The 2024 National Parks Week celebration is in full swing, not to mention smack in the middle of Visit Alamosa's 'We Love Our National Park' Month Long Celebration! What better way to celebrate our park this week than to introduce you to a couple of the faces behind the scenes that keep our park an amazing place to visit! Welcome to the first in a series of Q&A with the Great Sand Dunes National Park Staff! Read below to meet two members of the National Park team and all of the amazing things that they do for the park and community!
Andrew Valdez: Geologist/Hydrologist
Q:Where are you from?
A: The Greater Capulin, Co Area
Q:Where did you go to school and what for?
A: Adams State College for Geology
Q:Why did you become a part of the Great Sand Dunes Team?
A: I like the Sand Dunes
Q:How long have you worked at the park?
A: 30 Years
Q:What is your official role at the park and what does it involve?
A: I am a Geologist, I measure elements of the physical system, such as groundwater, streamflow, weather, and dune position to better understand how they change over time.
Q:What is your favorite memory as a team member at the park?
A: Hiking through remote parts of the dunefield, I always see something interesting
Q:What is your favorite thing to do at the Great Sand Dunes?
A: Give talks about the dunes
Q:What is one thing you think people should know about the National Park?
The dunes are the most scenic in the morning or evening when the incoming light is at a low angle. Shadows develop and you can see a lot of detail in the dune shape.
Q:What is your most unique experience in your time at the park?
A: Having close encounters with wildlife
Q:Why do you love our National Park?
A: I like the Sand Dunes
Shelly Hill: Education Ranger
Q:Where are you from?
A: I am originally from California, specifically the Bay Area
Q:Where did you go to school and what for?
I went to the University of California, Santa Barbara. I double majored in Environmental Science and Anthropology
Q:Why did you become a part of the Great Sand Dunes Team?
A: I've always loved the outdoors. I grew up camping, hiking, and generally getting outside with my family in National Parks as well as other public lands. I also really learning new and interesting things and found out while working at a summer camp that I also really enjoy teaching. When I was in college, I realized I could combine all of those interests and I found an internship in a National Park shortly after graduating.
Q:How long have you worked at the park?
A: I've worked at the Great Sand Dunes for about six months now! I bounced around a little before that, this is the eighth park I've worked at. I also worked at other parks in Colorado, Texas, New Mexico, and New Jersey.
Q:What is your official role at the park and what does it involve?
A:I’m the park’s Education Ranger! I run all our education programs, which includes everything from field trips for schools visiting the park, to library programs in local communities, to distance learning programs for schools all over the country. I also get to design new park curriculum based on Colorado state standards, requests from teachers, and whatever cool things we’re doing at the park! One of the coolest things about my job is the diversity of programming I get to run – one day I might be showing third graders how to do a handstand like a circus beetle and the next on a call with college students about the legislative process of creating a National Park.
Q:What is your favorite memory as a team member at the park?
A: During my first education program at the Great Sand Dunes I got to teach kids how to use an atlatl, a type of paleolithic spear thrower. Weirdly, that is something i've done for the NPS at a few different parks, so it was fun bringing out that old skillset and applying it to a new park with different history and themes.
Q:What is your favorite thing to do at the Great Sand Dunes?
A: I love getting out into the dunes. I've only climbed up to High Dune twice so far, but getting high enough to see the entire dunefield spread out for miles is just amazing. It's so unlike anything i've ever seen before.
Q:What is one thing you think people should know about the National Park?
A: Just how much there is going on here! Not just the dunes, but diverse ecosystems like our mountains and grasslands and over 10,000 years of continuous human history.
Q:What is your most unique experience in your time at the park?
A: Remote education programs mean I get to interact with so many students who would otherwise not get to experience the park, but usually they're still somewhere in the United States and may have been to a National Park before. Last fall, I was able to give a program about our park to an elementary school in Germany, which is not something I had ever considered! It did mean that due to time zones I had to get ready for the program at 4 a.m., but the experience was so worth it!
Q:Why do you love our National Park?
A: I love being able to go to a beautiful and fascinating place every day and help people discover brand new things! I like to describe my job to students as 'learning cool things and showing people all of the cool things I learn.' There is really just so much to learn about and explore here in the park.
Keep your eyes peeled for more Q&A with our friendly staff over at the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve! Be sure to thank a park ranger this week--and every week for all they do for the incredible National Park that lives in our backyards! From all of the team at Visit Alamosa, Thank you Great Sand Dunes Staff, and Happy National Parks Week!
