Leave No Trace!

Week 4 is with interpretation! This week I was able to focus on my conservation project. I’m working with the interpretation supervisor and I have been locating every Search and Rescue in the park for the last 5 years. We will then put them on a map and show visitors where dangerous locations are. We hope to use this information to inform visitors on how dangerous the trails and river can be if they are not prepared.

This week I have been able to feed the horses and watch their shoes being replaced. It was very fascinating to watch, I even got to keep one of the old horseshoes! I have it upside down on my wall now; to catch luck! Also that day I got to walk a 5k with a few coworkers. Every Friday the park hosts a 5k walk to talk about the park with the locals or visitors. They want to invite dogs and their owners to come along; hoping to make the program grow. 

Working with the supervisor I was able to help out with a few fun programs with kids. We went to the river and searched for bugs in the river. Certain bugs will tell you the quality of the river, the kids mainly found snails. We started using the nets to catch fish and I wanted to catch a big one for the boys but fell in trying. Needless to say, I’m glad I had my gym clothes in my truck that day! I was physically ok but my pride was broken. We also got to go to the library and talk to kids about the 7 rules for leaving no trace in the park. It was sweet working with all the kids and showing them how litter, for example, really affects the wildlife.

On the last day, I shadowed the Visitor Use Assistant.  I was going from campsite to campsite that whole day seeing how they check campsites. We had to look at the logbook to make sure everyone checked in and paid for the sites. We also had to make sure the reserved sites were correctly labeled. Later that day when we were about to make our final rounds there was a call on the radio for a lady who fell at Lost Valley. We just listened on the radio for a bit and when they called for a litter we decided to head to Lost Valley to help. It wasn’t a bad hike to where she fell but her chief complaint was back and hip. So there was no way she could walk out. My job, while we waited for the litter, was to cover all the slime with rocks so that when we had to walk on it we wouldn’t fall as well. When the litter came they strapped her on and the paramedic had to give her pain medicine so that she could make the trip to the ambulance. We then carried her over the rocks and put her onto the ATV. Since she kept saying her spine hurt they decided to helicopter her out for a trauma hospital. It was nice to see all different people, not just people from the park, responding to this incident. I’ll now have to add another SAR from Lost Valley to my project data.