US FOREST SERVICE & GSA GeoCorps AMERICA PROGRAM – PARTNERING TO STRENGTHEN GEOSCIENCE ON NATIONAL FORESTS

2009 marks the tenth year of Forest Service participation in the GSA GeoCorps program. Since 2000, more than 115 GeoCorps interns have gained both practical experience in their geoscience disciplines and an understanding of the important contributions geologists and geoscientists make to public lands management. Forest Service geologists from the Pacific Southwest Region (California) introduced the GSA GeoCorps program to the Forest Service, and have been the Program’s strongest supporter, hosting all of the first four projects in 2000 and about 40 percent of all Forest Service projects to date. The Rocky Mountain Region (Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, most of South Dakota, and Wyoming) and the Northern Region (Northern Idaho, Montana, North and part of South Dakota) have each hosted about 12 percent of all GeoCorps projects. The GSA GeoCorps America Program recruits talented, motivated young geoscientists to assist the Forest Service with inventories of landslides, caves, groundwater-dependent ecosystems, and paleontological resources. Interns are part of interdisciplinary teams doing soil and water quality surveys, and abandoned mine condition assessments. They add geologic perspective to the visitor experience as interpretive specialists at popular recreation sites. Interns’ computer skills are highly valued, e.g. GIS database development and analyses, erosion and groundwater modeling, and validating LiDAR data. In this session, we will give a general overview of the GSA GeoCorps program, successful projects, how National Forests can be involved in the future, and how geoscientists and students can apply to be in program.