Parktips – August 2010

The National Park Service submits the following ideas for news stories for your consideration. For more information about any of them, please contact Elise Cleva at 202-208-6843 or Elise_M_Cleva@nps.gov.

American Journal of Public Health Explores New Role for Rangers In the future, park rangers may educate visitors about not only canyons and Civil War battles, but also infectious diseases, long-term wellness, and other health-related topics. In “Park Rangers as Public Health Educators,”

an article in the August issue of the American Journal of Public Health, David Wong and Charles L. Higgins of the National Park Service report on a project that tested the viability of national parks as settings for health education. The Public Health in the Parks grants initiative funded outreach programs in parks throughout the country. In one program, Native American children engaged in actual exercise, which they translated into a “virtual walk” of the 74-mile length of Badlands National Park. In another program, visitors to Lowell National Historical Park in Massachusetts learned about a typhoid epidemic, the transformation of a local river into an agent of death, and the ensuing epidemiologic investigation. “Further exploration of national parks as nontraditional and underutilized venues for health education is warranted,” Wong and Higgins conclude.

Lighthouses Change Hands

Two historic light stations will receive new owners later this year. On June 21, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar recommended that the Buffalo Harbor South Entrance Light in Buffalo, New York, go to the Buffalo Lighthouse Association, Inc., a local nonprofit. Salazar recommended transferring the Burrows Island Light Station near Anacortes, Washington, to the Northwest Schooner Society, another nonprofit. Under the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act (NHLPA) of 2000, federally owned, historic light stations may be transferred at no cost to federal agencies, state and local governments, nonprofit corporations, educational agencies, and community development organizations. Ten lighthouses are currently available. See http://www.nps.gov/history/maritime/nhlpa/nhlpa.htm for more information about the NHLPA Program.

Acadia Welcomes Wabanaki

Passamaquoddy birchbark artist David Moses Bridges kneels next to his hand-hewn canoe and calls to his son, Tobias Francis, 15, the youngest ranger in Acadia National Park. “Can you hand me the bear fat and pine sap mixture?” asks Bridges, who is demonstrating birchbark canoe making, a craft perfected thousands of years ago by his ancestors. Bridges is descended from four distinct tribes known collectively as the Wabanaki.

Their members traveled to this area to hunt and fish. Bridges’s cultural demonstration is one of many programs initiated by Acadia to allow Wabanaki people to share their traditions and culture with visitors. In another program, Francis shows the raw materials and tools used by Wabanaki people in the past and today to make ash and sweetgrass baskets. Future initiatives include producing Wabanaki language podcasts for visitors and positioning Wabanaki youth in Acadia through internships and mentoring programs.

NPS Handbooks Available Online as History E-Library Grows The online library of almost 4,000 books, reports, and articles developed by the National Park Service (NPS) keeps growing. Historian Harry Butowsky expands the collection every week. Recently, he added the popular NPS handbooks. First published in the 1950s by the NPS Harpers Ferry Center, they provide a wealth of comprehensive information drawn from the latest scientific and historical research available at the time of publication.

Photographs, maps, and original art complement the texts. The contents of many of these handbooks are available online at http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/handbooks/index.htm.

To access the entire History E-Library, go to http://www.nps.gov/history/history/hisnps/.

Fisher Census

Researchers in Yosemite National Park are trying to determine the size of the Pacific fisher (Martes pennanti pacifica) population. The Pacific fisher is now found only in roughly 50% of its historical range in California and is listed as a federal candidate species, meaning that federal authorities can propose that Pacific fishers be designated endangered or threatened. The Yosemite population suffers from low reproductive capacity, reduced genetic diversity, and ongoing habitat loss.

In Yosemite, researchers have placed motion-activated camera stations to document the presence and habitat requirements of fishers. Please see http://www.nps.gov/yose/naturescience/fishers.htm.

Beneath the Surface of National Parks

To find out the current geoscientific issues facing national parks, take a look at proposals from the National Park Service (NPS) for 2011 Geoscientists-in-the-Parks (GIP) positions. The GIP program places geoscientists in parks and central offices for three to 12 months. In response to a call just issued by The NPS Geologic Resources Division, staff at parks, regions, and central offices can propose projects in geoscientific research, resource management, inventory, monitoring, and interpretation/education.

You can view past issues of Parktips and register to receive Parktips via e-mail.

If you need help, please contact the NPS Communications Office at 202-208-6843.

For the latest news from the National Park Service, visit www.nps.gov/news.

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From the Herald Tribune:

Under the practiced knife of Dr. Brian Stacy, a veterinary pathologist, the specimen began to reveal its secrets: First, as the breastplate was lifted away, a mass of shriveled organs in the puddle of stinky red liquid that is produced as decomposition advances. Next, the fat reserves indicating good health. Then, as Stacy sliced open the esophagus, the most revealing clue: a morsel of shrimp, the last thing the turtle ate.

“You don’t see shrimp consumed as part of the normal diet” of Kemp’s ridleys, Stacy said.

Reports of Kemp’s babies being released are a bright note in this all. We can only hope that the upcoming storm season does not effect their ability to survive.

The first sea turtle hatchlings whose eggs were moved from parts of the Gulf Coast threatened by the oil spill to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida have been released into the Atlantic Ocean. Jane Provancha, a biologist working on the turtle rescue, told The Associated Press that the newborn Kemp’s ridley sea turtles did well after their release.

Read the full article on the The New York Times website.

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Climate Change Response Program

1201 Oakridge Drive, Suite 200

Fort Collins, CO 80525

970-225-3597 phone

www.nps.gov/climatechange

July 1, 2010

Contact(s): Angie Richman, 970-267-2136, Angie_Richman@nps.gov

Lisa Norby, 303-969-2318, Lisa_Norby@nps.gov

Young scholars help National Park Service tackle climate change

George Melendez Wright programs premier this summer

(Fort Collins, CO) – From temperature tolerance of moose to solar energy,

26 young scholars will tackle research and education projects to help

national park managers look at the effects of climate change. The students

will work in national parks from Maine to Alaska and California to Florida

this summer and are the first to take part in the National Park Service

(NPS) George Melendez Wright internship and fellowship programs.

National Park Service Director Jon Jarvis said, “We need to understand the

effects of climate change in our national parks in order to make better

resource management decisions, and we think the work these young people do

will help accomplish just that. The internships and fellowships are

designed for youth – to harness the energy and creativity of college and

university undergraduate and graduate students – and put them to work

alongside national park managers, scientists and educators.”

Leigh Welling, coordinator of the NPS Climate Change Response Program,

said the first group of interns and graduate fellows will collect data on

natural resources and prepare educational materials about climate change in

national parks. They might be inspired to consider a career with the

National Park Service, too.

Interns will work in national parks for 12 weeks through September. Their

projects include design and construction of a showcase photovoltaic array

at Crater Lake National Park, outreach to urban youth to address climate

change in the Nation’s capital, development of an educational program about

prehistoric climate change at Russell Cave National Monument, and a study

of the moose of Voyageurs National Park. “Moose populations in northern

Minnesota fell from 4,000 to 85 between 1984 and 2007, and scientists

suspect warmer summers and winters may be part of the reason. Here’s a

project to help us understand these changes by monitoring the temperature

tolerance of moose”, Welling said.

The 13 Wright Fellows, all graduate students, will research subjects that

include changes in wetland ecosystems in Yukon Flats Wildlife Refuge in

Alaska and climate stress in the American Pika in several western national

parks. “This research furthers stewardship, highlights the effects of

climate change on national parks and enriches public understanding of

America’s natural heritage,” Welling said.

The internship program is facilitated by the National Council for Science

and the Environment, a Washington, D.C.-based non-profit organization. For

more information regarding the internship program please visit:

http://ncseonline.org/CampustoCareers/cms.cfm?id=2233#NPS. The fellowships

are facilitated by Dr Lisa Graumlich, formerly from the University of

Arizona and now the inaugural Dean of the College of the Environment at the

University of Washington.

Welling said there will be Wright Fellows and Interns for years to come.

“The response to our call for projects was overwhelming, from parks and

students. That showed the need for these types of programs. We can afford

the $315,000 cost of this year’s programs because the Congressional

appropriation for the National Park Service this year included funds for

climate science and adaptation.”

Jarvis said, “This program links the emerging knowledge of energetic youth

with the legacy of national park rangers, scientists and technicians and

that’s important for future generations who inherit our stewardship

responsibilities.”

The George Melendez Wright programs are named in honor of the early 20th

-century National Park Service biologist who promoted the idea of

science-based research as central to preservation of national parks and who

envisioned a system of protected areas to promote ecosystem health and

resilience.

For more information about the George Melendez Wright interns and fellows,

their projects and the NPS Climate Change Response Program, please visit:

http://www.nature.nps.gov/climatechange/internshipsresearch.cfm

www.nps.gov

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For Immediate Release – June 17, 2010

Contact: David Barna, (202) 208-6843, David_Barna@nps.gov

Jennifer Mummart, (202) 208-4986, Jennifer_Mummart@nps.gov

First Lady Michelle Obama Asks Junior Rangers to Take It Outside at Our

National Parks

WASHINGTON – “Let’s Move Outside, Junior Rangers!” is First Lady Michelle

Obama’s call to kids across the country this summer. Today, the National

Park Service kicks off Let’s Move Outside Junior Ranger in 20 parks.

National Park Junior Rangers will not only have fun and get exercise but

also receive an extra reward for working up a sweat.

Young people who complete at least one physical activity in pursuit of

their Junior Ranger badge receive a special sticker that designates them as

a Let’s Move Outside Junior Ranger. The activities range from adventures

like hiking with a ranger at Grand Canyon National Park to body surfing at

Canaveral National Seashore and canoeing at Mississippi National River and

Recreation Area.

Let’s Move Outside, led by the Department of the Interior and the

Department of Agriculture, provides tools and information to parents to

make it easy to enjoy the outdoors and be active. It is part of First Lady

Michelle Obama’s nationwide campaign to end childhood obesity within a

generation.

“The Let’s Move Outside program in our national parks provides a wonderful

way for parents to gain a passion for outdoor recreation while teaching

them about our nation’s beautiful lands, our rich cultural heritage, and

our storied past,” said Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar.

The program engages young people from all backgrounds in a range of

educational programs and self-guided activities on America’s public lands

and waters. From hiking and biking, to swimming, paddling, and horseback

riding, these activities promise to be fun, healthy, and family friendly.

Throughout the summer, Let’s Move Outside! programs and events will be held in conjunction with schools, community groups, and other partners.

“Young people inspire us; we want to help them be vigorous and curious for

life. It starts with family fun. National parks are amazing places where

exercise is disguised as adventure, and we sneak in some learning too,”

National Park Service Director Jon Jarvis said.

Let’s Move Outside will soon be integrated into other programs, like the

Fish and Wildlife Service’s “Let’s Go Outside” initiative, which seeks to

reconnect kids and families to nature in our country’s 552 national

wildlife refuges, and the Bureau of Land Management’s “Take It Outside”

program.

Primary federal partners in this initiative are the Department of the

Interior’s National Park Service, Fish and Wildlife Service, and Bureau of

Land Management, and the Department of Agriculture’s U.S. Forest Service.

“As a department that manages one fifth of our nation’s land, the

Department of the Interior will play a vital role in Let’s Move Outside!”

said Julie Rodriguez, director of the department’s Youth Office. “Our

parks, refuges, and other public lands are waiting to be explored and

enjoyed by our nation’s young people, and we are eager to help them get

outdoors.”

By summer’s end, 50 national parks will offer Let’s Move Outside Junior

Ranger. Before heading out, visit www.letsmove.gov/outside for more

information about activities and participating parks. This website hub will

link families to the great outdoors and give tips and ideas on how to best

plan and enjoy an active visit.

The 20 parks launching today:

Canaveral National Seashore, Florida

Cuyahoga Valley National Park, Ohio

Denali National Park and Preserve, Alaska

Effigy Mounds National Monument, Iowa

Fire Island National Seashore, New York

Fort Dupont Park, Washington, DC

Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona

Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, Colorado

Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee and North Carolina

Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, West Virginia

Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, Indiana

Mississippi National River and Recreation Area, Minnesota

Mount Rainier National Park, Washington

New River Gorge National River, West Virginia

Prince William Forest Park, Virginia

Redwood National and State Parks, California

Rock Creek Park, Washington, DC

Shenandoah National Park, Virginia

Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, Michigan

Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho

www.nps.gov

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Five species of sea turtles already on the verge of extinction face an even gloomier future, as oil gushing from a mile deep in the Gulf of Mexico continues to poison their food and foul their nesting beaches.

Numerous photographs of oil-slicked birds have evoked emotional responses and symbolized the BP oil spill’s environmental impact, but the oil lurking out of view poses a more ominous threat to sea turtles and 20 other threatened and endangered animals — from beach mice to manatees — dependent on a healthy Gulf.

Continue reading “Turtles taking hard hits”

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Five species of sea turtles already on the verge of extinction face an even gloomier future, as oil gushing from a mile deep in the Gulf of Mexico continues to poison their food and foul their nesting beaches.

Numerous photographs of oil-slicked birds have evoked emotional responses and symbolized the BP oil spill’s environmental impact, but the oil lurking out of view poses a more ominous threat to sea turtles and 20 other threatened and endangered animals — from beach mice to manatees — dependent on a healthy Gulf.

Continue reading “Turtles taking hard hits”

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