Research and Education
in the National Parks

National Park Service Research and Education in the National Parks

PART I
THE EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM IN THE NATIONAL PARKS

YOSEMITE SCHOOL OF FIELD NATURAL HISTORY

The Yosemite School of Field Natural History is a summer school for the training of naturalists, where emphasis is placed on the study of living things in their natural environment. The school was founded in 1925 in answer to a demand for better trained naturalists for the Yosemite Nature Guide Service. Furthermore, there was need for a training not furnished by the universities. The California Fish and Game Commission cooperated with the National Park Service in making this school possible. The staff is composed of Dr. Harold C. Bryant, assistant director of the National Park Service, Charles A. Harwell, park naturalist, and the regular Yosemite ranger-naturalist force. The term lasts seven weeks, corresponding with the University of California summer session at Berkeley. The last week of the field period is spent in making studies at timber line.

FIGURE 30.—The Yosemite school of Field Natural History gathered around the camp fire for informal discussion, several members of the Park Service naturalist staff are present, each contributing to the program.

Two years of college work, or the equivalent, is required of those registering. There is no tuition but there is a registration fee of $5. Thus far each class has been limited to 20. Students are housed in a circle of tents.

As the name implies, emphasis is placed on intensive field work and each student is expected to know and to identify all of the more common Yosemite trees, shrubs, wild flowers, insects, fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals. The work is of university grade, although for the present no university credit is offered. A certificate showing that the work has been satisfactorily completed is issued. The course is not a duplicate of university summer work but is supplementary thereto, for it stresses first-hand information gained from the living thing. Field observation and identification occupies 60 per cent of the student's time. Graduates of this school are filling positions as nature guides in parks and summer camps throughout the country. Many of the naturalist positions in the National Park Service are held by graduates of this field school.

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Last Modified: Sat, Feb 16 2002 10:00:00 pm PDT
http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/bryant-atwood/resedu1r.htm