2019 Mosaics in Science Interns have been selected. It is a difficult decision each year, but final decisions have been made and 24 interns selected to participate in Mosaics in Science (MIS). Interns will work side-by-side with scientists and other professionals. Interns are part of bat research, bird surveys, seed collection projects, geological surveys, archeological explorations, and much more. Interns receive additional training through weekly webinars and help to share the mission of the program through this Blog. During a post-internship career workshop, participants have a first opportunity to meet other interns face-to-face and share their summer’s work during an oral or poster presentation. Guest speakers provide additional information about science careers and federal jobs. The goals of MIS are to provide science-based internships for racially and ethnically undergraduate and graduate students, and recent graduates to increase relevancy, diversity and inclusion in the National Park Service (NPS). We also strive to promote the mission of the NPS and to support high priority natural resource management and visitor education and interpretation projects in some of America’s most beautiful places. 
Surprise!
Where does your wastewater go? It’s not a question everyone thinks to ask (I certainly never cared to), but it’s an absolutely critical question. Why am I asking you this? Well, as an environmental science Read more…
Hungry Hungry Island Marble
Transferring a hungry hungry caterpillar to a fresh sprig 5th instar IMB caterpillar A pupation shelf. All these containers contain an Island Marble chrysalis attached to skewer. Another pupation shelf caterpillars poop a lot. The Read more…
Don’t Go Chasing Waterfalls or Rivers in Sequoia
Sequoia National Park has a variety of rapid rivers that turn into waterfalls. The waterfalls and rivers are a beauty to behold, but they can be quite treacherous. Yesterday, I had the opportunity to participate Read more…
Air Quality Monitoring
Chiricahua National Monument has an air quality monitoring station that studies visibility and ozone (O3), nitrogen (N) sulfur (S), and ammonia (NH3) concentrations. Every week we collect the data and send the information to associated Read more…
Real-World: Collaboration
Two weeks ago, I had the opportunity to attend a workshop. Under the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative’s Pollinator Conductivity Working Group, I listened to different presentations from Fish and Wildlife (USFWS), USDA, USGS, NRCS, and Read more…
Learning a lot more about WNS
When I started this internship, I knew very little about WNS or white nose syndrome as a whole. All I knew was that it was a very deadly disease that pretty much destroyed most of Read more…
Error 404: No Data
My grandpa’s favorite saying was, “When you assume, you make an a** out of you and me.” This past week, I learned a costly lesson from making assumptions and it was a hard lesson in Read more…
Lifeboat #36542
Welcome to blog number seven as I enter my last month at Point Reyes! In this entry I will highlight a learning experience I have had. A couple of weeks ago I assisted as a Read more…
Learning to Fly
This was an exciting week for flying creatures, big and small! Early this week, Emma and I hiked out to the Bald Eagle nests that we’ve been monitoring. After an hour of slipping on pine Read more…
Calm Before the Storm
Everything at Lava Beds is deceptively calm this week. The offices and the Visitor Center have been quiet and even the wildlife seems subdued: when Emma and I went to check on the Bald Eagles, Read more…
Busy Birds
A common issue all over the world is invasive species. Capulin Volcano is no exception. The natural resource crew is currently working on a project to restore the native grassland to a more pristine Read more…
Exploring Sequoia!
Greeting from Sequoia National Park! After journeying through West Texas, the Arizona desert, and navigating the 20 mile scenic drive up the winding mountain, I arrived at my internship site in Mineral King, California. Generally Read more…
Divination
Rocky’s glaciers were once incredibly massive. A mere glance at Moraine Park will tell you that. They’re small now; so small that only one, Andrews Glacier, is still technically a glacier. To be considered a Read more…
USA
This post is for future MIS interns or, really, anyone trying to get a job in the federal government. Because anyone in the federal government will tell you that trying to get a job there Read more…
Something New at Mt Rainier
So I been talking to you guys a lot about bats facts this past couple weeks so I am going to come in fresh new topic about bird banding at Mt Rainier National Park. We Read more…
Small Town with a Big Heart
Last week was a great journey for me, I got to travel to St. Johns, Arizona where I hosted an education program for the public library. St. Johns is a community south of Petrified Forest Read more…
Bat Guano and Kindergarteners
Question: What’s scarier, giving a presentation about bats to a group of fidgety kindergarteners or climbing down a rocky trench and into a massive cave? Answer: Neither! Both are fantastic opportunities that will enrich your Read more…
Multitudes
Trails are largely experienced from two approaches: forward and reverse. Sure, differences in height can result in slight differences in how they are experienced, but those differences are minimal. Yet, these perspectives are complicated by Read more…
What a Hoot!
An unexpected adventure of my summer internship so far has been tagging along with Taylor Ellis, a park wildlife technician, for a Northern Spotted Owl (Strix occidentalis caurina) survey. The Northern Spotted Owl is threatened Read more…
Herping?
A couple years ago during a summer research program in Iowa, I met a few people who were into “herping”— the process of looking for amphibians and reptiles. I had never heard of such a Read more…
Wet and Dry Mapping
Wet and dry mapping of the San Pedro River is an initiative of the Nature Conservancy of Southwest Arizona with the added collaboration of citizen volunteers from Mexico, and the Coronado National Memorial employees. The Read more…
A Week of Learning!
This week was full of exciting firsts for me. My first time creating a splint, my first time wearing fake blood, and my first public outreach event! We had a Wilderness First Aid course this Read more…
Interdimensional Travel in Santa Fe
After I got off work at 5pm, I drove five hours to Santa Fe to pick up my husband, Joey. Our only plan for my three-day weekend was to go to Meow Wolf, which I Read more…
A Little Bit about Me
Hi Ya’ll! My name is Caprice Phillips and my pronouns are she/her. This summer I am interning as a Night Skies Assistant at Sequoia National Park. I am an Arkansan born and raised in Hot Read more…
10,000 Lakes to 10,000 Saguaros
A Minnesotan at heart, I’ve seen more than 10,000 lakes – but nothing quite compares to seeing massive saguaros rising out of the desert. My name is Hannah, and I’m the Acoustics Assistant at Saguaro Read more…
An Inside Look at the Resource Division at Carlsbad Caverns
The Resource Division at Carlsbad Caverns is responsibility for managing the park’s natural resources. The resources can be divided into three categories: paleontological (cultural resources), physical (caves, geology, hydrology), and biological (plants, animals). Erin Lynch, Read more…
Where People Come Together
In a previous post I talked about how cool it is that government agencies are the keeper of so much information about everything, including natural resources. And often, with a little looking around, you’ll find Read more…
100,000 Wading Birds
One of the Vital Signs monitored by the SFCN that I mentioned last week are Colonial Waterbirds. Birds have been a staple of Everglades ecosystem monitoring since long before our national parks were even established. Read more…
Week 6: Volunteer Training!
Last week we officially launched my social trail monitoring pilot program! During the day I was too busy to be nervous. I had incorrectly assumed that the Volunteer Management Office would have extra radios and Read more…
A Mentor with Moxie
Abby Adkins is my park ranger mentor at the New River Gorge National River. She has worked as a ranger for most of her career and still has the energy of someone in their first Read more…
Week 2: Manassas National Battlefield Park
This summer I am working at Manassas National Battlefield Park (MANA). The park was formed on the basis of historical conservation and its cultural resources; however, I will be working on the natural resources this Read more…
History Class Outdoors
For the past two weeks, I have been at the office conducting various tasks, but more specifically, conducting background research to help me narrow down a project topic. One of the topics I researched is Read more…
The Broader Theme
I’m about halfway through my summer now and the number one thing I’ve learned is persistence. Science is such a different thing than schooling. In school, the right answer is known. In science, it’s not. Read more…
Keying In #4: What am I learning?
In honor of completing my 5th week, here are 5 things I’ve learned at Biscayne National Park: ISLAND VS. KEY FORMATION A key (or cay) is a low-elevation island made of sand or coral, formed on Read more…
Salamanders and Hemlocks
In my time at the New River, I have learned many things about the types of visitors and education opportunities the park has to offer. However, on a ride-along with the resource management team, I Read more…
What’s the deal with mimicry?
So, what’s up with mimicry, exactly? For example, I’ve seen a few monarchs in the park this summer, and I’ve had to do a double take and make sure it indeed was a monarch I Read more…
Wildflower Wednesdays and Wonderful Wind Cave
One of the many parts of my summer internship is leading a wildflower walk at Badlands National Park. Taking visitors along a popular trail while highlighting wildflowers along the way. It is open to everyone Read more…
My Weekly Adventures
So far at Mt. Rainer, I have been on many adventures that will stay with me for awhile because how beautiful everything is out here. On good days any trail you take that has a Read more…
Birder Extraordinaire
Welcome to blog number five from Point Reyes National Seashore! This week’s blog will focus on introducing an influential person: my supervisor Carlo Arreglo! Carlo is an interpretive ranger at Point Reyes and has been Read more…
A Phenomenal Profile of the Prince of Prairie Plants
Chris Davis is from Scranton, Pennsylvania. He received his bachelor’s degree in biology from Arizona State University. He then went to graduate school at Colorado State University and got a masters in Ecology with a Read more…
Tucking our Fossil Babes to Bed
Hi everyone! Week 3’s blog is of a similar melody to week 2, but the methodology we used to conserve the fossils was notably different. While plaster cradles are fantastic for providing long-lasting and sturdy Read more…
The Greater Yellowstone Inventory and Monitoring Network: Upland Vegetation Surveys at Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area
Thanks to the Greater Yellowstone Inventory and Monitoring Network, I learned how to accurately record and spatially asses upland vegetation quadrats. In order to properly asses these quadrats, we began by estimating the percent of Read more…
Influential Persons
This blog focuses on women because most of the time I am working with them. They are very intelligent, creative, and dedicated to what they love. Jessica Garcia Jessica is the physical scientist of the Read more…
The Western Snowy Plover
This week’s blog will focus on something new I have learned. Given a recent outing with the park’s Snowy Plover biologist, I am excited to write about this very special shorebird than can be found Read more…
An Ode to Tourists
They’re everywhere. They’re crowding the Safeway, the local cafes, and the streets of downtown. They’re screeching to halts in the middle of the road to catch glimpses of elk and to snap a few photographs. Read more…
Gone Fishing (for Birds)
The moment you’ve all been waiting for has arrived! As I write this blog, I’ve completed my first day of hummingbird banding training! It’s a lot of fun to capture hummingbirds, and easier than you Read more…
Bats in Southern Arizona
Since I started the internship, I haven’t stopped learning about other scientific fields different from my own. For example, I learned to work with bats. I did bat netting in the Southeast Arizona Group (SEAZ). Read more…
Scientists Playing iSpy: Coastal Waterbird Surveys at KLGO
When I was preparing to move to Alaska for the summer, never did I think I would be able to use a childhood skill like “I Spy” in a professional capacity while out in the Read more…
Influential People I Know
For me, the two most influential people I know right now is my mom and my supervisor. The first person is my mom who has been there for me all my life. She has always Read more…
Blue Mesa
Last week was a great experience boost for me since I got to meet the high schoolers from the Youth Conservation Corps (YCC) who work in the park to preserve and maintain park property. Along Read more…
Week 5: Rising River, Expanding Project
At the end of last week I was gearing up to start recruiting for my social trail monitoring program when my supervisor and I took stock of my project and realized that we were working Read more…
The Great Walden BioBlitz
I spend a lot of my time putting together The Great Walden Pond BioBlitz (it’s on July 6th, come join us) . We’re bringing together teachers, scientists, naturalists, and the public to explore the parks Read more…
So What Am I Working On?
This summer, I am working on developing a map for conservation initiatives. There are over 4,000 species of bees native to North America itself, and each U.S. state has its own catalog of species. The Read more…
Outreach Events
World Oceans Day As one of the partners of Underwater World, the War in the Pacific park had an interactive booth on World Oceans Day. Josh, a summer intern under the PIPES program, and I Read more…
Down By the River
Minute Man National Historical Park (MIMA) sits on a historic landscape which has been carefully maintained for over two hundred years. In fact, the building I work out of overlooks the Old North Bridge along Read more…
Field Trip Frenzy
As of late, many more school groups have been taking interest in field trip opportunities here at New River Gorge National River. The ranger staff cannot handle several groups at a time, so unfortunately they Read more…
A Story about Sickness, Survival, and Sustainability
Badlands National Park is located in South Dakota. Although South Dakota or Badlands NP may not come to mind immediately when thinking about places to visit within the United States, Badlands NP is truly one Read more…
Not Just the Honey Bee
Before this internship began, I had no idea about the breadth of native bee species found in North America. Over 4000 species of bees call North America home. Essential to the process of pollination, it’s Read more…
Dynamism
A few weeks back, I thought of national parks as static. I thought of the world around them as developing at an ever increasing pace while they stayed the same.Yet this couldn’t be further from Read more…
New Supe for You
The staff at Capulin Volcano is thrilled as our acting superintendent, Fermin Salas, has arrived on-site. Fermin has a lot of great ideas for the park and has been a very warm addition to the Read more…
Site Visits – Alejandro and Vishva!
On June 11, 2019, Environment for the Americas’ (EFTA) Latino Outreach Coordinator, and I completed a site visit at the Rocky Mountain National Park in Estes Park, Colorado. We were about an hours drive from Read more…
My Project at Mt Rainier
My main project that I am going to be doing at Mt. Rainier National Park is guano collection, emergencies counts data, and contacting staff from other parks in the Pacific Northwest that are collecting guano Read more…
Bat, Chats, and Fun Facts
If four bat skeletons, three stuffed animals, two coloring pages, and one aggressively friendly smile can’t convince visitors to talk to you about bats, nothing can. I stock my Bat Chat table with all these Read more…
Keying In #3: My Summer Project
😯 I just started my 4th week here at Biscayne already! Last week (5 June) I was able to drive down to Marathon, FL and learn how to better work with the RVC (reef visual Read more…
How WNS spreads
Something interesting that I learned in my internship is that there are multiple ways we can identify white nose syndrome in bats. We can DNA test there guano to see if they carry the disease. Read more…
Ice Cream Rocks!
Being in the park service has truly changed how I look at natural features in the wild along with its sheer size. Petrified Forest National Park is a big park that takes 45 minutes to Read more…
The Road to Plaster Mastery
Hi everyone! I’ve been quiet on this platform because it’s been a very busy first couple of weeks for me at DINO. I’m going to try to get a post written on my adventures last Read more…
Keying In #2: About Biscayne
Biscayne National Park, located about an hour south of Miami and nearest to Homestead, Florida, preserves Biscayne Bay, offshore barrier reefs, Elliott Key (the first Florida Key), and the northern part of the Florida Reef. Read more…
Born To Be Wild: A Yellowstone National Park Adventure
Greetings from Southern California! My name is Alyssa Canova. This summer, I am interning as a Biology Assistant for 1) Yellowstone National Park’s Center for Resources and 2) the Greater Yellowstone Inventory and Monitoring Network. Read more…
Venturing into Very Valuable Vegetation
I am three weeks into my internship working with the Great Plains Inventory & Monitoring Network and Badlands National Park. It is mind-blowing how differently I look at plants in this very short time. Plants Read more…
Week 4: Recruitment, Here I Come
Hello reader, Just now, I was curled up at my desk making what will hopefully be the final edits to my volunteer training manual. My mind was consumed with the details of the citizen science Read more…
It was Dino-mite
Last week was a lot of fun because the park hosted a great event called Dinosaur Day. It is hosted on June 6 in memory of the discovery of the oldest dinosaur ever found in Read more…
Underwater Laboratory
For the past two weeks, I have been tasked to do background research on Guam’s coral reefs and start preparing a draft on a poster that will be used for future outreach events. In addition, Read more…
Rock the Rhyolite
USMP for Federal Land Management Agencies My main project during the summer will be the Unstable Slope Management Program (USMP) for federal land management at Chiricahua National Monument. This project is intended to provide map Read more…
Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park
Hello from up north! Since my last couple blogs were dedicated to introducing myself and the area I just moved to, I thought that I would focus this week’s post on Klondike Gold Rush National Read more…
Microbial Forests and Bat Nets
In the past week, I have had the pleasure of attending two fascinating talks here at Carlsbad Caverns National Park—Superbugs, Wonder Drugs, and Amazing Caves: Lechuguilla Cave and the future of antibiotic resistance by Katey Read more…
Memorial Day Weekend Camping
The Mojave Desert can be a hostile environment to live in, however, life continues to flourish despite extreme temperatures. Environment for the Americas organized a 2019 Memorial Day camping trip to bring together interns from Read more…
Surveying Bald Eagle Nests
“Did you know that, in movies, they rarely use the actual call of a bald eagle?” After hiking through pines trees, down a cave, over a trench, and up one of the tallest buttes in Read more…
Rocky’s Enigmatic Glaciers
This summer, in addition to assisting with citizen science projects, my focus will be on glaciers in Rocky Mountain National Park. This will take the form of an institutional memory project (a collection of scientific Read more…
Big Time, Tule Grass, Plastic Waste…Oh My!
In this week’s blog I will present my projects for the summer so that you can know all about the work I am doing here in Point Reyes! I have also included a weekly update Read more…
Cuyahoga Valley: From Toxic Dump to National Park
Dear reader, Descending into the fog of the valley every morning, I see people finishing up their runs and setting off for work. In the evening, as I leave the park, I observe lots filling Read more…
A Brief History of Capulin Volcano
It dawned on me that though this is my fourth week here, I haven’t shared much about the park itself. In 1890, inspector WD Harland of the General Land Office visited Capulin. After his visitation, Read more…
From Mountain Time to Island Time: An Intern Intro
My name is Camilo Jose Acosta-Garcia and I have the great honor of participating in this 2019 Mosaics in Science Internship. I am from Washington, and fittingly love hiking and wearing flannel shirts. I am Read more…
A Warm Welcome to Skagway – Literally
Greetings from Skagway, Alaska! Time feels like it’s been passing so quickly, I can hardly believe that I’ve already been in this beautiful town for a couple weeks. Time flies when you’re having fun, I Read more…
Working in the Dark
My site is like other towns in the Mt Rainer National Park. We have bat boxes on building and structures all across the park major town and buildings. We also set up data recorders in Read more…
Introducing: The Dunes
Located along the southern edge of Lake Michigan, Indiana Dunes is the United States’ newest National Park. Formerly Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, the Park contains some of the most abundant plant diversity in the United Read more…
Wonder and the Unfamiliar
This past Tuesday I found myself at McGraw Ranch, a complex nestled into the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. Here gentle, forested hills converge at a stream that traces the front periphery of the complex Read more…
Send Dunes
Since starting my internship at the park, I’ve come to realize there is a lot that goes to interpretation in the park service. We have done work with school and college groups to teach them Read more…
Pollen and Pecos
There are pollen slides collected from birds going back to 2014. It’s slow work, but I’m planning to get through all the slides by the end of the summer. Just to give you an idea Read more…
Week 1: Getting to Know the Author
Hello, my name is Aliya Khan. I am a Mosaics in Science intern working at Manassas National Battlefield Park this summer. I am originally from Washington DC but grew up abroad in Malaysia, Thailand and Read more…
The National Park Service’s Southeast Arizona Group (SEAZ)
Hello all! The first expedition into the Southwest of the United States was in 1540 by Francisco Vázquez de Coronado. The park commemorates that expedition. Coronado National Memorial is distinguished by its high mountains around Read more…
Carlsbad Visitor Use Management Project
The framework starts with defining the limits of acceptable change, or the minimally acceptable conditions, then developing and carrying out monitoring studies, if the data show the park has surpassed the limits of acceptable change, then park management must take an action to address this. The cycle repeats always relying on data driven analysis.
The Scientists The Rangers Go To
Last post, I mentioned that I am the new intern at the SFCN office in Miami. You might have wondered what that meant. The South Florida/Caribbean Inventory & Monitoring Network (SFCN) is one of 32 Read more…
A River Runs Through It
Hello reader, This past week I’ve been busy laying the foundation for the project I will be working on for the rest of the summer. My end goal is to develop a sustainable citizen science Read more…
Volcano Views
With my first week at Capulin in the books, I have a pretty good idea of how I’m going to be spending the summer. For the past few years, people in my position have worked Read more…
My Introduction to Point Reyes
Stretching along the Northern California coast and home to over 1500 species of plants and animals, Point Reyes National Seashore offers plentiful opportunities to connect with the area’s several cultures and diverse habitats. One of Read more…