2020-2021 PARK PROJECTS · 2020-06-18 · year, transportation subsidies eliminate this obstacle,...

WASHINGTON’S NATIONAL PARK FUND

2020-2021

PARK PROJECTSFundraising efforts are underway now through September 2020

Washington’s National Park Fund serves as the primary philanthropic partner to these three parks, raising millions for unfunded projects. The parks present their top priorities to Washington’s National Park Fund and the Fund then invites individuals, foundations and corporations to show their support. Funds raised enables more science and research, improves visitors’ experiences, strengthens volunteer programs and brings more young people into the parks. Each year, more revenue is raised by Washington’s National Park Fund.

Most importantly, more dollars are given to fund important initiatives throughout Mount Rainier, North Cascades and Olympic National Parks year after year.

Within this booklet you’ll learn about each parks’ top 8 priorities, in priority order, as well as additional projects that each park would love to pursue given financial support.

Nearly five million people visit Mount Rainier, North Cascades and Olympic National Parks each year.

Photo by Parker Tikson

2 WASHINGTON’S NATIONAL PARK FUND

VISIONParks that are strong and vibrant, youthful and everlasting.

MISSIONRaising private support to deepen the public’s love for, and understanding of, Mount Rainier, North Cascades and Olympic National Parks.

Photo by Andy Porter

2020-2021 PARK PROJECTS 3

MOUNT RAINIER NATIONAL PARK

1. Volunteer Program - $50,000

Mount Rainier’s volunteer program recruits more than 2,400 participants each year who donate nearly 70,000 hours to the park – an effort worth an unprecedented $1.8 million – to complete vital projects that would otherwise not happen. Through this immersion, volunteers become advocates for the park and its mission. Funding will help cover the cost of supplies, housing, uniforms and vehicles, as well as interns who help to coordinate the entire effort. Volunteer projects can include backcountry patrol, astronomy and other interpretive programs, geologic research, curatorial and archaeological work, and wildlife surveys.

2. Meadow Rover Volunteer Program - $40,000

The Meadow Rover Volunteer Program continues to be the park’s most popular volunteer activity, drawing in more than 200 volunteers in 2019 who donated nearly 9,000 hours to make close to 200,000 public contacts. Meadow Rovers provide a priceless service to the park by patrolling the subalpine meadows above Paradise and Sunrise to educate visitors about the importance of staying on trails, keeping wildlife wild, and wilderness preparedness and safety. The information shared with visitors helps to minimize damage to the fragile meadow ecosystem while also reducing Search and Rescue incidences. Both metrics continue to improve each year since the inception of the program more than 20 years ago, proving the success and continued need for this program.

Photo by Parker Tikson

Partially Funded

Partially Funded


3. Emergency Roadside Assistance Volunteers - $16,600

With park visitation on the rise, incidences of visitors

requiring assistance on park roadways continues

to climb. Roadside Assistance Volunteers provide

a critical service to the park by assisting stranded

motorists, helping with traffic control in emergency and

non-emergency situations, as well as assisting rangers

with Search and Rescue incidences when appropriate –

all which frees up first responders so that they can tend

to the most critical of calls. Funding will ensure that this

vital program continues with five volunteers stationed

throughout the park.

4. NPS Academy Program for Underrepresented Youth Interns - $106,600

Aimed at increasing the diversity of National Park

Service staff to better reflect the cultural backgrounds

of visitors, the NPS Academy works to recruit and

train highly skilled interns from underrepresented

communities in preparation for careers in the National

Park Service. Mount Rainier serves a diverse range of

visitors who generally do not find representation among

NPS staff – an issue in public lands across the country.

The NPS Academy is a proactive approach to tackle this

issue. Funding will provide five interns with 12-week

internship positions in the park, as well as housing,

uniform stipends and direct one-on-one support and

mentorship from NPS staff.2020 Spring Dinner and

Auction Fund-a-Need

Featured Project

Partially Funded

Partially Funded


5. WTA Crew Lead, Latina Outdoors and Volunteer Network Programs - $42,000

Mount Rainier National Park, Washington’s National

Park Fund and Washington Trails Association partner

together year after year. WNPF raises the much needed

support, then awards it to the park so they can hire

skilled trail maintenance leads from WTA. With funding

this year, the park will hire both a WTA volunteer

coordinator and work crew leader. Together, they

will recruit, train and provide leadership to hundreds

of volunteers that participate in trail maintenance.

The park will also be able to expand services to new

volunteers and stewards through Latino Outdoors. WTA

coordinates/oversees the week-long all-girls trail crew

experience for ten Latino Outdoors participants.

6. Bus Subsidies for Local School Field Trips - $10,000

Local teachers report the cost of bus transportation

as the largest barrier preventing them from taking

their students to Mount Rainier National Park. Each

year, transportation subsidies eliminate this obstacle,

allowing for more than 1,000 students in the Puget

Sound and Yakima Valley to visit Mount Rainier

National Park, many for the first time. Through these

field trips, students learn about the geology, ecology

and history of the park and how it connects to their

school curriculum.

Partially Funded


7. Aquatic Ecosystem Restoration - $25,000

In order to conserve native fish populations and restore

aquatic ecosystems in Mount Rainier National Park,

staff and volunteers work together to implement a

variety of different strategies. These efforts include

the removal of non-native fish, measuring non-native

fish population densities, and amphibian surveys that

monitor the different amphibian species and relative

abundance in lakes. Funding provides trained staff to

oversee volunteers and lead these efforts.

8. Restoring Subalpine Meadows in Paradise - $35,000

Off-trail hiking and historic uses of the upper Paradise

Meadows have left areas disturbed and bare. To restore

one quarter acre of meadow, 40,000 native plants

salvaged from trail improvement projects or grown from

seed will be planted to return the area as habitat for

important meadow fauna and clarify trail boundaries for

visitors. Park staff will work with interns and volunteer

groups to protect and stabilize sites.

Funded


Create Professional Photography Library Highlighting Diversity of Visitors and Visitor Experiences - $40,000 Mount Rainier’s photo library is inadequate and does not reflect the wide range of age, background and abilities of their visitors. New photos will be taken to begin rebuilding the library to better reflect park visitation in brochures, waysides and general information as part of a larger effort to make all people feel welcome in the park.

Trades Apprentice Program, Masonry - $10,000To protect and preserve Mount Rainier’s historic structures, this project will provide a masonry apprentice to assist the NPS historic masonry crew with repairs on park guard walls, bridges and structures.

Journalism Fellowship - $18,500 A Mount Rainier National Park Journalism Fellow will work with park staff to identify, interview and write material that can be used in a variety of platforms to amplify the stories of the wide variety of people, partners and places that are critical to the park’s operations.

Investigating Microplastic Concentrations in Snow and Water - $18,000 North Cascades National Park recently identified microplastics debris in alpine snowpack, macroinvertebrates and fish at unexpectedly high levels. This project will measure levels at Mount Rainier to determine if the problem is consistent across both parks and to begin identifying possible solutions.

Alpine Mammal Monitoring - $24,000 Areas known as climate refugia provide protection for pika and marmots who are vulnerable to the effects of climate change. Data collected while monitoring their habitat since 2007 will be analyzed to evaluate population trends for effective management and planning.

Digitize Park Records Held at the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) - $35,000Vital baseline data found in historic records pertaining to the establishment and development of Mount Rainier National Park will be digitized and shared with park management to better manage cultural and natural resources, as well as to make informed management decisions.

Measuring the Vital Signs of Mount Rainier: Elk Monitoring - $35,000Elk are a critical species in Mount Rainier National Park; they play an important and ecological role as architects of plant communities, drivers of ecosystem processes, and sustainers of diverse communities of predators and scavengers. Monitoring will measure and track the presence of elk within the park to identify any issues impacting population trends.

Partially Funded


Understanding Microplastics in Remote Alpine Environments - $49,400

This project will send park scientists to sample snowpack and lake sediments at four remote alpine sites in order to learn the pathways for how microplastics enter the environment throughout North Cascades National Park. Microplastics are particles smaller than 5mm, originating from the decomposition of larger plastic debris. Studies have indicated that microplastic occurrence is widespread in water, sediment and biota. And North Cascades National Park has identified their presence in alpine snowpack, macroinvertebrates and fish at unexpectedly high levels – levels similar to stormwater runoff in urban environments.

Snowpack analysis will inform the annual microplastics load in snowpack, a suspected primary source of deposition. High alpine lakes are environmental sinks where microplastics may accumulate and be a pathway for trophic uptake.

NORTH CASCADES NATIONAL PARK

1. North Cascades ParkMedic Training - $25,000

Year after year, as visitation increases, rangers are responding to more and more serious life-threatening incidents in areas all over the park. Because of the growing need to provide high quality care quickly, North Cascades National Park developed an Advanced Life Support (ALS) Program to help park visitors and employees during their time of need. These rangers have been able to respond to remote areas and provide life saving care. Because of the initial success of this program, North Cascades National Park is now seeking funds to send three more park rangers to the National Park Service ParkMedic Training.

Photo by Dené Miles

2020 Spring Dinner and

Auction Fund-a-Need

Featured Project

Partially Funded

Partially Funded


2. Oregon Spotted Frog, RangeExpansion and ConservationOpportunity - $24,400

The Oregon spotted frog (OSF, Rana pretiosa) is an imperiled wetland species that is found in less than 30% of their historic range and are known to breed in less than a dozen locations in the United States.

It is unknown if the Oregon spotted frog occurs in North Cascades National Park Complex. Funding will allow the park to survey areas in the Big and Little Beaver, Hozomeen and Dry Creek watersheds, which contain wetlands that provide suitable habitat. Park field crews will lead volunteers from May to July in 2021 to determine the presence of the Oregon spotted frog, their breeding status and the habitat conditions of the wetlands where they occur. Each survey will consist of water sample collections for environmental DNA (eDNA) analysis, habitat assessment and physical searches for breeding adults and egg masses.

3. Community Resilience throughFood Sustainability and NativePlant Education - $83,200

The Community Resilience through Food Sustainability and Native Plant Education Project is a program that will provide educational outdoor experiences, place-based learning, native plant education, food sustainability and gratitude for what we have for 160 youth participants each year.

Through partnerships between the North Cascades National Park Service Complex, Lummi Nation, Lummi Natural Resources, Lummi Nation School, Sauk-Suiattle Tribe, Darrington School District, the Glacier Peak Institute and 2,000 to 3,500 volunteer hours, youth and volunteer participants and community partners will: rehabilitate one greenhouse on school grounds; construct one greenhouse and multiple garden beds on school and tribal lands; grow and transplant native plants to park and tribal lands; grow and harvest sustainable, healthy food plants; develop and present education programs that meet Washington State standards; place-based learning through multiple field trips to North Cascades National Park Service Complex; develop, plant and install signs for the ethnobotanical garden at the North Cascades Visitor Center in Newhalem.


4. Bear Rangers: Learning fromBears and Keeping them Wild -$41,000

In an effort to both protect park visitors and the park bear population, North Cascades National Park will station bear rangers in two key areas with high visitation: the Cascade Pass area and the PCT corridor. Both areas see more than 200 people each day in summer, numbers that are increasing each year. And, bears that learn to aggressively seek food from people have to be euthanized. While backcountry visitors coming to ranger stations for permits are informed about bears, most hikers are day users who have not talked to rangers. Bear rangers will be stationed in the field full-time through the summer to educate visitors about bears and bear safety, enforce bear attractant storage and to collect data on human-bear interactions. As a result, the park will learn how many bears are in the area and bear behaviors; to make objective assessments of human-bear interactions and provide real-time guidance for ongoing education; and for proactive, rapid-response management actions to head off problems before they occur.

5. Ranger Wellness Program -$5,500

Hardworking park rangers and scientists need to keep fit. That said, the gateway communities around them have very few options (if any) when it comes to fitness centers. Thankfully, North Cascades National Park recognizes both the need and the benefits of giving employees the opportunity to improve their physical, emotional and psychological health. The only thing lacking is equipment. This priority project will provide the park with supplemental and replacement equipment to fulfill the growing need for maintaining strength and well-being.


6. Understanding North Cascade’s Rare Carnivores - $10,000

During the last century, the American West lost many of its carnivores, and the impacts of those reduced or extirpated populations can be felt throughout the entire ecosystem. Rare carnivores, such as wolverine, Canada lynx and Cascade red fox, are slowly recovering in the North Cascades, but face uncertainty in a rapidly changing climate. These carnivores occur naturally at low densities in forested and mountain areas of Washington, and are snow-adapted and thus can be particularly sensitive to changing climates. They likely have substantial diet overlap with the more common Pacific marten and the recently reintroduced fisher. NPS is working to collect diet data on these species through fecal DNA analysis to better understand how they coexist and how vulnerable they are due to climate impacts on their prey species. We are doing this using teams of citizen scientists, university students and collaboration with other agency scientists during the summers of 2020-2022.

7. Wildlife Forensics - $3,500

Every year, dead animals are found within the park

complex and park biologists work with the NPS national

veterinarians to determine cause of death. These incidents

allow park biologists access to tissue samples that

provide the first clues toward detecting the emergence or

presence of ecosystem-scale environmental contamination

such as microplastics, PCBs, methyl mercury and lead.

Biologists also occasionally find wildlife scats that suggest

rare species activity, such as wolf presence. Those samples

require DNA meta-barcoding to confirm species identity

and can be used to sequence disease presence. Funding

will support the analysis of the year’s samples, which

ultimately informs park stewardship and management

activities.


8. Animal Packer (Helper) - $32,500 Funding will provide the use of a seasonal Animal Packer Helper for six months to assist the permanent Packer with parkwide multi-divisional backcountry and front country stock operations.

Rebuild Pyramid Lake Trail - $25,000The Pyramid Lake Trail is severely eroded and lacks sufficient drainage. Funding will support a four-person trail crew, plus supplies and materials, for four weeks to rebuild sections of eroded and unsafe tread located on the first quarter mile of the Pyramid Lake Trail.

Funded


OLYMPIC NATIONAL PARK

1. Olympic Fisher Genetic Rescue - $25,000

After successful reintroduction into both the state

and park, approximately 50% of fishers born on the

peninsula can be traced to just three females. Some

models predict that with such genetic losses, the

population may go extinct. However, analysis also

indicates that introducing eight new fishers every 10

years will mitigate that risk. Olympic National Park will

purchase up to 10 additional animals for release in the

park this year to increase genetic diversity and ensure

the species continues.

2020 Spring Dinner and

Auction Fund-a-Need

Featured Project

2. Amphibian eDNA - $15,000

The Lakes amphibian survey will use DNA filtered from

lake water samples to determine which amphibians

are present in up to 75 mountain lakes. This

non-intrusive sampling method is known as “eDNA”.

Olympic National Park is already using this technology

to track the recolonization of the upper Elwha River by

salmon after dam removal and to detect non-native

fish in mountain lakes.2020 Spring Dinner and

Auction Fund-a-Need

Featured Project

Photo by Allison Ganahl

Partially Funded

Partially Funded


3. Tracking Olympic National Park’s Disappearing Glaciers - $15,000

Working with the NPS, WNPF has played a critical role

in expanding our understanding of glaciers at Olympic

National Park. Support will provide helicopter transport

of scientists to remote field sites. Staff will fly to glaciers

in April, measure snow depth, snow density and place

ablation stakes on each glacier. They will then return in

late fall to determine the amount of snow and ice that

has melted or accumulated that year. Continued funding

will allow the park to determine snow mass balance for

2020 to 2021 and to better understand why glaciers are

declining more rapidly throughout the Olympic Mountains

than in other Pacific Northwest mountain ranges.

4. Adventures in Your Big Backyard - $26,000

Olympic National Park, in partnership with the Boys

and Girls Clubs of the Olympic Peninsula, will offer

engaging recreational adventures in the park for

up to 30 summer camp participants per week from

the clubs’ two facilities in Port Angeles and Sequim.

Each trip will be led by park rangers, with additional

supervision and support provided by club staff. Youth

participants will experience the park, many for the first

time, through hiking, canoeing, kayaking, swimming

and beachcombing, all culminating in a celebratory,

end-of-summer barbecue for participants and their

families. This is a perfect introduction to the wealth

of recreational opportunities available in Olympic

National Park, their big backyard!

Partially Funded


5. Building Staff Resiliency - $19,000

Park service first responders can’t provide effective

support when they are not well. The COVID-19 pandemic

has added a particularly stressful and dangerous layer to

an already stressful job. Olympic National Park will make

the services of clinical psychologist, Laura McGladery,

available to rangers and provide education and training.

Ms. McGladrey is a leading educator in creating resilience

and developing supportive mental health networks

trained in stress and trauma injury.

6. Middle School Science Program - $14,000

Students from Stevens Middle School in Port Angeles,

WA, will engage in hands-on science—from field data

collection to learning how scientific research and

monitoring are used to manage special places like

Olympic National Park. Stevens’ 7th grade students

will participate in a snow science field trip to Hurricane

Ridge, exploring the effects of climate change on

snowpack and park ecosystems; while 8th grade

student will participate in an Elwha science field trip,

observing and collecting data on the Elwha River.

When they return to the classroom, students will

analyze the data they collected and compare them to

student-collected data from the last 10 years.


7. Equipping Emergency Response Vehicles - $12,000

Olympic National Park will outfit their Emergency

Response Vehicles to more effectively protect park

resources and the public during emergency incidents.

Funding will provide multiple emergency response

vehicles with radios; buy equipment for responding to

emergencies, such as lights, sirens, signs, etc.; and

ensure emergency vehicles are in compliance with

agency requirements. Vehicles will be outfitted by local

vendors in compliance to agency specifications.

8. Wilderness Volunteer Program - $18,000

The Wilderness and Emergency Services Branch at

Olympic National Park intends to recruit, train and

manage five new full-time seasonal interns and five

to ten new part-time volunteers, in addition to the

eight existing volunteers. Funding will equip these

volunteers and interns with the necessary backcountry

gear, including tent, sleeping bag, sleeping pad, water

filter, stove, first aid kit and backpack. Additionally, it

will provide all field operating volunteers and interns

with synthetic volunteer uniforms and high-visibility

Gore-Tex rain jackets.

Funded

Partially Funded


“Conservation from Here” Elk Art Installation - $23,000

Conservation from Here is a traveling, two-part exhibition

with accompanying educational programs that

synthesize art and science. Inspired by President Teddy

Roosevelt, a passionate conservationist, it features

the work of Pacific Northwest artist Joseph Rossano,

whose work is designed to inspire change. Funding

and in-kind donations from the park, WNPF, Discover

Your Northwest and the Port Angeles Fine Arts Center

(PAFAC) will bring Conservation from Here to the park

for the Spring/Summer of 2021, providing extraordinary

park experiences to more than 250,000 visitors.

Olympic Marmot Citizen Science Project - $5,000

The Olympic marmot, a large, ground-dwelling

member of the squirrel family, is found only in alpine

meadows on the Olympic Peninsula. After concerns

about declines in the Olympic marmot population were

confirmed, University of Montana researchers developed

a long-term monitoring program. Using support from

WNPF, the park adapted university protocol and created

a citizen science monitoring program. Each year, this

program recruits 80-100 volunteer scientists and,

following a day of training, sends them out in the field

for three to seven days to collect data on the Olympic

marmot population. The data they collect is used to

assess long term marmot trends.


ECD (Electronic Control Device) Management for Ranger Protection Division - $7,500The ECD (electronic control device) is an invaluable tool to reduce the risk of injury to the public, assailants and officers involved in any confrontation meeting the threshold for use of force. This project will enhance ranger skill sets and provide needed upgrades and repairs to an aging ECD infrastructure.

Geoscientists-in-Parks Internships - $26,000This project will place two Geoscientists-in-Parks (GIP) interns in the Division of Interpretation, from May to September, at Olympic National Park. The Kalaloch intern will focus on interpreting climate change and its impacts on the coastal ecosystem. The Elwha intern will interpret the ongoing story of the Elwha River restoration project.

Kayaks for Lake Margin Invasive Plant Removal - $14,000Funding for this project will provide a kayak so park staff and their tools can reach isolated populations of invasive, non-native plants around Lakes Ozette, Irely and Crescent and to remove them.

Monitoring Changes to Alpine Plant Communities - $17,500In collaboration with Missouri Botanical Garden and local residents, Olympic National Park will establish alpine plant and temperature monitoring sites and undertake baseline data collection at eight mountain summits. Data will allow the park to understand plant responses to climate change and inform conservation measures.

Rebuilding Swiftwater Rescue - $10,000Funding will provide necessary equipment and training to support Swiftwater Rescue on the park’s extensive and popular rivers.

Funded


1904 3rd Avenue, Suite 400

Seattle, Washington 98101

206-623-2063 | [email protected] | wnpf.org

Cover photo by Parker Tikson All uncredited photos courtesy of the National Park Service

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2020-2021 PARK PROJECTS · 2020-06-18 · year, transportation subsidies eliminate this obstacle,...

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