For hundreds of years, foreign species have been brought to America from all over the world. These exotic specimen can range from an insect to a plant to a large mammal. Reasons for why they were brought here vary. In more of the colonial era,...
Luxurious green mountains encapsuled in a white fog. The air is crisp and cool, heavy with humidity along rivers and creeks. The sun rays escape through the spaces between the leaves of the canopy. Everywhere hiked, there is visible variability in flora communities once emerging...
Surrounding regions of Minute Man National Historical Park have transformed from a semi-rural cultural area to established suburbs that face continual pressures from residential, commercial, and industrial development. This development not only impacts historic and cultural site preservation efforts, but also presence of rare species...
This summer is jam-packed. Even though Jewel Cave is a small monument, the resource management (RM) team is tasked with a broad range of important work. Aside from our daily duties, we’re available to assist with cave emergencies, maintenance projects, search & rescues, and decontamination....
Over the week I was able to meet many great new people, including those on the Elk and Vegetation Management Plan crew, which I am a part of. Every day I walk along a beautiful path and over a small bridge to and from work,...
"The chief aim of Interpretation is not instruction, but provocation." - Freeman Tilden How did Mount Rainier come to be? How did the rocks get here? Why are there ridges in seemingly random areas? [caption id="attachment_6643" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Park ranger Curt Jacquot giving an interpretive walk through the...
The project that I will be working on for the next couple of weeks is the Unstable Slope Management Program (USMP) for Federal Land Management Agencies at Coronado National Memorial. This program is meant to assess slope stability transportation related issues on federal lands. Geoscientist-in-Park...
This summer while at Shenandoah I will be working as a member of the Natural Resources Division on the botany crew helping with long term monitoring of rare and endangered plants. Within the park there are over 90 known populations of rare or endangered plants...
Founded in 1935, the goal of Shenandoah National Park was to create a national park in the east. The first national parks were created in the late 1800’s and were mainly in the West. In the east, the land was already developed and settled making...
As I anticipate my arrival at Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP), I wonder what to expect in the geology of the Rockies. As a geologist, I am curious to know how and when these mountains formed. From my research, I have found that these mountains...