The 5 Best Things about the National Assoc. for Interpretation Conference

So I fly home tomorrow, after a few amazing days at the National Association for Interpretation (NAI) conference. 


Like I said in my last post, I'm here because of the generosity of NAI members who contribute to the scholarship fund. Tonight, I had a blast helping out with the live auction to raise money for next year's scholarship fund. 

Me and the other scholarship winners at the benefit auction.

This is a group of people of big hearts, big ideas, and generous spirits. I was so inspired over the past few days. But let me get down to it, the five best parts of the conference.


1. Keynote speaker Jon Jarvis. 
Jon Jarvis, pointed Director of the National Park Service (NPS) by President Obama in 2009, started his career in the Park Service as an interpretive ranger (like me)! 


He knows from his experience as a "frontline interpreter" that "relevance and education" need to be priorities in the Park Service. Our citizens need to see how they fit into our National Parks and the American story, he told us. And thats where interpreters come in.


Director Jarvis said he expects public health to be a "game changer" for the National Park Service. In places like Australia, he noted, doctors are actually prescribing the outdoors. In America's battle with a sedentary lifestyle and removal from the outdoors, he said, our public parks will be vital. Jarvis half-joked, someday we just might be telling people, "take a hike and call me in the morning."


Basically he's a ranger rock-star.  


2. National Park Service breakout session
Freshly pumped up after hearing our head coach Jarvis speak, the NPS employees gathered for an agency meeting. Out Park Service will celebrate its 100th birthday in 2016. So we discussed how we could use this date as a target for our goals. 


Among the discussion topics were the role of younger generations in the future of the park system and our planet and the potential of the arts to connect people to science. 


I spoke up and gave my story as a young person who found the park service. "I started as a research intern in the Redwoods with the Student Conservation Association," I said. "And that's where I got hooked on the parks."


What I loved about this session was everyone's willingness to bring our National Park Service closer to its mission statement. I was especially impressed by the openness of administrators like Jarvis. This girl felt proud to be a park ranger. 


3. Friday Field Trip:
Two Zoos, Two Great Bears
Oh, let me list the things that I loved about visiting the Minnesota Zoo and Como Zoo.

Although wolverines live in Glacier NP, where I worked this
summer, they are incredible elusive and rare. Seeing one,
even in captivity, was an incredible experience for me.

The new, award winning exhibit Russia's Grizzly Coast at the
Minnesota Zoo, allowed me to see brown bears cat napping a foot away,
something I never, ever wanted to see on the trails this summer.

This polar bear at Como Zoo is trained to exhibit certain behaviors
that make it easier to check his health.

• Three wolverines
• One sloth
• Two snow leopards 
• River otters
• Sea otters
• Grizzly bears
• Polar bears
• Mountain lions, (I had a stare-down with one!)

Trust me I could go on. But amazing animals aside, this field trip offered me an inside look  at the challenges of running a zoo or education center. As an interpreter, my job is to help people make the intellectual and emotional connections to nature that drive them to be stewards of our environment. 


Watching a wolverine nap, snow leopards play, and a polar bear oblige its trainer in a check-up restored my own sense of wonder for our planet's wildlife and gave me a new respect for the people who facilitate these connections at our zoos and aquariums.

Seeing a snow leopard is the privilege of a life time.
They are extremely rare in the wild.

4. Walking the talk
How unfortunate would it be if the conference center we used to organize to discuss progress was eco-ignorant. Fortunately, in addition to a fancy "e" at the end of center in its name, the St. Paul River Centre has a fancy waste system that accepts compostables*, plastics, paper products, and other waste. I was also seriously impressed that the majority of the food and drinks were served in compostable containers. 

Kudos to St. Paul River Centre's awesome waste system!

*Composting is a process where easily biodegradable waste like food, is compiled together and allowed to decompose into a fertile soil-like product thats terrific for gardens and farms. Worms are often used to speed up the process. 


5. The People
There were hundreds of interpreters from across the country, and I'm sure a few from elsewhere in the world. It's no surprise that this group of professional talkers was friendly and outgoing. What impressed me most was their generosity. 


The NAI attendees were all willing to share trade secrets, professional contacts, and other wisdom they've gained throughout their careers. At the scholarship auction I saw people pull out their wallets and even some antics in the name of drumming up more money for the cause. 


This week I shook a lot of hands, shared many smiles, a gained a renewed love for my passion and career, interpretation. 

Thanks NAI! 

Bonus video: A sloth at Como Zoo! To say I'm obsessed with sloths 

might be an understatement.