Scientists in Parks

Sixty-nine interns at 75 parks help address climate resilience with sound science

Scientists in Parks intern Melissa De Leon, left, and Mosaics in Science intern Jacque McKay at Lake Helen in Lassen Volcanic National Park.

NPS

This summer, 32 Scientists in Parks interns are working on climate change-related restoration or resilience projects at 34 parks. This winter 37 Scientists in Parks interns will be working on such projects at 41 parks. All of the projects are science-centric and tailored to the cultural and natural resource needs of the individual parks.

“We are a federal agency, but we can only do so much with our own employees,” says Kiersten Jarvis, who manages Scientists in Parks for the National Park Service (NPS). “With these internships, we are now increasing our capacity” by taking action on the ground to increase the parks’ resilience to climate change.

Furthermore, Jarvis says, the program cultivates “the next generation of park stewards” by mentoring the interns, whose skills range from entry level to advanced.

The American pika is considered an indicator species for detecting ecological effects of climate change.

NPS / Melissa De Leon

At Lassen Volcanic National Park in California, Melissa De Leon and Jacque McKay are assisting the American pika and plague research team. Pika are elusive baby-rabbit-size mammals that inhabit the park’s highest elevation. They are considered an indicator species for detecting ecological effects of climate change. They are also threatened by the plague, a disease transmitted by fleas.

De Leon and McKay have been live-trapping small mammals (think chipmunks, mice, squirrels), checking them for fleas, vaccinating them against the plague so they will not transmit it to pika, and releasing them.

De Leon is a Scientist in Parks (SIP) intern. SIP is a partnership among the NPS, Stewards Individual Placements, the Ecological Society of America, and the Geological Society of America.

“Without the Scientists in Parks Program, there would not be room or a spot for me to do the research that I care about,” says De Leon. “I've been doing small mammal work now for like, three years, and so this was just a great opportunity for me to do that next level of the disease work and potentially train crew members how to handle animals.”

McKay is a Mosaics in Science (MIS) intern. MIS is administered by the NPS Natural Resource Stewardship and Science Directorate through the Scientists in Parks Program and the NPS Youth Programs Division in partnership with Environment for the Americas. MIS provides youth people who are under-represented in natural resource science career fields with on-the-ground, science-based work experience.

“I grew up in Los Angeles, away from the ocean and many green spaces. Lassen is only the second national park I have been to,” says McKay. “I have learned a plethora of new field methodologies. The entire project is greatly out of my comfort zone. I have a degree in marine science and had no previous animal-handling experience. I am so grateful MIS and Lassen Volcanic National Park selected me, giving me the opportunity to explore an entirely new field.”

Scientists in Parks is one of five youth and young adult programs supported by the Inflation Reduction Act that help fortify NPS sites in the face of a changing climate. The other four are the Community Volunteer Ambassador Climate Cohort, the Landscape Stewardship Corps, the YMCA Partnership, and the Pacific Islands Conservation Corps.

Learn more about Scientists in Parks.

Mosaics in Science intern Jacque McKay, left, applies a small monitoring tag on a deer mouse and, right, Scientists in Parks intern Melissa De Leon and a partner comb a squirrel for fleas at Lassen Volcanic National Park.

NPS / Hannah Thomas

About the Inflation Reduction Act

The Inflation Reduction Act provides the National Park Service with an historic opportunity to address critical ecosystem resilience, restoration, and environmental planning needs. Projects funded in national parks represent broad-scale and impactful resource investments across every corner of our nation—from Alaska to Florida to Maine. 

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