Article • Women of the National Park Service

In the Field with the Women of the National Park Service

Often, when people think of the National Park Service, they think about the folks in uniform working directly with the public. But if you look beyond the areas the public usually visits, you will find lots of NPS staff. Here you can learn about some of the women who are working out in the field as biologists, archaeologists, historic preservationists, geologists, fire scientists, and others.

More Women of the NPS who Work In the Field

Showing results 1-10 of 58

    • Type: Person
    • Locations: Colonial National Historical Park, Fort Necessity National Battlefield, Fort Raleigh National Historic Site
    • Offices: Archeology Program
    J.C. and Virginia interpreting an archeological site at Jamestown.

    Jean Carl Harrington, often called “J.C.” or Pinky, and Virginia Sutton Harrington were two pioneering National Park Service archeologists. They excavated important archeological sites, established professional associations, traveled across the world, and even continued to excavate after retirement. J.C. and Virginia collaborated at Jamestown, and Fort Raleigh and Fort Necessity. The couple also helped to establish the Eastern National Park and Monument Association.

    • Type: Article
    • Locations: Grand Teton National Park, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Kings Mountain National Military Park, Natchez Trace Parkway
    • Offices: Wildland Fire Program
    A woman in black rain gear stands with a clipboard in a meadow.

    Cynthia Worthington is a fire effects monitor and has worked in several different units of the National Park Service during her career. The importance of collaboration with other fields and the built-in adaptability of fire programs is one of her favorite parts of working in fire that keeps her coming back.

    • Type: Article
    • Locations: Herbert Hoover National Historic Site, Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve, Wilson's Creek National Battlefield
    • Offices: Wildland Fire Program
    A woman takes notes while standing near the edge of a fire at night.

    Sherry Leis, a plant and fire ecologist, shares her story about being a scientist and her love of prairie ecosystems.

    • Type: Article
    • Locations: Capulin Volcano National Monument
    Cassy Hill and junior rangers

    If you've ever completed an internship, you know that it can bring unanticipated opportunities...like banding hummingbirds at Capulin Volcano National Monument. Watch Cassi Hill explain how her internship kickstarted her career.

  • Glen Canyon National Recreation Area

    Kat Smail - Range Technician

    • Type: Article
    • Locations: Glen Canyon National Recreation Area
    Park ranger holding stick

    Range Technician Kat Smail tells us about her roles as a scientist in the National Park Service for International Women's Day.

    • Type: Article
    • Locations: Acadia National Park
    Woman in uniform holds a tape measure to a stone wall

    Gail Gladstone, cultural resource program manager

    • Type: Article
    • Locations: Agate Fossil Beds National Monument, Badlands National Park, Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument, Petrified Forest National Park
    a woman in a white lab coat uses a small pick while working on a baseball-sized fossil skull.

    Although Badlands National Park is proud to employ many female paleontologists today, this scientific field was not always accepting of women. In this article, learn about how women's roles in paleontology have changed over years of Badlands research.

  • Crater Lake National Park

    Elizabeth L. Horn

    • Type: Article
    • Locations: Crater Lake National Park
    Smiling older woman with white hair, white shirt and pink jacket in front of green trees.

    For nearly six decades Elizabeth L. Horn, a plant ecologist, has been connected to Crater Lake National Park. She began what she called her “long love affair with this fascinating landscape” during the 1960s.

    • Type: Article
    • Locations: Kaloko-Honokōhau National Historical Park, Puʻuhonua o Hōnaunau National Historical Park
    Woman in National Park uniform and leis speaks to crowd. Podium stands field of lava rock

    Geraldine Kenui Bell, better known as Geri, was the first Native Hawaiian woman to be superintendent of a National Park Service (NPS) unit – in fact, she oversaw the operation of two different parks in Hawai‘i simultaneously.

  • Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument

    Julie A. Meachen

    • Type: Article
    • Locations: Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument
    Woman rappelling into a cave

    Julie A. Meachen is a pathbreaking vertebrate paleontologist and morphologist who studies mammalian carnivores and megafauna from the late Pleistocene period (10,000 years ago) to the present day.

Part of a series of articles titled Women of the National Park Service.

Last updated: November 16, 2023