University of Puget Sound Students Assess Geologic Threats to Mount Rainier National Park

Students

Paige Shinall ’25 and Gwen Lindberg ’25 spent their summer interning with scientists studying various threats to the park.

It’s a warm summer day alongside Fryingpan Creek as Paige Shinall ’25 climbs into a pair of waders and prepares to step into the water. Moving carefully to avoid being swept away with the current, she places a flow meter into the water at set points across the width of the creek and shouts back measurements to Gwen Lindberg ’25, who is perched on a rock at the water’s edge with a pencil and notebook, recording the stream’s velocity, depth, and width.

Shinall and Lindberg spent their summer interning with Mount Rainier National Park’s Imminent Threats program, helping park officials make informed decisions about major infrastructure projects, like the planned replacement of the historic Fryingpan Creek Bridge. It’s a new internship program, giving Puget Sound students interested in geology, environmental policy and decision making, and the natural sciences a chance to work side-by-side with park scientists in the field to collect data about the mountain’s ever-changing landscape.

“Paige and Gwen are pretty indispensable in our field efforts,” said Robby Jost, a physical science technician with Mount Rainier National Park. “We have a really short amount of time to conduct fieldwork during the summer. So, they're helping us collect these measurements, deploy an array of sensors to monitor the hydrology here, and do data entry.”

“Getting to see how science happens in a national park and how that’s connected to decision making—and how all those things are connected—was a super cool experience,” said Lindberg.