Ryan Rainwater Email & Phone Number

Olympia, Wa, Us

Yosemite National Park

After getting my Professional Certificate in GIS from the University of Washington, I soon after got accepted to work as a Visitor Access GIS Intern in Yosemite. Working in Yosemite has always been a dream of mine and getting to leave my mark on such an amazing park was a surreal experience. The primary goal of my time there was compiling all of the visitor parking data in the park from the last 10+ years into one master file geodatabase. This was done by using a combination of past geodatabases and shapefiles, excel sheets, and plenty of field work. There were 3 geodatabases and 1 shapefile that I grabbed parking polygons from, then using excel sheets given to me from Yosemite's Transportation Planner to fill in the parking spaces for each polygon, and then any outliers that we didn't yet have I managed to grab in the field using Arc Field Maps. The result was roughly ~10,000+ visitor parking spaces and ~600 parking polygons.Once the master file geodatabase was complete, I then created a dashboard titled the Visitor Parking Availability Dashboard. This dashboard is intended to provide internal park staff with an easy to use visual of how many parking spaces there are in each area of the park as well as giving the users the option to see how closures scenarios would affect parking. Realistically, only a select few people will be actively using the dashboard, however I made sure it was accessible and simple to use for anybody in the NPS that has never even heard of GIS before, while still providing as much information as I can. Additionally, I created a Survey123 for specific users to make edits while they are in the dashboard as parking numbers can change. I was looking at Arc Dashboard and Arc Web App Builder, but I ended up using Experience Builder as it was the most versatile, easy to use, and left room for easy updates.

Rochester, Washington, United States

My time spent as an aquaculture technician has been an interesting experience. I was eager to get into the field to experience what fish husbandry is like and I've been able to learn all about it. My role primarily consists of sorting and spawning salmon and trout eggs, as well as assisting with fertilizing and incubating the eggs. Other roles include working with a team to manage the site properly to ensure a healthy lifestyle for the fish as well as conucting frequent water quality tests and checking water flows in the tanks.

This was my first position getting to work as a part of the State Parks system and I enjoyed getting to experience what it's like to take care of these lands. As the only park aide placed at Nolte State Park, I was tasked with making sure everything in the park was neat, tidy, informational, and beautiful. On busy days I would be working in the ticket booth selling day passes and year passes to guests as well as providing directions and other information. Other times I would be walking around the park making sure the rules were being followed, making sure the park was clean, and interacting with guests. On slower days I got to do trail maintenance, acquaint myself with the local flora and fauna, or assist at other nearby parks. I enjoyed my experience as a park aide as it provided me with a greater love for our parks and the desire to help others enjoy nature like I do.

Oakland, California, United States

As a part of a trail crew in the SCA, we had the opportunity to travel to a few of the 73 parks within the East Bay Regional Parks District to perform a variety of trail projects to help improve the parks. Our primary goals consisted of trail restoration, improving the tread and drainage along trails by removing or adding berms, and installing erosion structures. Additionally, since I had the unique opportunity of working there while California was suffering state-wide fires, our team got to work with fire crews and on fire mitigation projects. The fire mitigation projects consisted of working in backcountry burned areas to cut down dead pine and oak trees to make sure that if a fire were to start back up then it would die out fast.During this position I was introduced to a variety of tools and skills that would be beneficial for a park ranger position. Primarily, we were using pulaski's, mcleod's, travis tools, and pickmatics to even out the trails or clear out roots and rocks. However our team also got to work with chainsaws and got experience cutting down different types and sizes of trees. Despite me being a late hire and not getting the formal chainsaw license, I was able to observe the proper techniques of cutting and limbing trees as well as how to properly clean and take apart a chainsaw.

New York

Working as an Outdoor Educator I got to teach students from 2nd to 12th grade about the wonders of experiencing nature. I got to lead nature-based programs that included forest exploration, wetland ecology, watershed science, wastewater treatment, geology, animal adaptations, pond study, outdoor survival, astronomy, and even maple sugaring. My goal as an educator was to spark curiosity among students, whether it be in identifying odd trees or animals, or teaching about natural resource management and our impact on our environment. Other duties included trail and campus maintenance, organizing and adding to the current core curriculum, studying the curriculum, setting up and cleaning maple sugaring lines, marking trails and points of interest using GPS, and understanding the flora and fauna native or otherwise to the state of New York.

Riverside, Ca

As a Teaching Assistant, I was brought on as a senior environmental science major to teach an introductory Geoscience Lab Course. The lab took place once a week and I taught two semesters of the course, each course consisting of roughly 10-20 students. During each lab session I would cover different topics such as natural disasters, plate tectonics, rock and mineral identification, and global wind circulation (Coriolis Effect). The lab would begin with me giving a twenty minute power point presentation about the subject, and then I would break them into groups to work on their lab projects.This opportunity was a real challenge for me, as I've never taught a subject like this to such a big group of people on my own. Normally, I don't enjoy public speaking but when my professor offered me this position I knew I had to take it because I wanted to challenge myself, and I'm grateful that I did. This position has allowed me to become confident in being a leader; confident in how much I know a subject in order to teach it to others.

Riverside, California

Being promoted to Lead Climbing Attendant from Climbing Wall Attendant, I was responsible for teaching students how to rock climb in a safe manner, teaching students proper climbing technique, managing and cleaning the climbing wall, and leading events and competitions.

Riverside, Ca

As a Climbing Wall Attendant I was responsible for ensuring safety among climbers as well as building community with the students and staff that come into the climbing wall.

Professional Certificate, Geographic Information Systems

Bachelor'S Degree, Environmental Science