Tuesday, February 2, 2016

Park Academy and Program Planning

Well, I missed a week of blogging because we went to Mesquite, NV for Park Academy. Sixty-five park rangers, interpreters, park supervisors, and maintenance staff gathered for a few days of training and presentations.

We started with an interpreter's meeting on Tuesday to make final decisions about our Junior Ranger booklet. We're going to have a statewide booklet, downloadable from the website, and individual parks can add to it if they want, or just use the statewide book that will be adaptable for each park the child visits. Each park will have a unique badge, but all badges will have a uniform style. I'm excited we're developing this program; Junior Ranger programs were a big deal in Utah State Parks and kids really enjoy getting their badges!

We also had timesheet training (new system), Budget 101 (not as bad as it sounded), School Outreach, History of State Parks, and a couple of field trips. We went to Valley of Fire State Park for lunch and a hike, and to Snow Canyon State Park (in Southern Utah), also for lunch and a hike.

I got to see on of my co-workers from Utah State Parks, Jordan, who led one of our guided hikes at Snow Canyon. We worked together at Dead Horse Point, and he got my job as Park Naturalist after I left for Nevada State Parks.
 

Yesterday, Monday, was my first day back at Washoe Lake. I had forgotten that it was the first day of February, so I had to go around the park, resetting traffic counters and collecting fee envelopes so I could do the month-end deposits.

Today I have to start getting ready for my programs this weekend. I've got a basic astronomy program on Friday night, about winter constellations and a nature walk at Dayton on Saturday. Now that there is water in the Carson River, we should be able to see more animals, birds, and signs of wildlife. I might also borrow some furs and footprint molds again to show people. I just need to relearn some more information about the stars and constellations, and there are some planets we will be able to see. I'm not using telescopes, but I have a bag of binoculars I can bring for people to use!

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