Skiing powder, throwing bombs, running toboggans, treating the injured; not necessarily in that order.

This summer marked my fourth season as a ranger at Sequoia National Park. Two summers as a GS-5, and two as the GS-7 Lead Interpreter for the Foothills District.As the Lead Interpreter for the Foothills District I hold a dual position with responsibilities in the Interpretation and Volunteer Divisions. As the Lead Interpreter I presented over a dozen interpretive programs on topics such as history, fire management, ecology, zoology, ornithology, and Native American cultural. I conducted program audits for three GS -4/5 interpreters. I have organized the division’s photo files, remade and organized our MSDS binder, created SOP’s for the collecting and preserving of wildlife specimens, and ensured program information and attendance was properly entered into our statistics database. In addition, this summer I created an interactive interpretive media activity for our touch table to improve its effectiveness. As a volunteer supervisor I visited local service groups to recruit volunteers, conducted training and orientation for up to twenty volunteers in the park’s River Rover Volunteer Program, scheduled River Rovers, and maintained volunteer records. I created a small field manual for the volunteers with policies, procedures, radio protocol, and river maps, and organized a series of presentations for the volunteers delivered by park resource experts covering topics such as air pollution, and fire management. I also prepared end of season reports and a program justification. This year my volunteers contributed approximately 400 hours to the park, contacting over 5,000 visitors and removing an estimated 1,000+ gallons of trash from river areas.In addition to my main job duties I also am a white carded EMT-Basic and have assisted in treating patients at the visitor center, in the field, and on the scenes of automobile crashes.

Last winter was my third year on the ski patrol at Canyons Resort. Ski patrol has several responsibilities at Canyons pertaining to public safety. As a ski patroller I mark hazards and maintain resort rope lines, use explosives for avalanche control, conduct evacuation of disabled lifts, and provide first aid and transport for injured guests. Injuries treated included fractures, dislocations, head and back injuries, femur fractures, and other minor trauma. Other conditions seen and treated included altitude sickness, flu, and heart conditions.

As a Park Ranger/Interpretation it was my job to provide park information to the public by working at visitor centers and through formal interpretive programming. At Zion I researched, prepared, and conducted 10 different interpretive programs on a variety of themes. Additional work projects I completed included interpretive writing for park publications and websites, designing an e-hike, and authoring web based research materials for the park interpreter field guide.