Name: Climate Change Youth Initiative Intern Experience at Sitka National Historical Park
Uploaded: 2017-06-19T13:28:14.000Z
Duration: 4 min 21 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

Welcome to Sitka Alaska. My name is Emily Noyd

and I came to Sitka National Historical Park as an intern for the Climate Change

My job was to do science-based communication

at a historical park with primarily cultural resources.

The project's title was Small Park - Big Resources.

Little did I know the title described exactly the dilemma that smaller parks

How can we communicate climate change?  Do our visitors care?

It was pretty tough conducting field projects in Russian period clothing!

Just kidding. Most days I wore waders and spent time monitoring the park's

The salmon that spawn in this river year after year are the keystones of the ecosystem.

Their presence provides nutrients to other organisms and the surrounding

not to mention their vital role in Sitka, economically and culturally.

One aspect of my internship was to explore how these living representations

I conducted research on the river and contributed to a longer-term

We got up close and personal with salmon while measuring streamflow

and determining the health of their habitat. Understanding how much water is

flowing through the river tells us a lot about the snowmelt and rain

that feed the river each season. Thousands of salmon come home to the

and its water level is at a crucial tipping point for supporting the strong runs

Another project we worked on was collecting dead salmon and determining

if they had strayed from the nearby hatchery in an effort to spawn.

We collected the salmon's earbones, called otoliths, which would be thermally

After beheading 100 salmon, I am officially an expert at otolith

One of my other projects was water quality monitoring

for factors like pH, temperature and dissolved oxygen;

all really important in understanding the salmon habitat.

I monitored bat activity, looked for invasive green crabs,

collected mussels and helped with the fish contaminant study too.

The other part of my job was science outreach:

communicating what I learned to our visitors. Most important is what I

Visitors care deeply about these special places. They're curious,

concerned and hopeful about climate change. Website updates,

table talks about salmon and evening programs

all help start the climate change conversations.

With exceptional weather and a great group of coworkers

I managed to fit in some fun outside too. There's nothing like being on top of a peak

to help you put all the projects into perspective. These patches of snow

literally feed our river. The surrounding landscapes keep the park healthy and

But perhaps the most significant change is now upon us: climate change.

I didn't understand before what big resources a small park could have;

not necessarily literally but in their role as a platform for teaching about

I'm confident other interpreters nationwide will answer the call for

No matter a park's size or resources, I feel strongly that this topic can and must be

This internship has taught me that climate change must be a phrase in

I will continue pursuing my passion for Environmental Studies in Education at

and never forget the lessons that Sitka and its inhabitants

(human, salmon or otherwise) have taught me.