Dr. Amy Gregg, in her 9^th year with Ball State University, is spending her Fall Semester 2008, on a special leave with the "Sabbatical in the National Parks" program. She is in Washington State, working with Mount Rainier and North Cascades National Parks.  Her projects are related to: 1) evaluation of interpretation programs and services and 2) development of alternative transportation projects.  A brief summary is provided below:

Going West: To get a jump start on the Fall sabbatical, she and her husband made the journey west at the end of June. They drove through Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, and Washington visiting national parks and historic sites along the way and camping like Lewis and Clark, e.g., along the Missouri and Columbia rivers.   They arrived at Mount Rainier on July 3^rd for the beginning of the tourist season.  The main tourist season for the national parks in the Cascade Range is July and August, as Washington State has snow well into the summer.  (See picture of Paradise with snow in July). Temperatures were generally in the 60s and 70s throughout the summer with many days of sunshine.  The sun shone everyday through July and August, and the rain didn't return until recently at the end of September.

Mount Rainier National Park – At Mount Rainier, Dr. Gregg's work has been as follows:

• Attending training sessions and staff meetings with interpretive staff.
• Visiting the four visitor centers across the park to learn more about exhibit design.
• Evaluating the strategic plans and documents of the Interpretation Division.
• Observing the planning meetings for the opening of the new Jackson Visitor Center at Paradise in October.
• Participating in the annual interpretive staff retreat and planning sessions.
• Observing interpretation on the piloted shuttle system from Longmire to Paradise, and researching options for its future expansion to other areas in the park.
• Working on trail and transportation plans with gateway communities around the park that connect visitors to Mount Rainier.
• Learning about glaciers and sub-alpine meadows at Paradise and Sunrise and old growth forests at Longmire and Ohanapecosh. (See photos of mountain/meadow)

North Cascades National Park – Her work has involved:

• Helping to coach the interpretive staff, and evaluating interpretive programs.
• Visiting staff and observing programs at the various remote districts: Newhalem on the rainy side of the Cascades, Stehekin on the dry side (rainshadow effect), and Hozemeen on the Canada-U.S. border, where interpretation is shared with American and Canadian staff. 
• Working as a coach for training environmental education instructors at the North Cascades Institute, a nonprofit organization operating the Environmental Learning Center in the national park.  Schools in the urban areas of Puget Sound bring their 5^th graders for a three-day stay at the Environmental Learning Center, and the campus they visit has LEED-certified buildings. (See photo of instructor group). 
• Learning about the three hydropower dams within the national park, operated by Seattle City Light, which supply 25% of Seattle's power, several hours away. The dams existed before the park was formed.   (See photo of Dam in Newhalem)
• Attending end-of-the-year staff retreats to evaluate interpretive programs and plan for the next season.

Overall goals:

• Developing ideas for the interdisciplinary Heritage Interpretation program across several departments in the BSU College of Sciences and Humanities.
• Building bridges for professional development opportunities for her students.
• Developing case studies on park/public lands management for her her courses.
• Finding examples of sustainable design and "greening of parks" for her ongoing research.

Conferences/Meetings – planned for the second half of the semester:

• She will attend the National Association for Interpretation national meeting in Portland, OR with interpretive staff from the national parks.  This will be her first national meeting after attending past NAI regional meetings in the Great Lakes.
• She will attend the Pacific Northwest and Alaskan Region Centennial Workshop in Vancouver, WA, to learn more about the management of the combined region within NPS.

Dr. Amy can be reached at her regular BSU email, but please allow several days for a response, as often there is limited e-mail and cell phone access in the remote areas of WA.

She sends her best wishes to all students, faculty, staff, and alumni, and looks forward to sharing good stories on her return.