Alaska Geographic Explained

I mentioned in my currently posts that I took a last-minute “support staff” role at Alaska Geographic for the summer. It turned out to be the job I didn’t even know I needed and wanted!! I freaking loved it. And I thought it deserved a dedicated post because there were so many blog-worthy things about the role related to it this summer. 

Alaska Geographic is the nonprofit partner of Alaska’s 8 national parks. What does that mean? It mostly means that they operate retail shops in the parks, and those proceeds go back into the park. In Denali, we have a retail store, but we also have an education department. I worked for the education department, and we facilitated several types of programs as the park partner (thanks to the store’s profit). 

The Denali Education Team has an education manager (Madeleine) and a field course coordinator (Jess) that works year-round, then they hire 4 science educators for the summer. It was a bit of a wonky summer for AK Geo because Madeleine was going on maternity leave partly through the summer, so an interim education manager would be taking over (Sydney). Furthermore, Madeleine’s program coordinator left the job in April, so instead of scrambling to hire for that role, Madeleine hired me as the “support staff” to fill in wherever. 

AK Geo offers several types of programs in Denali. There are field courses, a hands-on multi-day learning vacation for adults focused on a variety of outdoor subjects from mosses to paleontology led by an expert in the field, all of which takes place deep in Denali’s backcountry. There were also narrated tours into the park that are meant to be more “active” with hiking versus the typical bus tours available. In the frontcountry, AK Geo gives a ton of presentations for incoming tour groups, hosts presenters for evening programs, and offers “family time” programs at the Visitor Center a few days a week. 

My role was part-time and fairly flexible to balance the demands of the rest of my summer jobs. Mostly, I would be on-call for AK Geo on weekends to give Madeleine a break (we always have to have someone on call when programs are taking place). But I also “supported” the science educators in multiple ways, one of which involved cutting up chicken and veggies (hence me wearing my onion glasses) for those going out to our field camp. 

This job challenged me in ways I didn’t know I needed. I haven’t worked in an office in 15 years, so that alone created some painful growing pains, especially having to use a non-Apple cell phone & non-Apple computer and programs I had never heard of. 

Beyond the office trials, I appreciated being in a role that forced me to continue learning. Given its size and biodiversity, Alaska is a lifelong lesson, and I delight being a student of nature. 

I also got out into the park (beyond mile 15 where private vehicles have to stop) more times this summer than I have in the last five years!!! I was even lucky enough to participate (as a shadow) in our “Bears of Denali” Field Course. The instructor was Pat Owens, who has been the park’s bear biologist for 30 years. When I was younger and people would talk about cool jobs, they would mention astronaut and doctor. No one told me I could be a bear biologist?! 

Anyway, all the course participants—including myself—soaked up as much information from Pat, some of which I’ll summarize here.

Denali estimates that there are 300 grizzlies roaming the park. Over the years, they’ve collared dozens of bears with GPS trackers to evaluate their eating habits, locations, age and health. What makes this full circle is that that retail revenue from Alaska Geographic helps fund the bear research collars! We learned all about our bears of Denali—how radio telemetry can locate the bear collars from helicopters, what they eat through the season, how they breed, what their dens look like, hibernation patterns and more. I think the most fascinating thing I gained is that bears are the only mammals that practice delayed implantation. They mate in the spring, but the pregnant sow/female can stop developing the embryo for several months until they enter their dens for winter rest. While in “hibernation” (which is better named torpor because it’s not as heavy as hibernation), they give birth around January/February while they are “sleeping.” At that point, the cubs weigh like 1/2 pound and mamma bear just nurses them from her stored fat while she is “sleeping.” When they emerge from the den in the spring, they are 3+ months and about 8 lbs!

Pat has been teaching this bears field course for like 20 years, and she and the participants don’t always see bears. We were lucky enough to have an awe-inspiring bear spotting. We saw a sow with her 2 cubs from our vehicle. Pat suspects something was hunting them (a boar/male grizzly or wolf) because she stashed her cubs in the brush, then came out the road and was sniffing around like crazy, paying no attention to our vehicle.

Knowledge aside, the last—but most impactful—part of the job was the fact that I had amazing co-workers! Even though the science educators were fresh out of college, they had such an abundance of knowledge and a desire to learn that was inspiring. Our scheduled criss-crossed all summer, but there was such camaraderie and I hope to work at Alaska Geographic again next summer!