An AIS Conference on “Interdisciplinary Studies: Navigating Between Generosity and
Rigor”: Welcome to the University of the Parks and its Beautiful Surroundings and
Attractions
By Cynthia Kimball Davis, PhD. Deena Marchal, MPA and Kennedy Hunt Rosaschi
Southern Utah University, College of Humanities & Social Sciences, Master of Interdisciplinary
Studies Program
Southern Utah University (SUU), also known as the University of the Parks, is located in
Cedar Sity, Utah, just two and a half hours north of Las Vegas and four hours south of Salt Lake
City, and not far from Zion National Park, Bryce Canyon National Park, and Arches National
Park, to name just a few of the sites that constitute our beautiful surroundings and attractions.
Given the commitment to interdisciplinary programming that characterizes our curriculum, we
rd are delighted to announce that the 43 and next face-to-face international Association for Interdisciplinary Studies (AIS) Conference will take place on the SUU campus from October 14th to October 16th, 2021. However, we want you to know that conference participants and their family and friends can experience how to “Navigate Among Generosity and Rigor” not only by exploring the academic presentations reflecting the theme of the confernece, but also by exploring the exquisite Southern Utah landscape through multiple excursions (scheduled before, during, and after the conference proper) to the three “top 20 best national parks in the world” mentioned above and other spectacular nearby sites, as well. With roughly 10,000 students who come from all over the world to study for associate of arts, bachelor’s, and graduate degrees in face-to-face, hybrid, and online formats, SUU is an interdisciplinary studies degree haven, offering degrees in general studies (AA and BGS) ranked
1 #45 by The Best Schools, and offering a bachelor’s of interdisciplinary studies (BIS) and a master’s of interdisciplinary studies (MIS) degree, as well. In fact, recently the BGS and BIS degrees produced more graduates than one large college at SUU. And just one semester after its launch, the MIS degree, the only one in the state of Utah, was ranked the third best online MIS degree in the nation by Best College Reviews. That degree can already claim the second highest number of graduate applications at the university. One MIS learning block is unique because it came to fruition from a partnership between SUU and Best Friends Animal Society; it is called
Contemporary Animal Service Leadership (CASL), a first ever program of its kind. SUU
President, Scott L. Wyatt, wonderfully supportive of the interdisciplinary programming at the university and of our plan to host the 2021 AIS conference, has said,
If we are to produce students who are liberally trained, then we should be liberal in our methods—by this I mean less siloed and more integrated in courses among
the various disciplines, using new best practices. The essential learning outcomes
are not tied to any one discipline.
Although SUU is the host institution for the conference, our planning committee also includes members from Brigham Young University-Idaho (BYU-I), Dixie State University
(DSU), Salt Lake Community College (SLCC), Utah Valley University (UVU), and Weber State
University (WSU), membership that reflects how wide-ranging commitment to interdisciplinary studies in this part of the world has come to be. And we would note that, like SUU, each of these other institutions is also committed to making conference attendance as inclusive as possible. We are particularly interested in encouraging the attendance of students, and are making arrangements for vans or busloads of students from all of the institutions partnering with us in this conference to join our own students, volunteering to assist, perhaps, but also presenting and networking right along with the faculty, administrators, and independent scholars and practitioners attending We have arranged for students who attend to earn up to 3-credits that can .
2 be applied to one of SUU’s degrees (BGS, BIS, or MIS) or to programs at their home college or university.
As we all know, interdisciplinary studies is marked by collaboration and integration across disciplines; across languages, cultures, and ethnicities; across genders; across abilities; across the arts and creative endeavors. The Association for Interdisciplinary Studies is dedicated to advancing the theory and practice of the many varieties of interdisciplinarity in the academy and in society at large. In planning our conference, our committee has acted to ensure that our programming reflects the AIS mission: "To promote the interchange of ideas among scholars and administrators in all of the arts and sciences on intellectual and organizational issues related to interdisciplinary education and research.” We are encouraging proposal submissions that will explore the conference theme identified above—“Interdisciplinary Studies: Navigating Among
Generosity and Rigor”—and we will welcome contributions that address different aspects of the conference theme from representatives of any of the aforesaid many varieities of interdisciplinarity. We are particularly interested in proposals for presentations addressing three sub-themes or subject strands we see as most supportive of the conference theme (and the AIS mission): Strand 1: Promoting the interchange of ideas among scholars and administrators—and students, as well; Strand 2: Utilizing intellectual and organizational tools related to interdisciplinary education and research; and Strand 3: Promoting best theories and practices in interdisciplinary teaching and learning. We would also note that our committee has identified presentation formats that will promote audience engagement, and we are particularly interested in proposals for presentations that will do just that.
You can find more about the conference theme, sub-themes, and presentation formats at our conference website (https://www.suu.edu/ais/), which will be up and running on November 8, 2020. A call for proposals for papers, panels, workshops, roundtables, artistic showcases, poster presentations, and PechaKucha will be posted on December 15, 2020, with proposals due
3 on or before May 1, 2021. Information about all other aspects of the conference can be found at the website, as well, including information about the opportunities we will be offering you (and any family and friends who accompany you to the conference) to explore the extraordinary landscape of Southern Utah before, during, and after the conference proper. Because we hope these opportunities to explore our region of the world will be as appealing as the opporunities to explore the academic aspects of the conference, we would like to conclude this article on the conference with some comments from experts representing the sites of our before-during-and-after conference-sponsored excursions--and some pictures of the sites you may choose to visit, as well. On the website for the conference, you will find many more comments and pictures than we cannot provide here in Issues in Interdisciplinary Studies, but we think these will serve to whet your appetite for more. Enjoy.
1.Why your organization/park name?
Used with permission by Best Friends Animal Society
4 Best Friends Animal Society CEO, Julie Castle When I first started here and I actually started volunteering in1994 and then joined the organization shortly thereafter, our name used to be Best Friends Animal Sanctuary. At that point in time, we had a national magazine that was being sent all over the country. And we started to discover that the topics that we were writing about were really inspiring people all over the country and all over the world, actually. As we did more and more work beyond the boundaries of the sanctuary, that name “sanctuary,” which implies a specific location of operation, just didn't cut it anymore. And so that's when we decided to go through a rebranding and changed our name from “Sanctuary to Society” because, not only did we have Best Friends Magazine, but we were starting to do programming all across the country. And of course, today we now have three centers in Los Angeles [CA}, one in Salt Lake City [UT], one in New York, and one in Atlanta [GA]. And we're about to build one, in conjunction with the Walton Family Foundation, in Bentonville, Arkansas, which is the home of Walmart. So, we really wanted the name “Society” to reflect the national reach we have.
Bryce Canyon National Park Superintendent, Linda Mazzu A group of pioneer families moved to this area in 1874. Ebenezer Bryce and his family were part of that group. Ebenezer helped to complete a seven-mile irrigation ditch from Paria Creek to their community. Bryce also built a road into the pink cliffs to make timber more accessible. People started to call the amphitheater where the road terminated “Bryce’s Canyon.” Ebenezer Bryce and his family moved to Arizona in 1880, but the Bryce’s Canyon name stuck.
Used with permission by the National Park Services
Capitol Reef National Park Superintendent, Sue Fritzke It's kind of an interesting thing. First, we have the Waterpocket Fold – a one-hundred-mile-long fold (monocline) in the earth's crust. It creates a significant topographic barrier, and early Euro-Americans, when they encountered it, felt that it was like an ocean reef—something that was preventing them from going from one side to another. That is where that part of the name comes from.
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Used with permission by the National Park Services
Second, we have Navajo sandstone rock - one of the 19 geologic layers in the park. Navajo sandstone creates these really wonderful white domes, and early Euro-Americans felt that one of them in particular, Capitol Dome, looks like a capitol building such as what you would see in Washington, D.C.
Used with permission by the National Park Services
And so, it's a combination of those two things: “Capitol” for the Navajo domes and “Reef” for what was considered to be a barrier by the most recent people who came
6 through here, our Euro-American ancestors. Native American Indians have an issue with the name because they did not consider the fold to be a barrier. The fold has some very specific areas that you can move through to travel between the low desert to the east and the high mountains to the west.
Moab National Park Superintendent, Patty Trap Both Arches National Park and Canyonlands National Park are named for their primary geologic features; visitors come to both parks to see them. The minute visitors set foot in Utah, they will see “Delicate Arch” on signs and license plates. Located in Arches, it’s perhaps the most renowned geological feature, although many other unique features are visible in both Arches and Canyonlands from park roads and trails, while some require further exploration.
Zion National Park Superintendent, Jeff Bradybaugh Well, there's a long history there. As you know, the Latter-Day Saints came West looking for religious freedom, and in the mid 1800s a number of folks came to this area, and one Mormon pioneer in particular, Isaac Behunin, is credited with giving the Canyon its name. And seeing the peaks and spires, he's said to have exclaimed that “it’s like a cathedral and a place of peace,” which in biblical terms has been named “Zion.” And so that name stuck.
Used with permission by the National Park Services
So originally the park was created as a national monument, and its name was Mukuntuweap National Monument, which is a word and a name for the area, for the Canyon, given by the Southern Paiute people, the indigenous people in the area.” “Mukuntuweap” means “Straight Canyon” or “Straight-up Land. And that was the original name of the park. And then later, when it was declared a national park in 1919,
7 the name was changed to Zion National Park. So it went from Mukuntuweap National Monument in 1909 to a national park in 1919.
Used with permission by the National Park Services
2.What is your organization/park known for?
Best Friends Animal Society CEO, Julie Castle So, I think in order to answer this question, I'm just going to give you a quick background. When the founders broke ground here at the sanctuary in 1984, you know, a lot of them were from England.
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Used with permission by Best Friends Animal Society
And some of them went to Oxford or Cambridge. And so, they were highly educated, and they were really inspired to change the world. One of the first things they thought when they broke ground here at the sanctuary was encouraging people to think about the world differently, saying, “Our American shelter system is broken; no longer should we have to think about how to best kill an animal, but how to best save an animal.”
Used with permission by Best Friends Animal Society
So they wanted us not to think about the most efficient or painless way to take an animal's life in the current construct and the current system, but to think about how to 9 best save animals in a new system and create lifesaving opportunities. And that was a total game changer. It was not something that anybody in this world (of animal welfare) had thought about or advocated before in our country.
Used with permission by Best Friends Animal Society
And from that point, the “No Kill Movement” was born and it caught onlike wildfire. Back then, 17 million animals were dying every year in America's shelters. And today that number is 625,000. And so collectively, as a country, we've made tremendous progress. So it's really cool.
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Used with permission by Best Friends Animal Society
Brian Head Tourism Executive Director, Maria Twitchell Brian Head is most known for being the home of Brian Head Ski Resort, the highest ski resort in Utah at 9,600 feet above sea level. The town of Brian Head itself is the second highest incorporated community in the United States.
Used with permission by the National Park Services
Bryce Canyon National Park Superintendent, Linda Mazzu We’ve got the largest concentration of hoodoos in the world, which are the geological formations you see when you visit Bryce Canyon. They're very intriguing and very colorful geologic features that make this a geology park.
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Used with permission by the National Park Services
Capitol Reef National Park Superintendent, Sue Fritzke One of our best known features is the geologic layers in the Waterpocket Fold, a very, very abrupt change in the landscape from east to west. A lot of layers of rock are exposed within the park--19 of them.
Used with permission by the National Park Services
12 Other features here are the evidence of rich cultural history ranging from that of archaic hunter-gatherers from thousands of years ago to the more recent history of the Latter-day Saints who homesteaded in Fruita and established orchards and pastures in what is now the headquarters for the park. We continue to care for the orchards that were established back in the late 1800s, and they provide opportunities for people to experience these trees at different times of the year, including picking fruit in season as the early settlers did.
Used with permission by the National Park Services
Moab National Park Superintendent, Patty Trap Arches National Park, as its name implies, is known for just that: Roughly 2000 natural arches exist within the park. And of course, most of them are the reddish stones that stand out on the landscape.
Canyonlands is known for deep canyons of multilayered rocks that expose 200 million years of geologic history. One area called “Island in the Sky” is spectacular from the top down to the base of the Green and Colorado Rivers. Moab National Park/Chief of Interpretation, Education & Visitor Services, Angie Richman River rafting is a very popular activity through Canyonlands. We have several concessionaires that offer guided trips, so people can safely go down the river in the park.
13 Zion National Park Superintendent, Jeff Bradybaugh Well, the park was first established as a national monument because of the unique and dramatic geologic formations. The deep, narrow canyons, the tall sandstone spires, that's principally what it's known for. But also, we’ve got the Virgin River that created the geologic landscape. And there are other things certainly that we're known for too, to biological science. For example, we’re known as a real sanctuary of plants and animals that are indigenous to the area.
Used with permission by the National Park Services
There are 44 species of plants and animals that are only found in Zion or the immediate surroundings that point to the unique biological, hydrologic, and physical environment. It's a combination of environment and species you see in the higher Colorado plateau, but also, habitats and species found in the lower Mojave desert.
Used with permission by the National Park Services
14 Scientists in various disciplines not only visit the park, but are doing research in the park, some that the park sponsors and some that they're doing independently with other sponsors. It is always great to have them here. And we certainly learn new things all the time.
Used with permission by the National Park Services
see 3.What is the one thing visitors should at your organization/park?
Used with permission by Best Friends Animal Society
15 Best Friends Animal Society CEO, Julie Castle
Well first I'll say that when you think about welfare in America, there are really two other big organizations, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) and the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS). And when I think about what differentiates Best Friends from those other organizations, the biggest thing to me is not just the no-kill ethic, but also where their headquarters are, their heart and soul, where they're based, where their font of inspiration is—they’re in Washington, DC, in New York City, in office buildings, and we're in this beautiful red rock Canyon that is in the heart of the national parks in America where we've got the Grand Canyon, an hour and a half away and Bryce, an hour and a half away, and Zion, about 35 minutes away. And when you think about all these beautiful surroundings, you think about the sanctuary as a sacred place.
Used with permission by Best Friends Animal Society
We have over 200 ancient sites on our land that range from 300 to 10,000 years old. But if you distill it down to one thing to see here at the sanctuary, I would say the thing to see, beyond the Canyon itself, is Angel's Rest because it's so sacred. And I think it embodies the belief that all lives are meaningful and all lives are sacred. It is basically a place where we bury the pets that have touched us, the pets that we've had at our sanctuary, and also, a place where our members are able to memorialize their animals; it's just a really special place.
Brian Head Tourism Executive Director, Maria Twitchell Brian Head Peak shadows the town of Brian Head. You can easily drive to the top at 11,250 feet. There is a viewing structure built there in 1930 by the Civil Conservation Corp. The Corp was a voluntary public work relief program that operated from 1933 to 1942 that gave millions of young men employment on environmental projects during the Great Depression. The scenic vistas from Brian Head Peak allow you to look into the west deserts of Utah as well into the distant mountain ranges and plateaus of Nevada and Arizona.
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Used with permission by the National Park Services
Bryce Canyon National Park Superintendent, Linda Mazzu Visitors definitely should see the Bryce Canyon amphitheater where the large concentration of hoodoos is centered. There are many places to experience that amphitheater. Viewing it from an overlook is popular. There are also great hiking trails throughout the amphitheater.
Used with permission by the National Park Services
Capitol Reef National Park Superintendent, Sue Fritzke From my standpoint, I think the thing that is super-fascinating about this park is the juxtaposition of red rock and the green oasis of Fruita, where park headquarters is. The incredibly colored rock layers within the green pastoral landscape that's associated with the orchards and the pasture lands that date back to the 1800s are stunning. Prior to Latter-day Saints moving into this area, it would have been a very green and very lush area without all of that agricultural activity, with 10,000 years of history of American Indians occupying this place. I think it's that juxtaposition of all of these different geologic histories and human histories and seeing all of those together in one place that is really amazing.
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Used with permission by the National Park Services
Moab National Park Superintendent, Patty Trap You know, it's interesting because people will tend to come for one thing like Delicate Arch. And yet, once they are in the park, they discover there's so much more to see and do, like hiking, river rafting, taking scenic drives, climbing, canyoneering, and night sky viewing. This is one of the darkest areas in the United States, and at certain places, it’s truly amazing the millions of stars you're able to see.
Moab National Park/Chief of Interpretation, Education & Visitor Services, Angie Richman Dark Sky preservation is really important for the four parks that Patty manages in Southeast Utah. Every one of the four parks has now earned the prestigious International Dark Sky Park status. We started with Natural Bridges National Monument back in 2009, and after a 10-year process, all four parks have now been officially designated. Just last year, in 2019, Arches National Park was the last of the four to receive International Dark Sky Park status. And with that status, we’re committed to providing visitor education programs as well as preserving the dark sky above these parks.
Moab National Park Superintendent, Patty Trap I don't know if you've ever been to a Dark Sy program—they are amazing and awe-inspiring. Telescopes are available as well as our Park Rangers to assist with learning about our marvelous universe.
Zion National Park Superintendent, Jeff Bradybaugh Well, we like to say don't focus on one thing because you'll miss the subtleties, which can often be very important to experiencing the parks. So certainly there are many well-known things here like Angel's Landing and the Narrows, but we like to teach people to get out in the park away from some of those well-known locations because they can be very crowded, and you can find your own place in the park. And certainly when we talk to visitors, we give them little hints about different, less-frequented places that we enjoy.
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Used with permission by the National Park Services
And so there are certainly the well known locations, but we like to encourage folks to get out and about.
4. do What is the one thing visitors should at your organization/park?
Best Friends Animal Society CEO, Julie Castle When I think about this, the one thing that our visitors who come here should do is, first of all, unplug, disconnect, turn off your phone. It is a place where you can really get in touch with nature, the earth, the animals.
And secondly, I would say you have to eat at the Village Cafe [on-site] because you will have the opportunity to meet founders, some of the people who started this place, and that is a moment that I think most people won't forget. To meet individuals who started a national movement and to be able to have lunch with them is really incredibly special.
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Used with permission by Best Friends Animal Society
And so that is a must do. Check off that box. Every Thursday they do a special presentation where they provide sort of a news roundup of the week, and they're just really charismatic and dynamic people. So that is definitely a must to do.
Used with permission by Cynthia Kimball Davis 20
Brian Head Tourism Executive Director, Maria Twitchell Watch the sunset at Cedar Breaks National Monument and stick around for the stargazing. With Cedar Breaks only a five-minute drive from Brian Head, you cannot beat watching the sunset on the red rock amphitheater of Cedar Breaks. The unique rock formations come alive in a blaze of rich colors illuminated by the sun. Afterwards, revel in the skies above as Cedar Breaks is an International Dark Sky Park, a place lacking in artificial light so you can see millions of stars above.
Used with permission by the National Park Services
Bryce Canyon National Park Superintendent, Linda Mazzu I think it's a very user friendly, easy-to-immerse-yourself park. Everybody should be hiking Bryce Canyon because trails take you right down into the hoodoos, and that's really the best way to experience them. And they change throughout the day, depending on lighting. I'd say hiking is the one thing everyone should do at Bryce Canyon National Park. The park is open 24/7. A lot of people come and set up cameras along the trails to photograph the night skies, a very important aspect of the park to experience, as well. We also do full moon hikes that are scheduled using a lottery system because of their popularity. We're an International Dark Sky Park, so it's important to experience nighttime here.
21 Used with permission by the National Park Services
Capitol Reef National Park Superintendent, Sue Fritzke Everyone should experience the fold—literally a fold in the earth’s crust. This is actually one of the largest ones on the earth’s surface that we can get access to, and it is easily visible from space. It's a unique experience to see all of those layers and how they're all folded and consider the stories each layer has to tell. If there's a limited amount of time visitors have, coming into the park and experiencing Scenic Drive, which traverses a portion of the fold, gives a sense of the place. Two roads extend off of Scenic Drive—Grand Wash and Capitol Gorge—where you drive into the river channels that have been carved through the fold. On those roads you also get more of a sense of these very, very narrow canyons and how the water has just carved its way through this uplift in the topography. It's amazing.
Used with permission by the National Park Services
Moab National Park Superintendent, Patty Trap One of the most important things to do is stop in a visitor center and engage with a ranger. You'll also see rangers out in the parks. You’ll find they have a passion for the park and can assist people to have an awesome experience when they visit. So, I would definitely seek out and talk to a ranger.
Moab National Park/Chief of Interpretation, Education & Visitor Services, Angie Richman A lot of people see our rangers as just providing orientation, but they can provide so much more that will make the visit a lot more rewarding and hopefully, get people just as passionate about this area as we are.
Zion National Park Superintendent, Jeff Bradybaugh One of the things I tell people is to find a quiet spot. I talk with them about feeling the Zion embrace. And to me, that is finding a quiet spot where you can sit and let your senses experience the different things that are happening in the environment around you. Often we, as humans, are always moving, and I think we miss a lot of things; so when we
22 stop and let the environment move around us, we get a whole different experience, and that's what I encourage visitors to do.
Used with permission by the National Park Services
5.Why do people from around the globe travel to your organization/park?
Best Friends Animal Society CEO, Julie Castle In the very beginning, we went through some periods, really tough financial times. And during that period, we basically spent our days, all day and all night, in front of grocery stores, in fact, grocery stores around the Intermountain West and California, basically asking for donations to keep the place open and capturing people's names and addresses.
This started in the late eighties, early nineties, and we took those lists of people we met and faxed them back to the sanctuary and they'd get entered into our database. And that's how we built our mailing list. Still today, we have people say, “Oh yeah, I met one of your founders in front of a supermarket, or, a Gelson's or a Mrs. Gooche's” or whatever store it was. And they remember that moment. Interestingly, it's how we met a lot of our celebrity supporters. It's how we met, most of our celebrities that we work with now; we can trace back to us meeting them at a supermarket. So it was with [American actresses] Laura Dern and Michelle Williams, and we’ve got just insane stories about our founders meeting some of these folks [outside grocery stores].
Used with permission by Best Friends Animal Society
23 Basically, we started from there to message our membership and send out a newsletter. And we really wanted to talk about the good news and the positive stuff happening at the sanctuary and around the country. And we had this guy who was volunteering his time to guide us. And he was a direct mail expert and he said, “You know what? I'm telling you right now. You're never gonna make it, unless you show 'em the dire situation that animals are in. You've got to show the dead animals. You've got to show the animals behind the cages. You've got to show, oh, the pain and suffering to create the urgency.” And we said, we're not going to do that.
We feel like there's more power in being positive, and people responded to that. And so, we started talking about all the good news and all the great things that were happening and all the positivity. And we talked about the sanctuary and how the sanctuary was a miracle of nature, a miracle of love and, without sounding too kumbaya, our response rate went through the roof, and people started saying, “I never knew that other people felt this way.” Then people started saying, “I want to come and visit so that I can be a part of this.” And we started getting these visitors from all over the world who were reading our newsletter, and they would show up to volunteer. They'd show up to visit. They'd show up to stay in our cottages and cabins.
Used with permission by Best Friends Animal Society
And every one of them would say, “This place changed my life. It was so magical and transformative,” and I think that's the power of the Canyon. It's the power of positivity. And it's the power of having a very clear mission, which is pretty simple to explain; basically we love animals, and we don't want to see them die in shelters. So that's the story.
Brian Head Tourism Executive Director, Maria Twitchell Brian Head, like Cedar City, is centrally located for southwest Utah’s national parks and monuments. Cedar Breaks National Monument is only a five-minute drive from Brian Head. Bryce Canyon is less than an hour, and Zion is only 90 minutes. Brian Head is located on National Scenic Byway 143, a highway that weaves through amazing scenery and links to US Highway 89 to Zion and Bryce Canyon.
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Used with permission by the National Park Services
Bryce Canyon National Park Superintendent, Linda Mazzu People come because of the magical nature of the hoodoos, but the night sky does bring people here as well. Bryce is also part of the Mighty Five group of national parks in southern Utah that draw people from all over the world to visit this area. Bryce is the second busiest park after Zion, as far as the Mighty Five parks go.
Used with permission by the National Park Services
Capitol Reef National Park Superintendent, Sue Fritzke People come because of the unique geology and the unique history that we have here. And because we are relatively uncrowded compared to the other Utah national parks. Our visitation has really skyrocketed over the last five, six years. But compared to the other national parks, we have a much lower level of visitation, and Capitol Reef National Park has features that represent all of the different national parks in the state of Utah—hoodoos, arches, canyons, and large monolithic rock layers. It's a really unique opportunity. If you have a chance to only come to one national park in the state, this is 25 the one to come to because you get a representation of every other park here. And it is not as crowded; definitely there are days and there are times it is crowded, but you're still not going to be really stuck in those miserable traffic lines. It's a 242,000 acre park, so there is plenty of room for people to spread out. Obviously there are places where overcrowding occurs at times, but there are plenty of areas to spread out and to explore in this park. It's phenomenal.
Used with permission by the National Park Services
Moab National Park/Chief of Interpretation, Education & Visitor Services, Angie Richman People have seen those iconic pictures of the arches, specifically Delicate Arch and the red rocks, and that's really what draws them to the Moab area. But they soon learn, there is so much more to see and do here in the Moab area and on other public lands.
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So, Moab really is a tourist destination or mecca, because there is something for everyone in this area. While it is largely the natural arches that draw people here, they're quickly amazed at how much more there is to see.
Moab National Park Superintendent, Patty Trap I agree with Angie. For me, the first time I came to the Moab area was to see dinosaur tracks! Quite a few trackways for a number of species have been discovered in the area. We have some funding to do a larger study to learn more about them. And if somebody is really interested, ask a ranger; he or she will be able to point out where some of the trackways are in the park and the Moab area.
Zion National Park Superintendent, Jeff Bradybaugh Zion is a very well known park. It's a little bit different than some of our other Canyon parks, Bryce or Grand Canyon, where your first contact is usually from the top looking down; in Zion, you're coming into the bottom of the Canyon, and you're surrounded by the Canyon. So it’s just a different experience. But why do people come? I think it’s just due to the very, very dramatic landscape.
Used with permission by the National Park Services
6. What’s been the best visitor experience you’ve encountered?
Julie Castle Best Friends Animal Society CEO, I have a really funny one and then a really inspiring one. So the funny one occurred when we were having lunch in the Village Cafe one day, and I happened to be sitting with one of the founders, Francis Battista.
We were going about our business, and this guy and his family walked in, and Francis leaned over, and he said, “I think that's Eric Idle from the Monty Python [Comedy Group], one of the Monty Python guys.” And I was like, “No way, the guy that does Spam song?” And sure enough, he and his family just showed up. Unannounced, totally 27 incognito. And so we went over and said hi to them. And, we've been lifelong friends with them now for probably 25 years. And so that was a funny visitor experience.
The best experience I've had actually happened this year. And it was a teenage girl, 15, who personally wrote to me and asked if she could interview me to talk about how she wanted to change the world. And she told me how she was reaching out to a hundred people across the planet to compile these interviews for her blog so that she could help people in her age group, and fellow students, carve a pathway forward for changing the world and volunteering and how much it means to give back. And I was so inspired by this, that even though she lives in New Jersey, I invited her to visit, and we brought her to the sanctuary. And basically, we gave her a tour of the place and let her experience it thoroughly.
Used with permission by Best Friends Animal Society
I think the more you can spend time with and give to younger people, to solidify how important it is for us as a species, as human beings, to be kinder and more generous and take the high road, the better we can demonstrate in action, here at the sanctuary, what that can look like. Man, can you imagine the kind of world we'd have if we all took the time to do that? So that was a really, really special time.
Brian Head Tourism Executive Director, Maria Twitchell I ‘ve seen people in their 50s and 60s ski for the first time at Brian Head. It's perfect for those just learning or honing their skills. They have a system that guarantees you’ll be turning and making your way down the slope that first day. When you have fun, it's easier to stick to the sport, particularly when you are older. They have two mountains; one is Navajo Mountain, which is for beginner skiers, and the other is Giant Steps Mountain, which is for intermediate and advanced skiers. Separating the users makes for a safer, more enjoyable experience.
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Bryce Canyon National Park Superintendent, Linda Mazzu There's a program called “I Hiked the Hoodoos,” and it's a program that encourages people to go hiking. Basically, we have benchmark medallions like you'd see on top of a mountain. We have them embedded in wayside signs. We place them down along our trails. You can earn an “I Hiked the Hoodoo” sticker if you've hiked at least three miles and you've taken photographs of these benchmarks or you've done rubbings of them. People will bring them into the visitor center, and they are so proud to show you where they hiked in Bryce Canyon. It's a great way to ensure people really connect and get that experience with Bryce; the stickers are wonderful. They're easy to put on a water bottle, that sort of thing. We get support for this program from our Bryce Canyon Association. It’s a very successful program. I always love it when I work at the visitor center desk every now and then when people come in and share their hiking experiences with me.
Used with permission by the National Park Services
29 Capitol Reef National Park Superintendent, Sue Fritzke One experience people enjoy here is the fruit picking that happens in the orchards every summer. That's just a wonderful way for people to connect with past history and realize that they're carrying on the history and the legacy that came from the LDS pioneers and settlers who established those orchards. You're picking fruit off trees that can be up to about 130-140 years old—a pretty awesome thing. The other best experience I’ve had is hiking one of the gorges, when all of a sudden we had a group of about 25 bighorn sheep that came trotting through and crossed in front of everybody and then went on their merry way. It was absolutely unexpected, one of these little moments you can have here that are completely unanticipated and are an absolute surprise. The visitors were so excited, and they were absolutely respectful of the animals while taking video, but staying far enough away from them so they weren't disturbing their activities. Afterwards the grins on everybody's faces, including mine, were a really nice thing to see.
Moab National Park Superintendent, Patty Trap I waited for this job to come open for a long time and was so fortunate to be selected for the opportunity to be the Superintendent of four parks—Arches and Canyonlands National Parks and Hovenweep and Natural Bridges National Monuments. I visited all these areas before I worked here, so I have had a number of best experiences: the first time I saw a dinosaur track, the first time I hiked in Arches to see this wild, amazing landscape, visited the Great Gallery to see a spectacular panel of petroglyphs and pictographs in Canyonlands. And that is only just a sampling—there is SO much to see and do here!
Moab National Park/Chief of Interpretation, Education & Visitor Services, Angie Richman People always ask when's the best time to visit Arches or when's the best time to visit Canyonlands. And I know they're looking for a season, but I usually tell them to visit at night. My background is in astronomy, and experiencing dark skies has been really special to me. Our parks are open 24 hours. People often don't realize that; they think the parks close at night, but they don’t. And you can get out there and have a more solitary, quiet experience. I was out at night, sitting at Double Arch, and I heard a flute and walked back out to the parking lot, and there was one other visitor out there who also came at night to enjoy the night sky. And so I think those experiences where people are kind of seeing the parks in a slightly different way are pretty special.
Zion National Park Superintendent, Jeff Bradybaugh I think my best visitor experiences have been with children that have their first park experience, and we see that a lot, particularly with our urbanizing society. I mean things have changed dramatically in the last 30 years in terms of where people live and how they experience nature. And so, we get a lot of folks from cities. And some of the experiences that children have are just amazing, and to just see and listen to them after they've had a day in the park is interesting for us and rewarding for them.
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We do a program here called Concrete to Canyons, with some inner city children from Las Vegas [NV], and many of these kids have not been in this kind of an outdoor, natural environment. It’s a multi-day camping experience for the kids. They start out kind of shy and not quite sure where they are, but the freedom that they experience, the nature that they experience, is just amazing.
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And, after each of these camps, when the children get back to school, the teachers have them write up what they saw or experienced at the park. And they send those essays to us here, and when we read them, they're just amazing. And they're very simple, but they're very insightful and really fun to read.
So, to me, that's the best experience that I've had now. It carries over to adults as well. I mean, we're just amazed at some of the conversations that we have with adults who haven't been to a place like this before, and they're kind of blown away.
7. What’s been the best thing that’s happened to you at your organization/park?
32 Used with permission by Best Friends Animal Society
Best Friends Animal Society CEO, Julie Castle When I think about the best thing that's happened to me, I was on my way to law school at the University of Virginia. But first I went on a road trip with some friends from college at SUU. We were on our way back from a trip to Mexico, and we had decided to take that one last trip because we knew life was going to get increasingly real. We had run out of money. And so we had just enough for gas and a candy bar each to get back home, and we drove straight through, and one of my friends was begging us to stop at this animal sanctuary. And none of us wanted to, but finally we capitulated, and then we ended up here, and it was such a life changing moment for me.
I think back to what my life would have been if I hadn’t taken that trip, if we hadn’t agreed to stop at the sanctuary, and I can't imagine it. And so I think the best thing that's happened to me is that very first day that I walked onto the sanctuary property, and just as for so many other visitors that we have who arrived here, it changed my life. It was that transformative. And I'm not somebody who makes decisions on the fly like that, especially about the destiny of my life. And I think that truly is the best thing that's happened.
Brian Head Tourism Executive Director, Maria Twitchell I too learned to ski at Brian Head when I was 30, and my five-year-old daughter was with me. It created a lifetime of activity we still enjoy as a family.
Bryce Canyon National Park Superintendent, Linda Mazzu Part of it has to do with SUU; the thing I love most is the relationship with the University which is formalized through our Alliance for Education agreement. SUU, Bryce Canyon Association, Ruby’s Inn, and the National Park Service collaborate together on this agreement.
Used with permission by the National Park Services
33 What really is exceptional about SUU is the emphasis on bringing students into the parks as participants in the SUU Semester in the Parks Program or the Intergovernmental Internship Cooperative (IIC). I really enjoy bringing youth, our young folks, in to experience what it's like to work in a national park. That's probably the best thing that's happened to me.
Capitol Reef National Park Superintendent, Sue Fritzke I've experienced a variety of weather conditions as we transition from season to season. From summer and going through a monsoon and fall and seeing all of the trees change color and then winter (we've had a couple of years where we’ve had some fairly good snowpack in the park, which was unusual) and then spring. Being able to see this park and how it changes as the seasons progress is a wonderful thing, as is realizing that this park is accessible for visitors at all different times of the year.
Moab National Park/Chief of Interpretation, Education & Visitor Services, Angie Richman I would say last year when the Arches received the International Dark Sky Park status was the best experience I’ve had just because it was the culmination of 10 years of work. We held a huge, two-day event with about a 1000 people in attendance for all to experience the night sky! It was perfect. We had no clouds. The weather was nice. Visitors just really appreciated being here. And, there were a couple of visitors who'd come up from California and they asked, “Oh! What's that cloudy, smoky thing up there in the sky?” And I said, “Well, that's the Milky Way.” And they were blown away. Never in their lives had they seen the Milky Way. And to share those kinds of experiences with visitors is truly humbling, and it gives me satisfaction in my job to keep doing what I'm doing.
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Zion National Park Superintendent, Jeff Bradybaugh I’ve had dozens of wonderful experiences, but I think the best thing has been seeing our successful hatch and fledging of the California condor chick last year. Here's one of the most critically endangered animals in the world. And we've had Condors around, but we've only had two nestings occur. The first time, the chick didn't make it, but this last time, everybody was hanging around with bated breath, keeping an eye on this little bird, and it made it through and started to fly and we had hundreds of people with binoculars and spotting scopes watching what was going on every day. The adult condors happened to nest in an area that was really visible from the scenic drive in the main Canyon. And so I'm seeing the reaction of the visitors, and also just knowing that we're helping to the degree we can to protect condor habitat, helping out the parents of this little bird; the young condor hatching successfully was pretty cool.
34 And now it is flying around the Southern Colorado plateau between the Grand Canyon and here and elsewhere. It's pretty great. That is an endangered bird, the California condor.
8.Anything else you’d like to share?
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Best Friends Animal Society CEO, Julie Castle I just want to add, from my perspective, one of the most important things about our organization is that we are in the field of animal welfare.
But to me it's bigger than that. It's about leading by example, in terms of how we collectively treat our staff and how, during this COVID crisis and other tough situations that we've been faced with, it’s about putting our staff first. It's about recognizing that they're human beings and that life is challenging. You spend most of your time at work. So it better be something that you really love.
And for me, it starts there; it starts at the core of how we relate to our staff. And then from there, it emanates out to everybody that we touch—our network partners and anybody else that we're partnering with. Because to me, it's bigger than animal welfare.
This is about our vision which is kindness to animals and building a better world for all of us. And that is paramount because animals are not political. There is no divide with animals. They don't know the difference between color or race or sexuality or gender orientation: they just love.
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They have so much to teach us. And I think the biggest thing is thinking about this mission in broader terms. A lot of our supporters think it's split down the middle between whether we're conservative or we’re liberal. But all people share a universal love for animals, and no matter what, they do not judge you. They love unconditionally, and we should take a page out of their handbook.
So that's my armchair philosophy for today.
Brian Head Tourism Executive Director, Maria Twitchell Highway 143 is the steepest highway in Utah with its 13 % grade just before Brian Head. Hwy 143 is designated as a National Scenic Highway, known as the Patchwork Parkway. The “Patchwork” name initially came from the heroic story of an early group of pioneers who, during the harsh winter of 1864, set out to cross the plateau from Panguitch to Parowan in search of food and other supplies for their starving colony. The only way they could cross the deep snow was to lay patchwork quilts over the snow, walk to the end of each quilt, then relay the quilts again. The story portrays the testament of the heart and soul of the people that make up the individual communities along this Byway.
Bryce Canyon National Park Superintendent, Linda Mazzu The other thing I'll mention is the Paiute Tribal youth camp, which is run by a partnership with all public land agencies in this region, SUU, Bryce Canyon Association, and many others. I've worked with them for the past three years. It has been a wonderful experience to assist in these youth camps.
36 I've worked in a lot of impressive parks out there, for sure. But Bryce is so easy to explore and make great memories. We hear this a lot from visitor—how Bryce is their favorite park. It's their favorite of the Mighty Five. It's better than the Grand Canyon. And, it's true. I think it's an experience that's hard to replicate in other bigger parks that are really spread out. And I don't just want to emphasize the hoodoos. We have wonderful hiking trails along the rim and in more remote parts of the park. It's an exceptional experience.
Capitol Reef National Park Superintendent, Sue Fritzke People need to spend some time here at the park. It's not a park you can understand and visit in two hours. I've highlighted a few of the top things, but I encourage people to try to spend as much time as they can here; after all, it's a 242,000 acre park. That’s almost a quarter of a million acres—very big and with a lot of complexities. You could spend a lifetime here and still not know it.
Moab National Park Superintendent, Patty Trap So, I've worked in national parks around the country and lived in 16 States. What I have learned is that the thing that really makes these parks so great is the dedicated staff, who work every day to protect the resources, engage visitors, maintain the parks, and provide for visitor safety.
And you've heard it with Angie's story—her enthusiasm makes us all want to go out and be amazed by the dark sky. We get drawn into that energy. And Angie is only one of the most amazing park staff I have ever worked with, that in turn offer so many types of truly awesome experiences for our visitors.
Zion National Park Superintendent, Jeff Bradybaugh I think I finally would share that we have many people that are very dedicated to caring for our national parks, and it takes everyone. It takes the citizens caring about these places. We have an incredible corps of volunteers that help us in the various parks. Here at Zion, our local volunteers as well as groups from afar contribute more than 30,000 hours of their time to help the visitors experience the park and all its resources and to take care of it. And, I think this is something that's so important that we all participate in caring for these places.
Used with permission by the National Park Services
37 In addition to the above conference excursions, there will also be excursions to the following sites: the historical Parowan Gap Petroglyphs, located within a 15 minute radius of Cedar City, the Tuacahn Amphitheatre, an outdoor theatre located within a canyon just outside of St. George, Utah, 50 minutes to the south, and the Tony Award-winning theater at the Utah Shakespeare Festival located on the campus of Southern Utah University. Bring yourself, family and friends and come join us not only to experience how to “Navigate Among Generosity and Rigor” academically, but throughout Southern Utah and its many attractions and surroundings. We promise you, you won’t be disappointed.
Biographical Notes:
, PhD, is the Director of the Master of Interdisciplinary Studies (MIS) Cynthia Kimball Davis degree at Southern Utah University. She is also an Assistant Professor in the program. Her research interests include heart-based hope communication, culture and leadership, leadership, and marketing interdisciplinary studies.
MPA, is the Coordinator of Graduate Programs in the College of Humanities Deena Marchal, and Social Sciences at Southern Utah University. She is also an adjunct professor in both the
Legal Studies Minor and the Master of Public Administration programs based on her many years as a paralegal in Southern Utah.
is the Special Projects Assistant in the MIS Program and an Kennedy Hunt Rosaschi undergraduate student at Southern Utah University studying interdisciplinary studies with emphasis on graphic design, marketing, and communications.
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