I can confirm - most of my interactions with police have ended up this way with them claiming they’re just checking to make sure I’m ok. Definitely an expression of white privilege, I think. I suspect these encounters can take quite a different form for say a black guy botanizing through the neighborhood.
With park rangers, I’ve found the proactive approach really helpful. Go to a couple of their guided hikes/presentations if those kinds of programs are offered, introduce yourself in all your nature-nerdiness, whip out your field guide to ask some questions and offer your help as a volunteer. It’s part of their job to educate about nature, and they appreciate having interested and knowledgeable people interacting with them on that level. Demonstrate that you are aware of the rules, i.e. mention that you obscure location info on iNaturalist for sensitive species. I think all of the rangers at the local State Parks know me quite well by now and I’ve gotten a couple of ranger-guided off-trail excursions to look for endangered plants out of this.