Inside a national park, you can find employees working many different jobs.
Some jobs are giving evening programs. Some jobs help with search and rescue. Some jobs keep the campgrounds clean. Some make sure there’s electricity flowing to park buildings.
And some jobs involve plants. Our park has an ecologist who studies plants and the folks who work for her do many jobs from pulling invasive weeds, to growing native plants, studying plants across the park, and replanting vegetation.
For a lot of this plant work, the greenhouse is an important tool. It’s where native seeds carefully harvested (following the rules and permits) are planted and nurtured in a tough love sort-of way. Plants in Mount Rainier National Park survive in very harsh conditions so the greenhouse is not a hothouse spa but more a place to give our plants a good healthy start. That way, when the replanting happens, these plants can help bring our landscapes back to looking unimpaired by human activities.
Once in a while, we need volunteers to help re-plant. Have you ever helped out with re-vegetation work at Mount Rainier? ~ams
NPS/K. Loving Photo (top). Seedlings in pots inside the greenhouse. May, 2019. NPS/B. Burnett Photo (middle). NPS employees work planting along roadside and near buildings in Paradise. September, 2019. NPS/K. Bacher (bottom). Volunteers re-planting at the Sunrise area as part of National Public Lands Day. September, 2015.
