University alumni help National Park Service improve fossil protection, trail maps, and fire and flood planning

As a kid, Amanda Charobee loved dressing up as a pirate, drawing maps, and leading friends on neighborhood treasure hunts. Today, she uses satellite technology and geospatial data to help the National Park Service (NPS) protect fossil sites, improve trail maps, and plan for natural hazards across parks nationwide.  

Based at Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, Charobee is helping build a national Geographic Information System (GIS) database that supports scientists, park staff, and millions of annual visitors.  

“It’s my dream job,” Charobee said. “And I couldn’t have done it without Rafael.” 

Charobee earned a master’s degree in environmental science with a certificate in GIS from the University of Colorado Denver (CU Denver) in 2022. While there, she interned with the NPS through a long-running federally funded program led by CU Denver Professor Rafael Moreno-Sánchez. That internship opportunity directly led to her fulltime role as a GIS specialist with the agency in 2023. 

From CU Denver Intern to National Park Service GIS Specialist 

As an intern, Charobee worked on a pilot Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) project documenting paleontological sites in national parks across the country. The work supports fossil preservation efforts while also helping the agency identify patterns that can inform trail construction, water management, and wildfire mitigation planning. 

These same tools are also improving the visitor experience for the millions of people who visit national parks each year. 

“I was looking for a good master’s program that provided practical experience,” Charobee said. “I had an idea of what I wanted to do but didn’t know how to get there. Rafael asked me what my goals were and then he helped me find a pathway to make it happen. He does that for all his students. I talked to him more than my advisor. He is simply amazing.” 

Modern Trail Mapping and Tracking for Recreation and Safety 

For decades, records related to fossils, archaeological discoveries, and trail systems across national parks—from Yosemite to Yellowstone—were stored in inconsistent formats, including handwritten notes and paper maps. Some old descriptions use terminology that current scientists and rangers no longer use or are based on landmarks and measurements that are no longer accurate.  

Thanks to the ongoing flow of interns from CU Denver, NPS began building a more consistent system for collecting and managing information. The interns and park rangers have spent years building an accurate GIS-based system. To date, the work has produced more than 1,000 accurate trail maps for public use. Visitors routinely download the maps to plan hikes, and emergency responders use them during rescue and response operations. 

A working model continues to evolve at Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, where Charobee helps maintain and improve the system.  

GIS technology also allows the NPS to combine topographical, weather, and climate data to better identify environmental risks. By analyzing patterns, park officials can make more informed decisions about wildfire mitigation, flood planning, and visitor access to hazardous areas prone to rockslides, avalanches, and erosion. 

Technology Improves Fossil and Cultural Site Protection 

Fossils, and other artifacts, continue to be found in parks across the system. The discoveries are important for the advancement of scientific and historical knowledge, which blends Charobee’s love of maps with her passion for science. Charobee continues using GIS to build a database of verified information that authorized researchers can study.  

“When I was an intern, that was the first project I worked on,” she said. “And now I continue to help it evolve.” 

From the Classroom to a Dream Job 

Charobee said the knowledge she learned while pursuing her GIS certificate was instrumental in preparing her for a job at the NPS. The internship gave her an opportunity to demonstrate her skills while building a professional network. 

“It was the connections I made during my internship that directly led to my job,” she said. “A colleague asked me before I was done with my internship for contact information so they could send me a heads-up when a position became available.” 

Charobee is one of more than two dozen CU Denver students who have interned with the National Park Service through the federally funded partnership Moreno-Sánchez established nearly 20 years ago. Depending on funding cycles, one to five students participate each year. 

For Moreno-Sánchez, job placement and career advancement are the biggest indicators of the program’s success. 

“The internships were crafted with the purpose of creating foundational experience, to increase students’ confidence by applying what they were learning in the classroom to real-world problems and to boost job opportunities for them,” he said. “There were benefits to NPS as well, which means the public wins too.” 

The NPS benefits from a well-trained talent pipeline that supports multiple long-term initiatives. Employees also benefit from working with students who often bring fresh ideas and new technical skills. At the end of each grant period, NPS also receives a report outlining what the interns and faculty contributed to the parks as well as what the students gained from the experience.  

The grants and cooperative agreements have helped place students not only at the National Park Service, but also at other federal agencies that rely on geospatial data and mapping technology. 

Other GIS Applications 

Another one of Moreno-Sánchez’s former students is Kimberly Mantey, now the director of the National Geospatial Technical Operations Center for the United States Geological Survey (USGS) in Lakewood Mantey earned a bachelor’s degree in geography and a GIS certificate from CU Denver in 2010. 

The center plays a critical role in the U.S. as it develops, maintains, and manages foundational geospatial data and topographical mapping products, including GPS maps, for the entire country. 

Mantey said she got her first job with the USGS by using one of Moreno-Sánchez’s assignments as an example during an interview. It demonstrated her ability to use GIS, and she used it to explain how she interpreted the data to reach conclusions and recommendations for action. 

“I still keep that lab assignment in my office,” she said. “It reminds me that you don’t make assumptions, and no one hands you solutions. It’s your job to figure out the problem.” 

Many people in the center are CU Denver interns or graduates because they have the technical knowledge necessary to create modern maps, and they have the critical skills to find answers that often require innovative approaches. 

Moreno-Sánchez said GIS continues to grow across industries because it helps researchers and organizations visualize relationships and patterns that might otherwise go unnoticed. 

“By pulling data from multiple sources and dates into a geographic 2D and 3D space, we can see patterns we may have never seen before,” said Moreno-Sánchez. “It’s that new perspective that can give us insights into almost any field such as medicine, climate, emergency planning, crime prevention, you name it. And that insight is a powerful thing.” 

Rafael Moreno-Sánchez joined CU Denver in 2003. He holds several degrees including a PhD in Natural Resources Management from Colorado State University and a postdoctoral fellowship from the University of Western Ontario. He is an international expert on forest ecosystems conservation and management having worked in Mexico, Armenia, Italy, Costa Rica, and El Salvador. He has published more than 30 peer-reviewed academic articles. His work has been funded by agencies including the NPS, National Science Foundation, and USGS.