WE HAVE MOVED!

http://RainierVolunteersNPS.tumblr.com
http://Facebook.com/RainierVolunteersNPS

Mount Rainier National Park's volunteer program is now on Tumblr and Facebook rather than Blogger. Please update your bookmarks and subscriptions.

All blog posts have been migrated to the new site, so you will still be able to find, on Tumblr, all of the resources that had been gathered here over the past decade.

Thanks,

Kevin Bacher
Volunteer and Outreach Program Manager
Mount Rainier National Park

Volunteer Blog moving to Tumblr and Facebook

The volunteer program of Mount Rainier National Park began this blog almost ten years ago, in the wake of the great flood that swept through the park in November of 2006. Since then, we've posted more than 1400 stories about the awesome work that volunteers do to help protect our park and serve its visitors!

At the time we opened this account, the National Park Service had very little presence on social media, so we were pioneering mostly uncharted territory. We selected Blogger as our blog platform for a variety of reasons including ease of use and our best guess that it would last as a website.

Over the years, the NPS caught up with us, and today, there is an official Park Service presence on many different social media platforms, including Facebook, Flickr, Instagram, Periscope, Tumblr, Twitter, and YouTube. Mount Rainier has official sites on most of these, under the name "MountRainierNPS." The sites follow guidelines established to ensure uniformity and best practice, including the use of an NPS arrowhead as the icon or avatar for each site, and the suffix "NPS" at the end of each name.

Unfortunately, Blogger is not included in the list of approved social media sites.

Therefore, over the next week or two, the volunteer program will be migrating to Tumblr instead. Tumblr allows 250 posts per day, so the transfer from Blogger will take at least six days to complete. When it is done, we'll post a note here, permanently directing you to the new site. Meanwhile, you can check out the work in progress at our new address, http://RainierVolunteersNPS.tumblr.com.

Notice that our familiar "RainierVolunteers" name is now "RainierVolunteersNPS," in line with NPS standards. Otherwise, you can expect the same information-rich content as before, full of stories about volunteer opportunities and accomplishments and photos of volunteers in action!

Meanwhile, our Facebook page, formerly "RainierVolunteers," now also has the NPS suffix. Follow us on Facebook at http://Facebook.com/RainierVolunteersNPS.

We've experimented with Twitter and YouTube in the past as well, so those sites may also transition to our new name. We'll keep you posted!

Thanks for your continued support over all these years,

Kevin Bacher
Mount Rainier National Park

Like Us On Facebook!

 

Remember to like our Mount Rainier National Park Volunteers page on Facebook!  We are looking to stay in touch with all of our volunteers during the slower winter season, and what a better way than liking us on Facebook?  Stay up to date with the latest information, get a behind the scenes look at the volunteer program, and meet other volunteers, all at www.facebook.com/RainierVolunteers!

Join us on Facebook!

Mount Rainier's volunteers now have a page on Facebook! If you're a Facebook member, point your browser to http://www.new.facebook.com/pages/Mount-Rainier-National-Park-Volunteers/75730785523, or search for "Mount Rainier National Park Volunteers," and become a fan. Our Facebook page will automatically update with entries from this blog; even better, you'll be able to meet and make friends with other volunteers, and share your own stories and photos about your experiences on the trail. See you on Facebook!

Facebook and new carpooling resources

The Mount Rainier Volunteers have now joined Facebook! Sign in at facebook.com and search for Rainier Volunteers to send me a friend request. You can also join the Mount Rainier Volunteers facebook group!

I'm new to facebook, so if any of you are experts with the service, please send me your suggestions about how to take full advantage of it.

In addition, I've "borrowed" a technique from the Washington Trails Association; any large group volunteer project that you sign up for now through our Eventbrite site will have the option of listing your carpooling preferences. Then all you need to do is watch the event page to see who else signs up, and contact anyone whose carpooling preferences match your own.

Remember, too, that carpooling can be arranged by becoming a member of our Rainier Volunteers Yahoo group. Just post your carpooling offer or request on the group calendar. This is especially helpful for long-term volunteers like Meadow Rovers.

Mount Rainier in the news

Lots of things in the news and blogs lately that have a volunteer element:

The Northwest Parks and Public Lands Storm Recovery Coalition blog has a good summary of our event at REI on Monday, "Taking the Parks by Storm." While fewer people showed up than we'd have liked, those who attended were attentive and engaged and asked some really good questions after presentations by representatives of three national parks, two national forests, two Congressional districts, and a state senator. The discussion ranged from the status of storm damage and repairs, to the role of global climate change, to how people can help as volunteers, to the implications for future policy decisions. Reporters from Q13 Fox News and TVW, Washington State's Public Affairs Network, were at the event, and in fact TVW will air it in its entirety tonight at 7:00 p.m. Pictures from the evening, by photographer DJ Bradley, can be found here. The irrepressible Jeff Mayor from The News Tribune was there, too.

Thanks to Sean Smith at NPCA for directing my attention to a great piece in the December issue of Outside Magazine, naming Mount Rainier's flood recovery efforts, including your work as volunteers, as one of the top 100 good ideas of 2007.

Over at the Washington Trails Association's blog, there's a good summary of storm recovery efforts throughout the region, including ways that you can help. WTA played a very positive role in lobbying for federal support of flood recovery efforts at Rainier and elsewhere last year. They also now have a presence on Facebook--a fascinating idea intended to reach out to young audiences. Maybe we should try it with our volunteer program too, what do you think?