MIS 2019

Mosaics in Science Diversity Internship Program is special in many ways. I am Susan Bonfield, the Director of Environment for the Americas. As a biologist and educator, I love the opportunities MIS provides you to meet professionals in the National Park Service, to work in...

As Lin-Manuel Miranda famously sang in Hamilton, “What is a legacy? It’s planting seeds in a garden you’ll never get to see.”  Well, here’s the garden I helped plant, but won’t ever see.  Using the findings of my research, the resources crew and I collected...

How visitation is affecting the air quality in Carlsbad Cavern Carbon dioxide is a naturally occurring gas in Earth’s atmosphere, but in high concentrations, the gas can act as an asphyxiant. OSHA and other government agencies recommend a 5,000 parts per million (ppm) workplace exposure limit of 8 hours...

If there’s one thing that I’ve picked up on while working at Minute Man it's how to spot an invasive plant around the park. After going to Grape Island in the Boston Harbor and picking mile a minute for a day I now see it...

The Great Walden BioBlitz just happened to be on the hottest day of the year in Massachusetts with a high of 95. For more info on what is this BioBlitz? Check out my previous blog! As our morning identification walks were wrapping up, we the Minute...

Meet Saguaro’s Geoscientists in the Parks intern, Karly Chin! She hails from Redding, California, and was already an environmentalist and biologist before working in the park. She previously researched environmental change and infectious diseases at the Hopkins Marine Station in Monterey, C.A. Karly believes it’s...

We walk into an aspen grove, and I start grinning. Aspen trees are everywhere near my home in Minnesota, and I fell in love with how their leaves flutter in the wind. Aspen trees are a great indicator of water, as their roots utilize it...

We met at 5 A.M., and have been hiking since 6, scrabbling up Madrona Canyon’s rocky drainages. Madrona Canyon is in the park’s Rincon Mountain District, which has a higher elevation (Mica Mountain, at 8,664 ft., is the highest point) than the Tucson Mountain District....

When we first got to the entrance of the Jamboree, all I could think was: "I would never in my life want to be the person in charge of organizing all this." Picture about 45,000 Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, 25,000 tents, and thousands more...

My project this summer was not only fulfilling and meaningful, it was fun. Good, real, wake up excited fun. I really enjoyed the thought puzzles of putting together a field trip that was connected enough to flow well but not so connected that each activity...