AMERICAN GEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE COOPERATIVE EFFORTS WITH THE NATIONAL PARKS

Providing Geosciences outreach to the public is more important today than ever before. Every person should have the opportunity to better appreciate the majesty of our planet’s geology. This can best be done if the public has a basic understanding of the processes that created this beauty. As part of a public outreach effort, the American Geological Institute is giving a high priority to using the national parks, icons of our geologic heritage, as public classrooms. The National Parks Service, which has 23,000 employees, has only 80 geologists (only 40 actually working in the parks) and yet there are 166 parks with significant geologic phenomena. There are a great many parks which were set aside specifically because of the need to preserve their geologic beauty.

To better educate the public, using our National Park system as a vehicle, we are initiating or are cooperating with efforts to: encourage colleges and universities to teach courses on the geology of national parks and to create a system to share pertinent information with them; review textbooks for “Geology of the National Parks;” create and nurture a program that encourages local geological societies to “Adopt a Park;” develope a program to coordinate a set of fact-based, park-specific geology booklets; and work with Dr. Paul Weimer (University of Colorado) to create animated interactive videos that tell the geologic story of some of the major national parks.

The “Adopt a Park” program has been launched. It will begin to mirror the Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists’ work with Red Rocks’ Visitor Center of Colorado: an example of effectively getting geoscience information to visitors. Thirty national parks have been identified which are close to strong local geological societies. These geological societies have been contacted and the response has been very positive. The “Adopt a Park” program is in its infancy but will expand to include volunteers in the parks, creation of interactive CD-Roms oriented to popularize geology in the parks, and an interpretive handbook to help park staff get geoscience information to the public and educational groups.