Internship positions NOW OPEN at Mount Rainier!

A wide range of internships are now
awaiting your application!

Every year, Mount Rainier National Park hires several interns for spring and summer positions ranging from wilderness patrol to interpretation to research and volunteer program management. These positions offer excellent opportunities for young people to get a foot in the door with the National Park Service (or other conservation agencies). Many of our job announcements for the summer have gone "live" just in the last week, so now is the time to apply! Here's what's currently posted:

Student Conservation Association (SCA)
Mount Rainier has worked with SCA almost as long as the organization has existed. In addition to Community Crews recruited from high schools in Seattle and Joint Base Lewis-McChord, we typically hire about half a dozen individuals to serve in positions lasting anywhere from 12 to 16 weeks. The following four positions are currently listed on SCA's website, and more may be posted later:

• Backcountry Intern
• Citizen Science Coordinator Intern 
• Environmental Education Intern
• Trails Volunteer Coordinator Intern

 Geologic Society of America (GSA)
"Geoscientists in Parks" have worked at Mount Rainier for years, and a few have gone on to seasonal and permanent positions in the National Park Service. "GIPs" may work in the field of interpretation and education, educating the public about geology, or may serve with our natural resources program, conducting research. Positions are open to geology students at the university level, and are due February 18, 2014. Visit GSA's website for details about the program, to apply, and to find out about these positions:

• AstroCorps - Astronomy Interpretation
• Education Specialist (a Spring position, starting 3/24)
• Geomorphology/Geology Technician
• Interpretation Specialist
• Mountain Lakes Hydrology

All positions are subject to change depending on available funding.

Washington Conservation Corps (WCC)
Mount Rainier typically works with at least one crew from WCC each summer to help with trail maintenance projects. Other crews serve at other national parks and forests throughout Washington state, so this is a great option for young men and women age 18 to 25 who want to get outdoors and get hands-on experience in the field. Visit WCC's website for more information.
 
Youth Conservation Corps (YCC)
YCC is a program that hires high school students from communities around national parks for 8-10 week summer positions. Mount Rainier typically hires about half a dozen such students in March or April, for positions starting in late June or early July. For more information, visit YCC's website or contact our human resources office at 360-569-6522.

University programs
Additional internships may be available through universities. We've hired students from The Evergreen State College, Western Washington University, the University of Washington, and Oregon State University just in the last few years. The details vary, but usually involve an agreement between the university and the national park to provide college credit in return for service and on-the-job training. In other cases, graduate students arrange to do research that benefits both their own studies and the resource management needs of the park. Talk to your college adviser, or the supervisor of the program you're interested in here at Mount Rainier National Park, about the possibilities.

Whatever you're interested in, get started now... and good luck!

Mark your calendars: National Public Lands Day and Glacier Basin Trail rededication on 9/24!

WTA volunteers

It's time again for Mount Rainier National Park's biggest volunteer event of the year! Mark your calendars now and plan to join us on Saturday, September 24 for a combination event. First, we'll be rededicating the Glacier Basin Trail, which volunteers and park partners have helped rebuild over the past three summers following its destruction in the November 2006 flood. Then, we'll disperse for a variety of volunteer projects, including more trail maintenance and a major revegetation effort at Sunrise. Finally, anyone who's interested will re-gather at the White River Campground for snacks and a more informal celebration and sharing of stories about the Glacier Basin Trail reconstruction.

SCA's Conservation Leadership Corps

2011 statistics aren't in yet, but from 2008 through 2010, volunteers and youth organizations like the Washington Conservation Corps and Student Conservation Association contributed 49,497 hours of time on the Glacier Basin Trail, an effort worth almost $1.06 million based on current figures from Independent Sector. The work has been done by National Park Service trail crews, partner groups, community groups, and hundreds of individuals who have worked on the project through the Washington Trails Association. WTA volunteers alone contributed about 15,000 hours of service over the three year period. The Student Conservation Association has fielded more than 8,000 hours of trail teams, national crews, and members of their Community Programs, made up of high school students mostly from the Seattle area.

NPCA's registration booth

Other key partners on the project have included Alpine Ascents International; Boy Scout Troops 224 and 436, as well as the Pacific Harbors Council and the T'kope Kwiswis Lodge 502 in Seattle; EarthCorps; the Mount Rainier National Park Associates; the Northwest Youth Corps; REI Adventures; and soldiers from the U.S.S. Henry M. Jackson. About 500 volunteers worked on the project each year (with a lot of overlap from year to year).

All volunteers who contributed to the Glacier Basin Trail reconstruction are invited to return for the rededication, and stay for National Public Lands Day!

Revegetation volunteers at Sunrise

The National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) will be returning again this year to help coordinate National Public Lands Day. Volunteers can choose from several projects. The National Park Service and WTA will both be leading trail maintenance projects on sections of the Wonderland Trail departing from White River Campground. Meanwhile, at Sunrise, Mount Rainier's restoration team will lead volunteers in replanting the old Sunrise Campground with native plants. For either project, volunteers should bring a lunch, snacks, water, layered clothing that you can get dirty in, sunglasses, and sunscreen. Bring your own gloves if you have a pair that works well for you. All ages are welcome! Other projects may be added between now and September 24th as well.

Registration for National Public Lands Day will be hosted by NPCA at the Amphitheater in White River Campground. Volunteers may choose to stay overnight for free in the campground the night before September 24th and/or the night after. Please RSVP with your intentions (see details below). WTA will be working on the Wonderland Trail again on Sunday, September 25th.

Event Details

WHAT: National Public Lands Day and Glacier Basin Trail Rededication


WHEN: Saturday, September 24, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
8:00 a.m. Event Registration
9:00 a.m. Glacier Basin trail dedication
10:00 a.m. Trail and meadow restoration
3:30 p.m. Informal gathering and celebration
WHERE: All events take place at, or depart from, White River Campground at Mount Rainier National Park. Click here for a map and directions. Stevens Canyon Road will be closed to the public that day due to road construction. Please enter the park via Highway 410 or 123.

RSVP: If you plan to attend, please RSVP to Mariely Lemagne at NPCA at mlemagne@npca.org. If you plan to camp overnight, please RSVP with those plans to Kevin Bacher at Mount Rainier National Park at Kevin_Bacher@nps.gov. If you wish to join a WTA work crew on Saturday or Sunday, please also register online at http://www.wta.org/volunteer/trail-work-parties.

OTHER INFO: Entry to all national park units will be free on National Public Lands Day! Volunteers who register at White River Campground will receive a coupon for free entrance to Mount Rainier National Park on a future date of your choosing. Please bring work gloves and dress appropriately for the weather and activity. Suncreen, hats, and raincoats are recommended. You will also want to bring your lunch and a water bottle to stay hydrated.

We hope you will join us for the Glacier Basin Trail rededication and National Public Lands Day!

Volunteer contributions to Recovery Act projects

Every once in a while I get a request for information related to the volunteer program that leads me down a previously unanticipated trail toward some fascinating discoveries. I had such a request this afternoon, from a coworker looking for the amount of contribution volunteers had made toward the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, more commonly known as ARRA, the Recovery Act, or the "Stimulus Bill."

We have had a total of 16 ARRA projects at Mount Rainier, most of which employed people without any volunteer assistance (replacing electrical lines, for example, or building slurry walls along the Nisqually River for flood protection). But two of the projects did include volunteers: the construction of an accessible trailhead at Paradise in 2009, and trail reconstruction at Glacier Basin and Carbon River. Volunteer contributions to the trail projects, especially, have been substantial, and have allowed us to get more done, in less time, and with the partnership of hundreds of members of our community. Here are the numbers I came up with:

ADA Trail Construction at Paradise
Total volunteer hours: 720
Total volunteers: 9
Youth* hours: 710
Youth volunteers: 8

Major partners:
Volunteer value**: $15,012
Japan Volunteers in Parks Association (550 hours, 6 youth)

* "Youth," for these purposes, are volunteers under the age of 25.
**Volunteer value is based on an equivalent rate of $20.85/hour to for salary and benefits, as estimated by the non-partisan group Independent Sector.

Wonderland Trail at Carbon River
Total volunteer hours: 7,041
Total volunteers: 108
Youth hours: 5,664
Youth volunteers: 50
Volunteer value: $146,805
Major partners:
Washington Conservation Corps (5,640 hours, 48 youth)
Washington Trails Association (413 hours, 2 youth*)
Sierra Club (960 hours, no youth)

*Youth numbers for WTA and Sierra Club are estimated.

Glacier Basin Trail
Total volunteer hours: 39,143
Total volunteers: 1,281
Youth hours: 28,052
Youth volunteers: 312
Volunteer value: $816,132 (!)

Major partners:
Washington Trails Association (10,531 hours, 100 youth)
Student Conservation Association (7,822 hours, 63 youth)
Washington Conservation Corps (15,620 hours, 60 youth)
Northwest Youth Corps (2,195 hours, 45 youth)
Boy Scouts of America (450 hours, 32 youth)
Earthcorps (1,512 hours, 21 youth)
Mount Rainier National Park Associates (346 hours, no youth)

Interesting note: The flood repair projects at Carbon River and Glacier Basin used $986 thousand in ARRA funding (for staff, equipment, supplies, etc.). The total value of volunteer contributions to these projects is $963 thousand. We've basically doubled our money with the help of volunteers!

These are fantastic numbers. Thanks, everyone, for all the hard work that went into generating them -- and all the great things that were accomplished with the time.

A parade of volunteers on the Glacier Basin Trail

Student Conservation Association
members hiked the Glacier Basin
Trail to see the work done by their
volunteers and by other partners

Last week, I had the rare pleasure of taking a day out of the office, away from budgets and planning and e-mail, to see first-hand the work being done by our dedicated volunteers in the field. My hiking companions were a contingent from the Student Conservation Association, which has been a major partner of Mount Rainier for more than four decades, especially since the great floods of November 2006. SCA provides 12 week to 12 month interns in positions all over the park, from visitor services to research to trail maintenance to volunteer coordination. They also field high school crews for 15-day leadership training programs, several of which have contributed to the rebuilding of the Glacier Basin Trail.

Picking our way through a section
of trail yet to be rebuilt

We hiked all the way up to Glacier Basin, a seven mile round-trip. Along the way, we saw sections of trail that were completely obliterated by the 2006 floods. I remember responding to requests from the news media for pictures of this damaged trail, and being stymied by the fact that most of the "damaged" sections were so thoroughly wiped out that you couldn't tell a trail had ever been there, among the rocks, mud, logs, and other debris deposted by the flood.

Washington Conservation Corps at
work on the Glacier Basin Trail

We saw many of these sections of trail as we hiked along the Inter Fork of the White River--places where the old trail, below us, vanished into the river debris; and places where trail crews were still busy rerouting the trail to higher ground.

Your mission, should you choose to
accept it: turn this into a trail

Large stretches of the Glacier Basin Trail have been completely rebuilt higher up the side of the valley, to keep it out of the path of future floods. The trail is beautiful--in the words of Jay Satz, Regional Vice President of SCA, some of the best trail work he's ever seen. New trail bridges, rock walls, water bars, channels and culverts have all been installed to direct water flow. Crews are still working on some of the most challenging sections.

WTA volunteer working along the
Glacier Basin Trail

In addition to SCA, of course, many other partners have participated in the reconstruction of the Glacier Basin Trail. The Mount Rainier National Park Associates, several local Boy Scout troops, and other local volunteer groups have chipped in. The Washington Trails Association has, for two years now, coordinated public volunteer projects--including 496 people last summer (in 2009) alone. Only one WTA volunteer was on the trail the day we were there, but he was hard at work preparing a log for installation along the new route. We also encountered a crew from the Washington Conservation Corps, busy turning a steep, muddy slope perforated by seeps and springs into a world-class trail.

We finally reached our destination, at the base of the Emmons Glacier climbing route, in time to eat our lunch in a steady downpour: a typical autumn trail experience that did nothing to reduce the beauty of the setting or to dampen our enthusiasm for the work we'd seen along the trail.

Volunteers will continue working on the Glacier Basin Trail, alongside park trail crews, during this coming National Public Lands Day weekend. With their help, the rebuilt trail should finally be complete sometime early next spring. Thank you to everyone who helped to make this project happen! Your work will endure, providing access to the living heart of Mount Rainier National Park, for generations.

Washington Conservation Core comes to Mt. Rainier

I can see them right outside our Longmire office window, working away, toiling in the dirt and mud. Braving the rain and cold to help bring our trails back to top shape. They are the men and women of the Washington Conservation Corps, and they will be working throughout the park for the entire year. The WCC is a program run by the Washington State Department of Ecology and is staffed by Americorps members. It is a year long program, and while not falling under the umbrella of the Volunteer Program, I feel it is only appropriate to recognize the contributions of this program on the blog.

To help give you an idea of just how hard these guys (and gals) work, I took a few pictures of their work on the Trail of the Shadows, right next to Longmire.




Clockwise from the top left: Chris, Joe, Dyami, Vanessa, Kyle, Julie.

So if you see them out working, give them a thumbs up (just don't distract them like I did to get these pictures).