TETON COUNTY SEARCH AND RESCUE
My TSS project based in the Jackson community involved partnering with Teton Country Search and Rescue (TCSAR) to better understand the type of person accessing the backcountry out of the gates at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort (JHMR). Several injuries and fatalities had already occurred out the gates of the resort that season, and Stephanie Thomas and Amy Golightly at TCSAR were interested in conducting a survey to understand the level of preparedness of backcountry users. With this data, they hoped to focus outreach to different demographics depending on what the typical mistake made by that group was. My fellow AmeriCorps teammate, Laine Smith, and I surveyed for forty hours, stationing ourselves at various gates on ten different days with iPads in cold hands. We gathered data about users’ experience level, avalanche education, group size, sex, and age. We noted whether users carried proper safety equipment with them - such as shovels, beacons, probes, or airbags, -, whether they had checked the avalanche forecast that morning, and whether they were residents or visitors to the Jackson area. This data, along with the reflections that Laine and I shared with TCSAR, will allow TCSAR and JHMR to tailor their outreach to address issues at hand in specific demographics.
The survey results demonstrate different levels of preparedness of backcountry users. With the 300+ responses that we gathered, TCSAR can tailor outreach to promote a better level of scientific understanding of the hazards of the backcountry. Perhaps this means helping users understand what weather conditions increase risk of avalanches, or maybe how different mental states and group dynamics might increase one’s risk of being caught in an avalanche. There are many different directions TCSAR and JHMR might choose to follow, but all of them promote user safety, and thus scientifically literate users that make thoughtful decisions demonstrating a knowledge of the risks associated with backcountry use. This project can be added to with further data analysis, outreach efforts, and even additional surveying next winter - perhaps a project for another ambitious AmeriCorps member.
While at TSS, I worked on two projects with the goal of increasing capacity for scientific literacy of both TSS and the community of Jackson.
DOUG WALKER CHALLENGE COURSE
For my TSS scientific capacity-building project, I worked with fellow cohort member Jack Minich to understand faculty, instructor, and AmeriCorps opinions on the low elements of the Doug Walker Challenge Course (DWCC). With the help of faculty member Patrick Leary, we investigated how the challenge course was currently being used as a teaching tool and whether people thought it could be successfully used in other ways. Our preconception coming into the project was that a couple elements on the DWCC were being used to teach team building and leadership skills, but much of the DWCC remained unused. Patrick in particular wanted to know whether instructors felt comfortable teaching science content on the elements.
We sent out a survey to all TSS field education members asking them to tell us which elements they had used in the past and for what purpose. We asked them if they thought the DWCC inherently lent itself well to teaching certain “pillars” of TSS, such as connection to place, leadership in community, field science practices. We asked whether field education staff felt like more specific content - such as science content, Nature of Science principles, science circle ideas, games, leadership and teamwork principles - could be taught on the DWCC. We questioned whether people were more or less likely to use the DWCC depending on participants’ ages and their level of acquaintance with each other. Finally, we asked staff about their current level of comfort facilitating programs on the DWCC and what TSS could do to remove barriers to its use.
From the survey’s results, Jack and I noticed differences among faculty, instructors, and AmeriCorps’ ideas around limitations and potential for the DWCC. The information gained from this survey can be used to tailor future trainings on the DWCC so that people feel more comfortable leading more elements to teach a variety of topics, all with the goal of increasing scientific literacy in the participants on the DWCC.
