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Download an app to find a park near you and support SCA!

Submitted by apallais on Wed, 09/26/2012 - 12:00

Two good things in one app: find parks near you and support SCA! What more could you ask for?

American Park Network, creator of Oh, Ranger! ParkFinder™, a free mobile app that helps users finds nearby parks based on the user’s preferred location and activities, announced today that Ford Explorer will donate $1-per-download to SCA and three other non-profit organizations, in proporation to the votes received.

Together we, the four non-profits, will receive a total of $150,000, with funding to be distributed in proportion to the votes received. So, download the app, click on the SCA logo and cast your vote for SCA.

The app is FREE and you can influence how much money SCA receives by downloading today (or updating if you already use the app) and voting for SCA. The campaign ends on Sept. 30th so there are just a few days left.

To download Oh, Ranger! ParkFinder™, visit the iTunes App Store or Google Play, or go to www.OhRanger.com/app/parkfinder.

Summer is over. Let's talk about surfing.

Submitted by jthurston on Wed, 09/26/2012 - 11:59

When I walk outside these days, there's a bluster in the air. It's not often warm. Sometimes... I shiver.

It wasn't always like this. Just last month I could run around town in shorts. There was no chill, no shivering, only heat and sweat. Times have changed, and so has the weather. I'm left feeling nostalgic.

To indulge this nostalgia, I'm sharing with you an account of the time I spent earlier this year representing the SCA at the US Open of Surfing. It was late July/early August. The sun was high and the waves were higher. Equipped with an iPad and an android phone, my mission was to craft a series of 140-character dispatches that would let you, the reader, feel like you were right there on Huntington Beach, cheering on SCA spokeswoman Lakey Peterson as she attempted to triumph in the country's largest pro-surfing competition.

Can you smell the sunscreen? Can you feel the sand in your toenails? Not yet, my friend, but read on. WARNING: You should probably don some shades before you click here to read my full coverage of the 2012 U.S. Open of Surfing.

For those of you who forgot your shades today, here are a few highlights. You'll have to make do with squinting:

 

One last thing: To celebrate our involvement with the Open, we teamed up with Lakey to give away a surf weekend in her hometown, Santa Barbara. Read all about the lucky winner here.

Conservation Caption Competition, Fall 2012 Edition

Submitted by jthurston on Tue, 09/25/2012 - 19:40

Welcome to the Conservation Caption Competition, Fall 2012 Edition. Every second Monday between now and December 7, I'll be posting a photo to Facebook and calling on you, gentle reader, to caption it.

Captions are due by 5 PM Wednesday. The winning caption, as chosen by our designated caption quality evaluator, SCA intern Danielle Thompson, will be posted here and on Facebook Friday morning. The author of the winning caption will receive a small SCA prize package sent via pony express (or, more likely, the Postal Service). Yay! Prizes!

Now, please get over to our Facebook page and caption this photo of a marmot:

This marmot needs a caption.

The marmot doesn't lie: Entries should be posted as comments, either here or on Facebook.

Special thanks to SCA national program partner Dr. Pepper Snapple Group for making the Fall 2012 Conservation Caption Competition possible.

Click here for the full rules.

SCA Intern in the Spotlight! Mount Rainier National Park Volunteer Newsletter September 2012

Submitted by garrett on Fri, 09/07/2012 - 09:40

From the Mount Rainier National Park Volunteer Newsletter September 2012.

We would like to highlight a special intern this summer to help show how much the park relies on and appreciates our volunteers. The east side Backcountry Intern through the Student Conservation Association, Kris Youtz, was first on scene to an emergency call in the Glacier Basin area in the past month. He effectively and professionally assessed the situation, used his Wilderness First Responder training, contacted back up and assisted with the carry out. This is not the first time this season we have had out volunteers help in a SAR situation. We would like to show how much we value our volunteers at Mount Rainier. We appreciate every volunteer for their service and commitment to the park and treasure the relationships we have built with them! Thank you all!

Related Video - Mount Rainier National Park: The 21th Century Volunteers

Follow Me - Amazing stories and photos from the field

Submitted by garrett on Thu, 08/16/2012 - 14:28

Join us this summer as we follow the lives of SCA members from coast to coast. This year we will drop in on more than a dozen members from Bear Brook, NH to Kenai Fjords, AK

From Facets of a Field: Telemetry work and New England Cottontails transporting, by Venice Wong, SNE-NY Bight Coastal Program, FWS CDIP Biology Intern.

I needed to know for certain that this was the route that I'll continue, at least until my body decides that enough is enough. I'm guilty of being a little reckless and maybe a little bit of a hero when it comes to manual labor. These are some reasons on why I decided to give another side of conservation a shot. These are things that I never thought about but knew was part of the conservation mission... continue reading