"THE SKY'S THE LIMIT": GROWING NUMBER OF OPPORTUNITIES WITH THE NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

Many geologists in the National Park Service believe “the sky is the limit” when exploring opportunities for geologist to help implement its geologic programs. Perhaps the limit is more: as boundless as your imagination. The NPS wants to reach out to the geologic community, present some challenges, and explore some opportunities. Could this be something for you? We need your knowledge, enthusiasm, and desire to enrich the understanding of the geologic treasures in our national parks. How can you meet your needs in working with the NPS? Work with the NPS is viewed differently. Some see it as an opportunity, others as a challenge, still others as a privilege. It may be all of these. The task of addressing all the geoscience needs of 388 NPS units is enormous, but this is leading us to many partnerships and accomplishments. While there are a host of projects to choose from, there is even a greater necessity to help parks identify their basic geologic needs. This presentation will provide a sampling of current and future needs in the following categories: inventories, monitoring, research, education, interpretation, geo-ecology, planning, mapping, and communication. Most of the work is at the park level, but some can be done in a non-park setting. As stewards of some of the finest natural treasures to be found anywhere, we invite you to join us and become a steward yourself.