Freestanding Exhibits (listed alphabetically by lead author)

Rita Beard, NPS, WASO, NRPC, Biological Resources Management Division, Fort Collins, CO

This exhibit highlights efforts across the National Park System on managing the increasing threats from invasive plants. Invasive plants are found in parks units across the system in urban, cultural and wildland settings. Parks, Exotic Plant Management Teams and the Inventory and Monitoring Networks have responded with efforts in prevention, management, inventory, monitoring, restoration and research. We are working across landscapes and jurisdictions through Cooperative Weed Management Areas, regional and national invasive organizations to develop and implement integrated approaches.
National Natural Landmarks Program: Supporting Conservation of America’s Natural Heritage

Margi Brooks, National Natural Landmarks Program Manager, National Park Service, Tucson, AZ

Heather Germaine, National Park Service

The National Natural Landmarks (NNL) Program was established by Stewart Udall in 1962 to encourage and support the voluntary conservation of sites that illustrate the nation’s geological and biological history, and to strengthen appreciation of America’s natural heritage. The program offers private, municipal, state, and federal landowners the opportunity to share information, solve problems cooperatively, and conserve important natural areas. The National Park Service administers the program, reports on condition of the NNLs, and advocates for the protection of designated sites. National Natural Landmarks are selected for their outstanding condition, illustrative value, rarity, diversity, or value to science and education. The NNLP holds an annual photo contest and produces a calendar showcasing the winning photographs of landmarks across the country. The calendar highlights the outstanding beauty and diverse nature of the landmarks, and will be available at this exhibit.

Colleen Charles, Associate Program Coordinator TFME, U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, VA

A general introduction to the USGS, one of the conference co-sponsors.
Talking Map of Tlingit place names of the Huna Káawu

Robert Starbard, Tribal Administrator, Hoonah Indian Association, Hoonah, AK

Place names are potent descriptive symbols that provide clues to the natural and cultural history of our land and people. Tlingit names describe more than just location, they convey the rich tapestry of human perception and experience that comprises the Tlingit world view. The “Talking Map,” while centered on Glacier Bay, depicts Tlingit place names within the traditional use area of the Hoonah Tlingit people, or Huna Káawu. The talking map, rich with anthropological and cultural detail, provides auditory, visual, and written details about each location and is intended to preserve our knowledge of the Huna Káawu territory, that it may remain a vital part of our living culture.
Bridging the Gap: Advancing Cultural Resilience through Ecological Restoration within the Earth Partnership for Schools Program

Fawn YoungBear-Tibbetts, Student Intern/Researcher, University of Wisconsin-Madison Arboretum, Madison, WI

Since 1991 Earth Partnership has been building the capacity of students, teachers, non-formal educators, conservation practitioners, and citizen volunteers to restore schoolyards and natural areas, and to address diversity, pollution prevention and ecological literacy, across age, ecosystem, discipline, place, and culture. We engender an ethic of caring for children and nature and reaches kids who are at risk or in need of new educational strategies. Climate change and endangered species are problems that seem big and far away. EPS offers problems students can solve that are real and manageable—a rain garden can positively impact water pollution. EPS teachers and support encourage students to practice mental and physical skills that prepare them for the real world of work and environmentally and literate citizenship—critical thinking, communication, collaboration, persistence, and flexibility. Currently we are developing a new Center for School and Community Ecology, for which a new culturally appropriate curriculum is being developed.
Southern California Research Learning Center

Susan Teel, Director, Southern California Research Learning Center, National Park Service, Thousand Oaks, CA

Nick De Roulhac, Southern California Research Learning Center, National Park Service, Thousand Oaks, CA

Kevin Schallert, Southern California Research Learning Center, National Park Service, Thousand Oaks, CA

The Southern California Research Learning Center would like to present a 360 degree walk around interactive freestanding exhibit. The exhibit features two skyline presentation boards that are arranged back to back with interactive displays at either end. The boards highlight the goals and mission of the Southern California Research Learning Center, while the interactive displays highlight current and recent projects. We would also like to demonstrate 1 Live Interactive Virtual Exploration (LIVE) at the exhibit at some point during the conference. This will consist of a live presentation from a remote location where the audience will be able to interact directly with the presenter.
Showcasing Parks Canada

John Waithaka, Conservation Biologist, Parks Canada, Gatineau, QC, Canada

Booth of conference supporter Parks Canada.


Tabletop Exhibits
New Techniques in Sound Monitoring

Emma Lynch, Acoustical Resource Specialist, National Park Service Natural Sounds Program, Fort Collins, CO

Jessica Briggs, National Park Service, Fort Collins, CO

Cecilia Leumas, National Park Service, Fort Collins, CO

The National Park Service Natural Sounds Program (NSP) was established in 2000 to help parks manage sounds in a balanced way, providing visitor access to parks while protecting resources for future generations. In the years since its inception, NSP has refined its monitoring techniques. While baseline monitoring is essential, the range and scope of impacts to acoustic environments in parks demand a level of analysis which extends beyond a mere inventory of audible sounds. We will showcase equipment and techniques used to quantify the impacts of extrinsic noise sources (such as vehicles and boats) on natural soundscapes. We will also exhibit various ways that NSP communicates the value of natural quiet to the public. Interactive displays will encourage visitors to become acoustic technicians themselves by exploring the sounds of our National Parks.
Leadership and Management in a Changing World

Jodie Riesenberger, Program Director, NPCA’s Center for Park Management, Fort Collins, CO

The National Parks Conservation Association’s Center for Park Management works with the National Park Service to provide fact-based analysis and management expertise, working together to help build leadership and management capacity. Rather than simply providing recommendations, we help implement strategies that result in meaningful, systemic improvement, and address the management challenges facing park managers. The National Park Service and the Center for Park Management are three years into a multi-year collaborative agreement to conduct a series of significant system wide projects to establish and maintain management excellence within the Park Service. The exhibit will provide general information about the ongoing work, results to date and opportunities to get involved.

Conference Co-Sponsors:

USNPS NRSS

USNPS CRM

Colorado Plateau CESU

USGS
Conference Supporters: