Volunteer Newsletter for May 2012

The snow is disappearing fast, thanks to a few days of summery weather here in the Park and that means we’re starting to gear up for the season. We’re reviewing volunteer applications daily, looking for just the right people to fill vacancies, so if you’re interested in something specific, now is the time to apply. We have lots of group projects on the agenda as well as opportunities for individual volunteers. Check the park's website at http://www.nps.gov/mora/supportyourpark/vip-positions.htm to see what positions are available, and keep an eye on the volunteer blog at rainiervolunteers.blogspot.com for updates.

Before we go any further, I’d like to extend an invitation to any of you who would like to attend the Volunteer Brunch on Saturday, May 5.  Whether you are a new volunteer or a returning one, the presentations are bound to be of interest. The event is a potluck, and will be held in the Community Building at Longmire at 10 AM. Attendees will be given free admission to the Park, but you will need to RSVP to Kevin Bacher at Kevin_Bacher@nps.gov as soon as possible so that he can put your name on the guest list. Don’t miss this opportunity to meet other volunteers!

Mount Rainier National Park Associates Projects – Saturday April 28, 2012 and forward

This year, the Mount Rainier National Park Associates have six projects on tap, four of which will be dedicated to trail maintenance and two for “alpine gardening,” i.e., removal of non-native plant species and meadow restoration.  Specific locations will be announced at a later date. You are welcome to join us on any or all of the following dates:

• April 28th doing trail maintenance (rain or shine!)
• May 19th doing trail maintenance
• June 16th doing trail maintenance
• July 14th doing exotic plant removal (weeding) along the Westside Road
• August 11 doing trail maintenance, followed by a pot luck dinner, and an overnight camp for the volunteers who have worked that day    
• September 8 planting wildflower seedlings to re-establish alpine meadows near Sunrise

For more information, contact Mount Rainier National Park Associates directly at www.mrnpa.org.

Volunteer Handbook

The long-awaited Volunteer Handbook is finally available on line! You can find this go-to resource on our volunteer blog or by following this link to our 2012 Volunteer Handbook.

Volunteer Opportunities Abound!

As summer rolls in and Park visitation increases, we will be looking for more people willing to work as Meadow Rovers. You should apply now if you wish to participate! Training for new Meadow Rovers will occur on June 23rd, and for returning Meadow Rovers on the 24th.

Seasonal interpretive training dates will be May 29 through June 2 and June 5 through June 9. If you’re interested in learning more about the park's natural and cultural resources, or about the field of interpretation, you are welcome to join us. You’ll have the chance to hear experts on various topics as they expound on their favorite subjects and how they relate to the Park. Please watch the blog for more details!

Positions available!

Are you well-acquainted with Park trails and landmarks? Perhaps you’d like to apply for the position of digital photo librarian. We presently need people who can reliably identify locations from unlabeled photographs for inclusion in an online digital library, so a familiarity with the Park is a must!

Curatorial assistant wanted! If you are interested in the photographic history of the Park, this may be an excellent opportunity for you to contribute to it. We are looking for detail-oriented participants to assist with processing of historical documents. Four volunteers are needed for the period May through September. You may contact Brooke Childrey at 360-569-6784 for more information.

Campground Host needed for Cougar Rock! Debbie Hannevig and Matt Chalup are looking for candidates for Campground Host(s) at Cougar Rock for the period from Memorial Day to Columbus Day. You can find details and a link to the vacancy announcement here.

Follow us!

Mount Rainier is now on social media! Look for the links to our Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Flickr pages, as well as our webcams at Paradise and Longmire, on our park website at www.nps.gov/mora. Like us, follow us, friend us, and join the interactive discussion! The volunteer program has Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube accounts of its own, so look for those links on our volunteer blog at rainiervolunteers.blogspot.com.

It promises to be a busy summer, folks! We hope to see you soon!

Kevin Bacher
Volunteer and Outreach Program Manager
360-569-6567

Annual Volunteer Breakfast is next week!

If the presentation is boring, you can
step outside and enjoy the view!

From Amy Mann at the Tacoma Mountaineers:

The Tacoma Branch Hiking/Backpacking Committee invites you to join Mount Rainier National Park staff at the park's Community Building at Longmire at 10:00 a.m. on May 5, 2012 for our annual spring brunch!

This event is a great way to kick off the volunteer season for 2012. Meet old friends, make new ones, and most important, learn about everything that's going on at Mount Rainier and its volunteer program. If you've been a volunteer before, come learn what's new. If you've never volunteered, come learn about the many opportunities available for people of all ages and interests.

The annual volunteer brunch is usually sponsored by the Meadow Rover program and held at the Tacoma Mountaineers Clubhouse. However, the building is being remodeled this year, so this time we're holding the event in the park itself.

Volunteers (and potential volunteers) who attend this event will be granted free admission to the park. Please RSVP to Kevin_Bacher@nps.gov so that we can give a list of names to the rangers at the entrance station.

The brunch is "potluck," so please bring a dish to share. We'll gather at 10:00, eat at 10:30, and have a short presentation at 11:00 about park news and our plans for the upcoming super season. All are welcome! After the program, stick around to chat with the rangers and other volunteers, or spend the day in the park.

The Community Building is located across the historic suspension bridge from Longmire.

First volunteer project of the season is tomorrow!

Volunteers open the Trail of the Shadows in 2007

Just a reminder: The first Mount Rainier National Park Associates trails work party for 2012 will be tomorrow, Saturday, April 28th. The project will be to work on the Trail of the Shadows at Longmire. In fact, I can see a large pile of gravel at the trailhead from my office window, and tomorrow's forecast looks perfect for a work party. It's probably a little late to join this month's group, but if you're in the park, stop by to say hi, cheer on the volunteers, and ask about participating in next month's project!

...Which will be (mark your calendars!) on May 19, location to be determined. Visit the Mount Rainier National Park Associates on their website to learn more and to sign up.

MRNPA is a community group that works with Mount Rainier National Park to do volunteer projects throughout the park throughout the summer. They've been working with us for years and are some of our most faithful volunteers. We're grateful for their efforts!

Volunteer publishes comprehensive study of climate change at Rainier

The Crow's Perspective (an editorial): In June of 2011, volunteer Kevin Ford published a 31-page document called, "The impacts of climate change at Mt. Rainier National Park" (a pdf file). In reviewing material for the volunteer blog, the paper crossed my desk. I was so substantially impressed by his research that I have been working with him to make the document available in the public domain so that it may be read in its entirety by anyone concerned with the undeniable shifts of climate now being experienced globally.

Hoverfly on Rosy Spirea

In this work, the reader will gain a better understanding of how every single species has its ecological niche, and how a seemingly small change here can lead to a greater change there, subsequently impacting yet another aspect of our natural world further up the chain. For example, you will learn how a slight alteration in global temperature allows plant species to intrude into higher elevations where they have not previously been known; forest replacing meadow, one bird species replacing another, habitat shifting to higher elevations or disappearing altogether. On one hand, you will see that species such as the pika, the marmot, the ptarmigan and others are sensitive to the reduction and fragmentation of alpine meadow while on the other, you discover that lower forests are in jeopardy from insect incursions, outburst flooding and increased danger of fire.

This paper is well worth a good, hard read. It moved me, and I hope it will move you as well. I encourage you to share it on Facebook, in your personal blogs, and with your friends. One square foot of lost habitat can make a difference, but so can one person. Be part of a positive change!

Wilderness Volunteers plants seedlings of recovery

In mid-September 2011, Robin Rose and nine members of the Wilderness Volunteers worked alongside Mt. Rainier National Park's revegetation crew at Sunrise. 118 flats of native plant seedlings were carefully placed in the ground over the period of a week. The volunteers came away with an immense sense of accomplishment, knowing that they'd each "parented" approximately 1000 seedlings. The next time you visit Sunrise, look for their work in bloom!

Curatorial Assistant volunteers needed

Duties: The Cultural Resource program at Mount Rainier National Park is looking for detail-oriented individuals who are interested in the photographic history of the park, to assist the Park Curator with the processing of the park's historic documents National Park Service archival standards.  Once this project is complete, there may be an opportunity to catalog natural history specimens into the Interior Collections Management Program (ICMS).

This work will benefit Mount Rainier National Park by improving the organization of its historic collections and making them more accessible for use by park naturalists, resource managers, and the public.

Location: The park's curation facility at Park Headquarters near Ashford.

Time Commitment Required: Four volunteers are needed for the period of May to September.

Skills required: Ability to hand-print legibly; some computer skills. National Catalog Program will be taught to the volunteers, as well as digitizing.

Other Information: Housing and a small reimbursement for living expenses are available, if needed, for volunteers who can work at least 32 hours per week.

For more information: Contact Brooke Childrey, Park Curator, at 360-569-6784.

To apply: Fill out an online application here.

Other volunteer opportunities: See our complete list here.

Butterfly Survey

"Oh, look! What a pretty blue butterfly!" Yes, but did you know that there are at least four separate species of Blues to be found in Berkeley Park? That's what Michelle Toshack and a crew of five volunteers discovered during the weeks of late August and early September 2011. Thirteen species of butterfly were detected at four transects (Naches Peak, Berkeley Park, Mazama Ridge and Spray Park) in a series of fifteen surveys.


With late-lying snow hampering the project in two of the areas, the group was able to collect data which may be used in determining how butterfly populations are affected by climate change. The volunteers were trained beforehand in collection protocols and identification procedures. Each five-meter "box" was carefully and slowly paced out on days when the weather met specific criteria. Volunteers showed great enthusiasm for identifying each species and came away from the project with a greater sense of the value in collecting scientific data such as this.

"Glaucopsyche lygdamus! I see a Glaucopsyche lygdamus! Check it out!" Now there's something to get excited about!

Join us for the Annual Volunteer Brunch on May 5!

You are invited to join Mount Rainier National Park staff at the park's Community Building at Longmire at 10:00 a.m. on May 5, 2012 for our annual spring brunch!

This event is a great way to kick off the volunteer season for 2012. Meet old friends, make new ones, and most important, learn about everything that's going on at Mount Rainier and its volunteer program. If you've been a volunteer before, come learn what's new. If you've never volunteered, come learn about the many opportunities available for people of all ages and interests.

The annual volunteer brunch is usually sponsored by the Meadow Rover program and held at the Tacoma Mountaineers Clubhouse. However, the Clubhouse is being remodelled this year, so this time we're holding the event in the park itself.

Volunteers (and potential volunteers) who attend this event will be granted free admission to the park. Please RSVP to Kevin_Bacher@nps.gov so that I can give a list of names to the rangers at the entrance station.

The brunch is "potluck," so please bring a dish to share. We'll gather at 10:00, eat at 10:30, and have a short presentation at 11:00 about park news and our plans for the upcoming supper season. All are welcome! After the program, stick around to chat with the rangers and other volunteers, or spend the day in the park.

The Community Building is located across the historic suspension bridge from Longmire. Here's a link for directions.

See you there!

Announcing... the 2012 Volunteer Handbook!

Here's a project we've been working on, off and on, literally for years: a handbook of basic information about the volunteer program at Mount Rainier National Park, a basic resource for new volunteers that explains the volunteer's role, rights, responsibilities, and resources. Contributors over the years have  included Nick Abel... Evan Escamilla... Patty Poulin... Petrina "Crow" Vecchio... and many others. At long last, here it is!

The 2012 Volunteer Handbook for Mount Rainier National Park

We'll link this guide in the resources section on the right-hand side of this page so it will always be easy to find. Experienced volunteers, please feel free to suggest revisions or additions, based on your experience with our program. We want this booklet to be straightforward, easy to use, and succinct, but also to include the most essential information a new volunteer would want to know.

Thank you to everyone who contributed to this project!

Volunteer Architects

The Longmire National Historic Landmark District posed a challenge for Professor Robert Melnick’s University of Oregon landscape architecture students in a three-day “studio” (seminar) last autumn. Students were charged with “reconfiguring the area’s circulation, viewscape, public plazas and more, all within the confines of permitted changes” as defined by the rules and regulations concerning improvements and development in such areas. Here, the students learned to strike a balance between Park values and visitor expectations, a dual mandate which is defined by resource protection and public accessibility.

As the Park moves forward, the work contributed by these student volunteers will be taken into consideration. Historical Architect Sueann Brown states, “What we do in the end may not look exactly like any one student's plan, but will probably borrow some of the best ideas from each.”

Ian Davies, Eagle Scout and Volunteer

As a preface to the upcoming season, the Volunteer Blog will be featuring a number of projects from last year over the next few weeks. These hard-working folks deserve a big “thank you” from all of us!

In the summer of 2011, a young man named Ian Davies took on an ambitious project of leadership and labor, organizing a group of volunteers to replace the dilapidated, deteriorating foot/horse bridge spanning the Crater Creek drainage. With a dozen team members under his command and trail crew professionals assisting with the project, a replacement was constructed in a mere four days. The sturdy new structure was built in accordance with the original Civilian Conservation Corps design, preserving its integrity as a historical landmark while using available native materials.

That said, Mr. Davies’ work was not simply one of physical labor. As part of an Eagle Scout project, he and his team also solicited the funds for the project from friends and local businesses, involving the community and making citizens more aware of the intrinsic values the Park represents.