Idaho and the Branch of Resource and Visitor Protection and Branch of Special Populations (accessibility program). He represented the interests of approximately 5,000 field rangers. He taught many park related courses at the NPS training centers and the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center.

In 1991, Dabney was selected as the General Superintendent for the Southeast Utah Group of parks, which included Canyonlands and Arches National Parks and Natural Bridges and Hovenweep National Monuments. 

Dabney began his permanent career with Texas Parks and Wildlife as the Director of State Parks in 1999 after having spent 30 years with the National Park Service. He helped bring significant organizational changes to the agency. After 43 years of park work, he retired in 2010. 

He continues to contribute to the profession as an instructor at the National State Park Directors Leadership School, Southwest Park and Recreation Training Institute, and several universities, including having been an assistant professor with the Recreation and Parks Department at Texas A&M. His talk on The History of Americas Public Land has been presented in numerous venues in various states.