Petrified Forest National Park

Frank "Boss" Pinkley

Recipients of the 2003 Environmental Achievement Awards

Recipients of the 2007 NPS Environmental Achievement Awards

In spring 2011, the SCPN-NAU School of Communication collaboration began with a multimedia studies course focused on documenting park resources and resource projects. The class was taught by NAU professors Laura Camden and Peter Friederici.

Recipients of the 2012 NPS Environmental Achievement Awards

The 2012 SCPN-NAU School of Communication partnership took the form of a fall semester internship for NAU student, Kent Wagner.

They say that coloring provides stress relief for adults as well as children. For artists at the National Park Service (NPS) Western Museum Laboratory in the 1930s, however, it wasn't easy to hand-color glass lanterns slides depicting the landscapes, people, plants, and animals of places they had never seen. Quality and accuracy were essential because the slides were used by rangers to illustrate lectures and to encourage people to visit national parks.

Many visitors to national parks today collect passport stamps, magnets, or other items to recall their trip and to show others where they’ve been. In the 1920s and 1930s the “must have” souvenirs weren’t created to be collected. National Park Service (NPS) windshield stickers served a practical administrative purpose; they were evidence that the automobile license fee drivers paid at some parks had been paid. Even so, Americans embraced their colorful, artistic designs.

When the climate changes enough, the vegetation communities growing in any given place will also change. Under an expanded bimodal climate zone, some plant communities in western national parks are more likely to change than others. National Park Service ecologists and partners investigated the future conditions that may force some of this change. Having this information can help park managers decide whether to resist, direct, or accept the change.