SCEC/EarthScope Workshop for Interpretive Professionals in the San Andreas Region

Southern California’s San Andreas Fault is a prime target area to investigate plate-tectonic processes that result in earthquakes and the dramatic topography that forms along an actively deforming plate boundary. The workshop brought together individuals from the scientific and informal educational communities to learn about geophysical monitoring in the region. It showed how incorporating seismic, GPS, LiDAR, and borehole observations into interpretive programs and exhibits can enhance the “sense of place” represented by the dynamic landscape of western California.

The workshop was held on April 19-22, 2009 at the San Bernardino County Museum in Redlands, California ( www.co.san-bernardino.ca.us/museum ). It was co-sponsored by the Southern California Earthquake Center (SCEC; www.scec.org ). This was the third in a series of workshops for park rangers and museum educators sponsored by the EarthScope National Office (www.earthscope.org/eno/parks). Participants learned how to use SCEC and EarthScope data and science results, and developed and presented interpretive programs on the evolving landscape and its connections to aspects of the natural and cultural history of the San Andreas region. Organizations represented included the National Park Service, U. S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, U. S. Geological Survey, California State Parks, North High School, Rodriguez High School, Sequoia Natural History Association, InterpTrain, San Bernardino County Museum, Midpeninsula Open Space District, Edinboro University of Pennsylvania, and Arizona State University.

The workshop featured presentations by scientists and interpretive specialists that help to convey the story of transform plate boundary processes and their broader meanings. Instructors were from the U.S. Geological Survey, Arizona State University, Utah State University, California State University-San Bernardino, Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (www.iris.edu), UNAVCO ( www.unavco.org ), San Bernardino County Museum, Southern California Earthquake Center, and Oregon State University. Excerpts of some of the presentations are available at www.earthscope.org/workshops/san_andreas/presentations.

Participants and scientists worked in teams to develop and present interpretive programs aimed at audiences and settings encountered by interpreters in parks and museums. Five programs revolved around the following themes.

1. "The San Andreas Fault is the common thread that connects the world by telling the story of transplanted people and landscapes.” (Presented by “A Family Divided”).

2. "You may not know it, you may not see it, you may not feel it, but the Earth is moving underneath your feet.” (Presented by “Default Gang”).

3. “The landscape out the window is a product of ever moving plates, and society exists at the consent of geology.” (Presented by “The Dumb Schists”).

4. “Before you prepare for an earthquake, know what you’re preparing for.” (Presented by “The Whats” or “The Seven Steps”).

5. “Changing landscapes dictate life in Borrego.” (Presented by “Voices of Borrego” or “LuAnne and the Tectonics”).

More EarthScope interpretive workshops are being presented over a three-year period. The Cascadia Subduction Zone Workshop was held in spring, 2008 at Mt. Rainier National Park ( www.earthscope.org/workshops/mt_rainier ). A fall, 2008 workshop at the University of Nevada-Reno focused on continental rifting in the Basin and Range Province (www.earthscope.org/workshops/basin_range). The fall, 2009 workshop highlighted the Colorado Plateau and Rio Grande Rift ( www.earthscope.org/workshops/cprgr), and future workshops will focus on the Yellowstone and Rocky Mountain regions (www.earthscope.org/eno/parks).

Field trip visit to EarthScope Plate Boundary Observatory (PBO) GPS station near the California State University-San Bernardino campus. Shelly Olds, Education and Outreach Specialist for UNAVCO, points out the northwest motion of the San Bernardino region relative to eastern California along the San Andreas Fault (which lies at the base of the mountains in the background). (Photo by Bob Lillie).