Soundscapes, High School crews, and First Aid, oh my!

My own camera has been in the shop this past week, so I haven't posted any pictures or updates for a few days. This afternoon, SCA Program Manager Jill Baum rescued me with a set of photos from three of our active volunteer programs. Thanks, Jill!
First, Soundscape Monitoring. We had a nice turnout for our first information session on July 11. Soundscape Monitors will go out to 30 different locations around the park, with GPS-enabled handheld computers, to note whatever natural and human-caused sounds they can hear. This will provide us with useful information about the degree to which natural sounds are being overwhelmed--or not--by the sounds of cars, planes, and people. If it sounds interesting to you, there's another information session this Saturday.


Next, our first Conservation Leadership Corps crew is here! This team of high school students hired by the Student Conservation Association has been working on finishing up the repairs on the Wonderland Trail between Longmire and Cougar Rock, so if you're in the park between now and Friday, hike up and say hi and see how they're doing. A second crew will join us later in the season.


Last but not least, here was the view along the Nisqually River last Saturday:

It looks like a scene from an M. Night Shyamalan movie, but it's actually our first Wilderness First Aid class, taught by Aerie Medicine and subsidized by a generous grant from Boeing Corporation. A large group of volunteers learned all about first aid in the backcountry. And who can beat the classroom setting?

A repeat of the Wilderness First Aid class, to be taught July 26-27, still has room for more class members.

If anyone else has pictures from your experiences in the field at Mount Rainier, please share them with me and I'll post the best ones here on the blog for everyone to enjoy!

More WFA photos:

Volunteer Jean Millan works on a volunteer "patient" (a patient patient?) along the Nisqually River in front of the park's Community Building at Longmire.

Class members learn to work together to lift a patient properly.