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A Walk in the Park…

… Wild, vast Denali National Park, to be exact. We stood at the bolster my graduate student skillset. I look forward to every new day
abrupt end of a gravel road, a chilling wind rolling up over its brink, as it always brings something exciting.”
staring across a tumbling mountainside a hundred yards to another GSA and the NPS have partnered on work-experience programs
precipitous edge where the road re-started. My mind needed time to since 1997, and Nicole’s geology assistant position is fully funded by
make sense of the visual chaos in front of us before recognizing that donors who have been supporting these efforts through the GSA
the crumbled earth some forty feet below was, indeed, the missing Foundation for sixteen years. Sally and Bob Newcomb are commit-
stretch of roadway. ted to facilitating important scientific work on challenging, current
Park geologist Denny Capps and three of Denali National Park issues, noting, “The most fun Bob and I have all year is reading the
and Preserve’s interns were explaining the Pretty Rocks Landslide, letters from the interns about their experiences, the reports of their
its long history, and substantially increasing movement over the past activities, and sometimes their publications. A few of the areas
eight years. In fact, the recent displacement has been severe enough addressed by interns in Denali include glaciation, hazard mitigation,
to close the park road at its midpoint while extensive two-year plans river morphology, novel fossils, monitoring fossil access, and visitor
are implemented to reestablish a safe road across the slide area. education,” and now, the tremendously important work on increas-
Nicole Benshoff is focused on ing landslide implications in the park. The Newcombs enjoy keeping
this and other landslides through- up with the interns by attending talks and posters at GSA and read-
out the park during her internship, ing their reports, and after ten years of consistent funding, they vis-
and Samantha Hilburn is working ited Denali to interact with the interns and park staff, explore deep
in science communications. Both into the park, and learn about the science being done.
are part of the Scientists in Parks Among hundreds of annual participants in SIP and GeoCorps™
(SIP) program—a partnership America—a similar program partnering with the Bureau of Land
between the National Park Service Management and the U.S. Forest Service—dozens have gone on to
(NPS), the Geological Society of full-time federal employment over the years. If you are passionate
America, the Stewards Individual about encouraging aspiring geoscientists to conduct important
Nicole Benshoff explaining the
geology of this kind of slide. Placement Program, and the scientific work on America’s public lands, please contact Debbie
Ecological Society of America. Marcinkowski at dmarcinkowski@geosociety.org or +1-303-357-
The program offers unique opportunities to work on current scientific 1047. General contributions of all sizes make a difference.
needs in national parks, build professional experience, and foster the Standing at the dramatic edge of the Pretty Rocks Landslide, I
next generation of diverse natural resource stewards. Angela Fiorito is watched Nicole’s eyes light up as she described for me in layman’s
an intern in the NPS’s Mosaics in Science Diversity Program, a GIS terms how the rhyolite in the Teklanika Formation contributes to the
assistant documenting historical aerial photos. With first-hand experi- problematic instability throughout the park, as weathering results in
ence that positions are highly sought after and competitive, all three the clay that slides. It was strikingly clear as we stood in this majes-
value the exceptional opportunities to apply their geology back- tic expanse, what compels the Newcombs’ continued commitment,
grounds to real-world, science-based work in Denali. the immense need for scientific work in public lands, and just how
Nicole said, “So far my time at Denali National Park and Preserve much is supported through GSA’s work-experience partnerships.
has served as a foundational experience for government work and
how geology would be incorporated. The hands-on experience with Debbie Marcinkoswki, GSA Foundation Executive Director
geohazards, monitoring, and communication is invaluable and will

From left: Park geologist
and 2022 science interns
at the edge of the Pretty
Rocks Landslide and the
temporary end of the park
road. Braided rivers char-
acterize the landscape of
Denali National Park and
Preserve. Hiking up a
drainage to a new land-
slide representative of
many appearing along the
park road.

www.gsa-foundation.org