FROM PRESERVATION TO PUBLIC COMMUNICATION: YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK GIP JOINT INTERNSHIP, 2016

We present a synthesis of work accomplished during our six month internship in Yellowstone National Park. Our primary tasks involved curating scientific materials into the Yellowstone Heritage and Research Center (National Archives affiliate) from two unique projects within the park: a paleontological baseline inventory and monitoring project of Cambrian-aged fossils in honor of Charles Walcott and W.H. Holmes, and an EarthScope borehole drilling project that produced rare subsurface samples from seven locations within the park. Fossil work included identification and preparation of over 50 samples from Trilobite Point, as well as over 100 samples from 17 other paleontology projects that consisted of plant, vertebrate, invertebrate, and trace fossils from the entire Phanerozoic. The borehole project included organization and inventory of 2,286 pieces of material, including over 700 jars of cuttings from up to 800ft depth. All material from both projects were cataloged and accessioned into the park’s permanent collections and are available for future research.

The second half of our internship focused on resource management, public safety, and communication. Daily geothermal monitoring was conducted in the Old Faithful district and included object retrieval from thermal features, research permit auditing, resource damage documentation and restoration, and maintaining eruption interval data loggers from various geysers. Public safety was conveyed to visitors on boardwalks and by working with park law enforcement, while long-term public communication was achieved through editing of geologic wayside exhibits at three locations in the park. In addition, geothermal assessments for visitor and employee facilities were conducted through use of FLIR thermal imaging. Lastly, research on park water resources was conducted for future use in water resource management. This variety of work, completed during an interim with no park geologist, provided us with professional resource management experience in a high-profile national park. Overall, we were able to make contributions to Yellowstone, the scientific community, and the general public by preserving world-class scientific materials and by providing daily geology-specific observations and assessments for park management and public communication.