DEVELOPING A GEOLOGY TRAINING MANUAL FOR THE INTERPRETIVE STAFF IN YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK

Yosemite National Park is a monument to strong granite, powerful glaciers, and the perseverance of life. The landscape showcases extraordinary geological features and processes that, when interpreted, can capture visitor’s minds, imaginations and hearts. But members of the park interpretation staff often lack background in geology, in both content and methods of interpreting geology for park visitors. A collaborative project between the Department of Geosciences at Oregon State University and the Geologic Resources Division of the National Park Service placed a graduate student in Yosemite to work as an interpretive ranger and research and develop a geology training manual as part of an MS thesis. The most important outcome of this project is a manual that park interpretive staff can use to increase their knowledge of geologic processes and familiarize themselves with the results of the latest research pertaining to the park. The manual achieves this outcome in four ways: 1) it is written in laymen’s terms; 2) it uses many of Yosemite’s world-famous landforms to introduce basic geologic processes including plate tectonics, volcanism, and glaciation; 3) it explores connections between the geologic landscape and the biology, ecology, and cultural history of the park and surrounding region; 4) it contains numerous illustrations and describes interpretive methods park rangers can use in their programs.