National Park Service Climate Change Action Plan: 2012-2014

NatioNal UpdatesLearning to Tell an Effective Story - December WorkshopStanding in front of a group of strangers, like animprovisational actor, I was working with fivescientists to create an impromptu story about twopeople who decided to make dinner together.Brian Palermo, an improvisational actor, pointedto my colleague. She started the story with “Pattyput a pot with a turkey in it on the stove”. Asecond later Palermo pointed to me to pick upthe story. I paused and blurted out “then Fred gotingredients out of the cupboard. He chose ”I was cut off because Palermo quickly called onsomeone else. I exhaled a sigh of relief. Our teamdescribed the list of ingredients and the origin ofthe recipe. Palermo jumped in saying, “someoneneeds to DO something. This story is getting boring because there is no action.”In early December 2012, two dozen brave parkservice employees met in Ft. Collins for a storytelling workshop led by a scientist-turnedfilmmaker named Randy Olson, actor/story editorDorie Barton, and Palermo. Why would scientistswant to tell stories? Kevin Castle, a veterinarianwith the Biologic Resources Management Division said the workshop taught him that “you gottagrab the audience’s attention in the first two minutes. Otherwise, you’re never gonna have them.”One way to arouse the audience is to tell an engaging story. Sara Melena, a workshop participantfrom the Office of Education and Outreach, saysin the field of natural resources, storytelling iscrucial. “It’s a tree, it’s a plant, it’s a rock. The onlyreason it matters,” Melena says, “is that there is astory behind it otherwise it is just stuff.”Barton taught us a recipe for a powerful story.The first ingredient is a relatable main characteror hero. The ideal hero is a human or an anthropomorphized creature. Surprisingly, it is oftenmore powerful to focus a story around a singleperson rather than multiple prominent characters.For example, a charity often gets more moneywhen it asks donors to feed a specific child insteadof a hundred children. Once the hero is selected,she needs to go on a journey. Storytelling journeysoften mimic the same pattern. Imagine the storyfrom a movie. Is this the way it unfolds?The hero starts out in an ordinary world andsomething happens that makes her world different. An adventure or challenge presents itself, shedoesn’t want to participate, but she meets someone who helps guide her to accept the challenge.She encounters enemies, but overcomes them andlearns a lesson. She exits the special world andreturns back to her ordinary world.The story line above sounds familiar because according to Barton, it is the recipe for a successfulstory. In addition to these tips, we learned that itis important to be specific with the details of yourstory. Eva DiDonato, a marine ecologist with theWater Resources Division, said because of theworkshop “now I am going to walk around looking for stories to connect people to oceans andmake them care.”In addition to storytelling as a technique we weregiven other advice on delivering better presentations. “If people are laughing or emotional , theyare listening” DiDonato recalls learning duringthe workshop. Connecting with your audienceand being relatable is an important skill. To learnmore about the reasons to incorporate storytelling into your presentations, see the article belowwritten by Randy Olson.Contact: elisabeth cohen@nps.govI’m a Scientist, do I REALLY need to know about storytelling?Yes. And even better if you can learn the basicsof “critical storytelling.”Science is nothing without effective communication. Just ask Gregor Mendel’s ghost. He was the1800’s Austrian monk who figured out moderngenetics, but failed to communicate what helearned, leaving his work forgotten for decadesuntil its rediscovery. You don’t want to be a Mendel. Specifically, here are four reasons for learningstorytelling dynamics.Narrative Instinct - Imagine you’re five minutesinto hearing a twenty minute talk and the speakeris ambling all over the place, then seems to bestarting over, then suddenly says, “Thank you,are there any questions?” You don’t want to bethat speaker. There is a storytelling instinct thatwe all share and that makes us comfortable. Wewant your beginning to sound like a beginning,your middle to sound like a middle, and yourend to sound like the end. This is the case foralmost everything you do. When you start to tella joke, when you ask a detailed question, whenyou tell about going to a bar last night -- there isa basic structure we all want you to follow. Whenyou don’t, everyone gets lost, and so does whatyou say. What we teach in the workshop helps tosolidify the narrative instinct.Grant Writing - Prior to becoming a filmmakerI was a tenured professor of marine biology. Iremember talking with program officers about rejected grants and hearing them say, “Why shouldwe care about starfish larvae?”Continued on Page 43Storytelling at its finest in NorthCascades NP.

RegioNal HigHligHtsDo I really Need to Know About Storytelling? Cont’dWhich meant that in my proposals I needed todo a better job of convincing the funders why mytopic was worth funding. It’s the same thing forstorytelling. If I tell you the story of a man struggling to pay his bills in Ohio, your first questionwill be, “Why should I care about this man?”The better you get at answering that question ina story, the better you will get at answering thequestion in grant proposals. It’s the same basicnarrative dynamics.Randy Olson is a scientist turnedfilmmaker and author of thebook, Don’t Be Such A Scientist,in which he outlines the importance of storytelling in science.He has also created a video withon how to develop effectivepowerpoint presentations. Toview this video, go to:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v QmAUad9U8-8Opening Anecdote - Telling a good story is oneof the most powerful ways to open a presentation.In my book, “Don’t Be Such a Scientist,” I talkedabout the need to “arouse and fulfill,” meaningfirst you need to arouse the interest of your audience, then once you have them listening, you needto fulfill their expectations. A good story arousesthe audience’s interest. In the workshops I oftenshow a clip of Mike Rowe speaking to a SenateCommittee on Labor Relations. He’s the formerhost of the enormously popular show, “DirtyJobs,” on Discovery Channel. He has only fiveminutes to speak to the Senators. Guess how hespends his time. The first three minutes are givenover to telling the story of his grandfather whowas a plumber. The story is funny, heartwarming,pointed, and ends up putting the entire committeein the palm of his hand, ready to hear the dry factsand figures he came to deliver.Boredom Analysis - What do you do when youget stuck listening to a boring presentation orwatching a boring film? You should make it into a“teachable moment” for yourself by bringing outyour knowledge of narrative structure and beginasking where things have gone wrong. If you’velearned the basics of what we’ve taught in ourworkshop, you should be able to pinpoint it eventually -- there’s no conflict in this story -- there’s alack of specifics -- the points are failing to advancethe narrative. I actually believe you can learnmore from analyzing bad presentations than fromwatching good presentations. And that is the veryessence of what we’re teaching, which is what wecall, “critical storytelling.”It’s impossible to understate the importance ofstorytelling. There’s no reason for scientists to notbe taking advantage of it in all facets of their lives.And it begins by gaining a critical understandingof how stories work.Article by Randy Olson, author of the book, Don’tbe Such a Scientist, Contact: rolson@usc.eduMidwest Region Releases Climate Change StrategyIn August 2012 the Midwest Region released theirClimate Change and Green Parks Strategy. In thewords of Midwest Regional Director, MichaelReynolds, this document is meant to give leadership and policy direction for the Midwest Regionand its parks and programs to best martial allresources toward managing and dealing with theissue of climate change and its many impacts toparks and programs. This document was created through an interdisciplinary team withinthe Midwest including personnel from parks,offices, and programs. It is tiered from the NPSClimate Change Response Strategy released in 2010and the Green Parks Plan in 2012 at the nationallevels within the NPS and is designed to be theMidwest’s contribution to responding to thesenational directives. It is also clearly linked to manyof the goals in the Call to Action leading MWRto being ready for the NPS’s next Century ofService. All regional employees were encouragedto review and be familiar with the actions andstrategies proposed by this document.Download a copy of the MWR’s Strategy limate.cfmNortheast Region Fall Climate Change NewsletterThe Fall 2012 issue of the Northeast Region’sScience and Management newsletter was a specialedition highlighting various examples of howtheir parks are responding to climate changethroughout all aspects of the NPS Strategy - science, adaptation, mitigation and communication.Articles include: an overview of the NortheastTemperate Network’s phenology monitoring efforts in collaboration with the SchoodicEducation and Research Center in Acadia; theNortheast Coastal and Barrier Network’s researchand monitoring of changing shorelines for their4coastal parks as well as their efforts to monitortidal marshes to better understand habitat changesfor birds; efforts underway to protect habitat forthe endangered Shenandoah salamander; NER’scollective efforts to address climate change andcultural resources; Assateague NS’s adaptationefforts to create more resilient facilities; and lastlya summary of Climate Friendly Park actions forthe region.Download a copy of the NER’s Newsletter sletters/SMFall12.pdf

RegioNal HigHligHtsThermokarst Monitoring in the Arctic NetworkThe Arctic Inventory and Monitoring Network(ARCN) is tracking changes in thermokarsts. Retrogressive thaw slumps (thermokarsts) are largeerosion and subsidence landforms caused by thawof ice-rich permafrost. These slumps often occurnear streams or lakes and they can shed significant amounts of sediment into the nearby waterbody. Most retrogressive thaw slumps have a steepescarpment (scarp) that exposes a meter or two ofglacial till over Pleistocene glacial ice that has survived in permafrost for over 10,000 years. As theice thaws, it forms a mud slurry that flows awayfrom the scarp. The slurry gradually loses waterand becomes more solid as it flows downhill.ARCN uses aerial photographs to create highresolution, three-dimensional topo

force Climate Literacy, (2) Engage Youth & their Families, (3) Develop Effective Planning Frame-works & Guidance, (4) Provide Climate Change Science to Parks, (5) Implement the Green Parks Plan, (6) Foster Robust Partnerships, (7) Apply . Actions under each emphasis are associated with a lead contact responsible for progress on the action.