Winter Interns by Lake McDonald (Maci, Megan, and Jenn)

March 12, 2009

My time here in Glacier is soon coming to an end, and what a great time it has been. It's amazing to have witnessed how changes in seasons, the fall colors of the larch trees and the dusting of snow on the mountain tops, can make me feel as if I are seeing the breathtaking beauty of the park for the first time. I feel privileged to have had the opportunity to share with park visitors the stories behind the scenery and all the life contained within these landscapes.

Facilitating the winter ecology programs was the highlight of my experience as an intern. Before this winter I had never really thought about how plants and animals survive winter. Perhaps like me, your winter thoughts center around staying warm and hoping there is good snow for skiing. It also seems this is how many of the students who visit the park see winter; of course with the added thoughts of eating snow and snowball fights thrown in for good measure. However, once here they enjoy learning about all the elements of winter by conducting experiments and completing activities on snowshoe hikes to learn about plant and animal adaptations. It is great to have the opportunity on a daily basis to share with students from first to eighth grade the winter world that we rarely think about. 

I will soon leave the snow as I travel to a warmer climate.  This spring and summer I will be working as a park ranger in Zion National Park . Maci, another winter intern, will be headed back to Grand Teton National Park for summer and Megan, the third winter intern, will be here in Glacier this summer. I’m sure they would agree that no matter the season Glacier is great place to work and play!

snow science

January 27, 2009

Snow is finally falling again in Glacier! We’re excited to have some new snow for our snowshoe hikes. While a class of 1st graders does not bring quiet to the forest, it is nothing compared to the sound of 25 snowshoes squeaking against the icy snow. When I arrived back in the park in early January it seemed that the snow would never stop. Unfortunately it did, the temperatures warmed above freezing, and we received rain. Our snowpack of over 3 feet dwindled to less than 2 feet, but its finally snowing again!

We had some great snow for our week long winter ecology training. We spent 2 days with Jim Halfpenny, a winter ecology expert, talking about snow science and animal reactions to winter. One of my favorite parts was digging a snow pit to see the different layers of the snow and figuring out how much water was in the snow. We do this same thing with our upper elementary students when they visit the park. The layering of the snow is important to many of the rodents, like mice, who spend most of their winter living on the ground under the snowpack. They don’t hibernate, but rather move about finding food. If an ice layer forms in the snowpack and a mouse needs get to the snows surface, they are out of luck. Imagine trying to break through a glass ceiling!

Speaking of wildlife, winter is a great time to view wildlife and their tracks. I saw my first mountain lion when driving home one evening. Yesterday I was woken up by coyotes yipping and howling. Skiing and snowshoeing have allowed me to view moose, mice, snowshoe hare, deer, and wolf tracks.

Jennifer Thelen

Along the Avalanche Lake Trail

December 10, 2008

We finally received snow that is sticking in the Lake McDonald Valley. This is great news since snow is a necessary component for our winter ecology education programs that start in January. These programs operate differently than our spring and fall education programs.

Speaking of fall, I had a great fall education season. In September we had two days of very hands on training to get ready for the many programs we offer to area schools. Education programs are different from our general interpretive programs since they are based on Montana Curriculum Standards. I enjoyed giving students the opportunity to meet these standards in a hands on, nature oriented setting. It seems that it is getting harder to get children into nature and hopefully our programs are something that they will remember and will make them want to further explore the natural world.

As a child I didn’t have the opportunity to come to a stunning National Park like Glacier, but I still remember the environmental education field trip I attended at a local nature center. We played a predator/prey game and went on a nature hike. On the hike our leader told us that we would see a Holiday Inn, a McDonalds, and a garbage dump. To this day, I remember the awe I felt when he told us that a decomposing log was a Holiday Inn, a McDonalds, and a garbage dump combined. Maybe you had an experience like this as a child. It’s important to me to provide opportunities for children to see the wonder of nature.

As fall turned to winter, I began working on projects including updating the education trunks page of our website. These trunks are free to check out and contain some great resources on different topics. Now that winter is here, I will be returning home to Michigan for a few weeks, and I will be graduating from college. I look forward to returning in January as an intern for our winter education programs.

Current picture an area burned in the 2003 Robert Fire

November 26, 2008

Welcome to a view of Glacier from an interns perspective. I chose Glacier as the setting to fulfill an internship requirement for my college degree. I was drawn to Glacier after hearing of its superb interpretive and education programs as well listening to the numerous stories from family and friends who spoke highly of their visits to the park. My experience has lived up to my high expectations and has often surpassed them.

I started my internship in May, observing the staff’s interaction with visiting school groups and then started presenting portions of the school programs. It was a cold and wet spring, not the most enjoyable weather to be out in, but interacting with the students made me forget the bad weather.

June brought the arrival of the summer interpretive staff and kicked off our 2 weeks of training. There was a lot to learn about the resources of the park and conducting interpretive programs. I used the knowledge gained during that training throughout the summer. I continue to constantly learn new things about the park and how to be a good interpreter. That’s the great part about this job, you never stop learning.

NPS Photo

Fireweed often colonizes a recently burned area

This summer provided me with lots of opportunities to interact with park visitors. I developed and presented 7 different programs on multiple occasions and gave out information at 2 visitors centers. I clearly remember one encounter that made me understand the importance of my job. I was leading a fire ecology walk through the area that burned in the 2003 Robert Fire and learned that one of the visitors had been in the park during the fire. She had seen the destructive nature of the fire.  After the walk, she told me that she had not realized that fire had many benefits until attending my program. Many people are unaware that there are plants and animals that not only survive, but strive in recently burned areas.  Knowing that I have allowed a visitor to view a resource from a different perspective is what makes this job so fulfilling.

 As Labor Day hit, our interpretive programming schedule got much smaller and we started to prepare for the fall school programs. More about this to come...