Last updated: February 24, 2025
Article
My Park Story: Tonya Messam
Photo courtesy of Tonya Messam
I grew up on the east side of Cleveland, Ohio. My appreciation for the environment began during my childhood, which was painted with a backdrop where plants discovered creative ways to grow from concrete. I grew up blowing on the seed heads of invasive dandelions with my cousins to wish for the summer to never end. I would race around the block until the streetlights came on and illuminated the blue and purple hues stained on our shoes, which were from the mulberries we picked as our evening snack. Containers we had at home were reused because we saw purpose in the resources around us. My grandmother was the first forager I knew, so my family has always had an appreciation for green spaces. She taught me and my cousins to identify the difference between poisonous beries and safe ones from the bushes we would find in her backyard or around the block. My mother also shared her love of nature with me by taking us into parks around the city, which were the same ones she spent exploring with her friends during her teenage years.
In high school, I specialized in animal care where I worked with a variety of animal species, ranging from chinchillas to pythons, and several others in between. One of my teachers during senior year saw potential in my interest in animals. He recommended I pursue my passion at Ohio State University, Agricultural Technical Institute, where he was also an alumnus. The next thing I knew, I was packing my belongings, hugging my family goodbye, and heading to Wooster, Ohio. My concrete turned into corn fields, and my mulberries turned into cafeterias with personalized pizzas.
Photo courtesy of Tonya Messam
I majored in Animal Science with a specialization in Ecological Restoration. My time at the university gave me some experience in agriculturally dominated green spaces. I was introduced to a new interest, agricultural sustainability, which led me to discover environmental science. I ended up changing my major to Environmental Science, and I was able to transfer the skills I gained in my classes to my first internship, which gave me the opportunity to move to the city that helped create who I am today.
The Cleveland-based nonprofit I worked with was called Organic Connects, which engages urban communities with nature, and promotes healthy environments to create future green leaders. This internship allowed me to develop Sustainable on the Daily, which is a project based around uplifting low-income families and voicing how they have carried sustainable practices with them for generations. I saw strong similarities between what learned in school, and how families like mine would use the resources they had available to them. With this program, I wanted to create something that not only encouraged those efforts, but also highlighted them.
Photo courtesy of Tonya Messam
After this internship, when I first read about an internship through Environment for the Americas, I did not think it was real. I discovered it through an ad on Indeed. The promise of a fully paid internship that included travel and paid housing seemed unlikely. I had a hard time believing it, but after doing some research, I decided to apply. I loved everything I read about the Mosaics in Science Diversity Internship Program , and I wanted to be a part of their story. When I heard back about my consideration for this position, I was so excited. There was just one small detail I missed when I was applying…the position was in Colorado.
I have never lived outside of Ohio, let alone 21 hours away from my family and friends, but I could not let this opportunity pass me by. I was going to be farther away from my support system than I had ever been, but I knew this discomfort would put me in a position to grow like the plants around my neighborhood. So, I packed my bags and started making my way to Colorado.
Today, I can proudly say I was a Visitor Use Management Assistant intern at Rocky Mountain National Park this summer. Through this role, I had a chance to learn about what visitor use is and the importance of it. Visitor use management uses several strategies and tools to achieve and maintain the desired resource conditions throughout the park and minimize visitor impact.
Photo courtesy of Tonya Messam
My main responsibility this summer was to monitor and maintain traffic and trail counters around Rocky Mountain National Park. These counters help the park’s visitor use management team determine the areas around the park that are most likely to see impact due to overuse. With this tool, we continuously develop our adaptive management plan to preserve the park's resources and maintain the visitors' experience. Our traffic counters are monitored three times a week, and our trail counters are monitored every month. There are several places throughout the park that keep the team busy during the summer.
When brainstorming for my internship project this summer, I wanted to do something that had never been done at the park before and create something that my visitor use management team could use as a reference for other projects. With some guidance from my supervisor, I decided to find the connection between traffic and trail counters to see if there was any correlation between the two using regression analysis. To complete this project, I had to comb through hundreds of files for days to get all the data I needed for the analysis. By the time I was done creating the document to hold all the data I collected, I had almost twenty sheets in my Excel file.
Photo courtesy of Tonya Messam
The project came with its own challenges. I had to create a regression table that could be used by several individuals with different backgrounds, but also be aware that some of the information I was working with was private park information. I had to learn how to navigate certain topics. I have never been in a position where I had to think about the impact of my words, but it was good practice for other future federal jobs.
Through this internship and building connections with people from different fields within Rocky Mountain National Park, I am more aware of just how many pathways there are in the National Park Service. After graduation, I hope to keep progressing within the National Park Service and start working towards creating a nonprofit of my own. I am truly grateful for this experience and I am excited to see what comes next.
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