From the Director - Death Valley Natural History ...
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From the Director By David Blacker, Executive Director
Accountability
DVNHA
We hope this newsletter finds you and your loved ones safe and well. We have to say
that last year was an incredible one. Death Valley National Park saw record visitation
and with the passage of the Dingle Act—the largest National Park in the lower 48 states
got a little bigger. There was a 35 day government shutdown and we did our best to help
our agency partners through it. Our aid increased by nearly 30% compared to the year
before and we wouldn’t have been able to do so much without your generosity.
Everyone who works
with public lands
knows the challenges
that Mother Nature
can bring, but this
is a new one for us.
Right now there’s no
visitors to serve, or
buildings to fix, and The single biggest contribution our supporters assisted with was keeping the Furnace Creek
for Death Valley this Visitor Center open during the December 2018 - January 2019 Government Shutdown.
is allergy season. The Much needed information and facilities stayed available for visitors during one of the
busiest times of year.
wildflowers which are
usually a huge draw
for visitors—just have to be experienced by those of us that live here right now. Every
sneeze sends me running into the desert, but I haven’t run out of toilet paper yet!
Right now, under guidance from the CDC, both Death Valley National Park and Ash
Meadows National Wildlife Refuge have had to make the call to close again, this time for
the safety of visitors and staff. So, as we work our way through this medically induced
time-out, we have time to reflect on our mission and how we can best help our agency
partners to protect resources and the people who visit our public lands for the long run.
All of us here at DVNHA want to assure you that we will get through this. We continue to
work with our partners remotely to finish the projects that can be finished and prepare
to work on the ones that have to be put on hold. Restricted funds are set aside for their
originally intended project uses even though timeframes may change. We continue to
plan for what the situation will look like for our partners on the other side of this and
we move forward with our plans to make DVNHA more robust in the face of these new
challenges. Death Valley National Park and Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge will
still be here in 100 years, and so will we! We all hope visitation will return soon and we
look forward to getting back to our normal brand of catastrophes.
We know that all of you who have missed this spring in the Death Valley area can’t
wait to get your “Desert Fix”. Things are rough for everyone right now, but that light at
Volume 65 the end of the tunnel is the beautiful blue sky of Death Valley and we look forward to
Issue 2 reaching it with you soon.
Spring 2020
T E L E S C O P E death valley natural history association dvnha.org
2019 IN REVIEW
Accountability
—You helped provide $531,498 in aid to Death Valley National Park
and Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge from Oct. 1, 2018 - Sept. 31, 2019. Visitation has more than doubled in
the past ten years! A record 1,740,945 people visited Death Valley National Park. Ash Meadows National Wildlife
Refuge had visitation of 42,653 with almost 16,000 people taking advantage of the resources available at the visitor
center. DVNHA provided 16,640 hours of service to 113,000+ visitors at all locations plus 7,079 hours of educational
programming. In addition to special projects we fund, we provided interns that worked directly with Death Valley
National Park and paid for 2020 in advance so that the NPS could receive matched funding.
Aid to Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge: $50,652 Aid to Death Valley National Park: $480,846
• $45,145 - DVNHA staff related expenses • $289,881 - Staff related expenses
• $3,000 - Plants of Ash Meadows pre-press • $56,866 - Donation to Death Valley National
publication expense Park (keeping Visitor Center open
• $1,125 - Volunteer stipends during government shutdown)
• $33,746 - Furnace Creek 2020 Interp Interns
• $1,018 - DVNHA general overhead expenses
• $12,351 - Resources Intern
• $364- Training and education support for AMNWR • $11,590- Scotty’s Castle Historic Preservation
& flood relief
• $10,437 - R.O.C.K.S. Education Intern
• $10,802 - Death Valley R.O.C.K.S.
Transportation Grants to Schools
• $9,988 - Devils Hole Recovery Support
• $7,961 - DVNHA general overhead expenses
DVNHA’s financial • $6,863 - Jr. Ranger Intern
information is published • $5,373 - Backcountry Sign Project
• $5,225 - Dark Sky Fest support
online for public disclosure. • $5,000 - Free Publications (printing of new
Jr. Ranger Book)
• $4,109 - 25th Anniversary of Death Valley
To view please visit: National Park Support
guidestar.org/profile/95-2083126 • $3,879 - Devils Hole Workshop Aid
• $2,000 - Audio Descriptions for NPS Videos
Mission • $1,527 - Wilderness Restoration
• $1,220 - Training support for DVNP
• $1,197 - Science Fund
Preserving and
interpreting the natural
Values • $600 - Donations of inventory
• $231 - NPR Radio Tower
and cultural resources
of the Death Valley
region in cooperation
Education Vision
with our government P r e se r v a t i o n
partners: Inspiring a passion for
Death Valley National Partnership Death Valley and
Park and Ash Meadows
Ash Meadows National Ac c o u n t a b i l it y
Wildlife Refuge.
1. .
2 dvnha.org death valley natural history association TE LE S C O P E
-A year to remember-
Top Rung Tower Chimes & Organ Service competed repairs
to the Scotty's Castle chimes tower so that it will be fully
functional upon reopening the historic district.
TELESCOPE
Volume 65, Issue 2
Who We Are:
Executive Committee
Kimber Moore
Board Chair
Nathan Francis
Students explored this land of extremes with park rangers and educational interns Board Vice-Chair
provided by DVNHA. The Death Valley R.O.C.K.S. education program served
2,080 students from 30 schools through 24 in-person classroom visits and Terry Feinberg
35 field trips to Death Valley National Park. Additionally, the Junior Ranger Treasurer
Program was able to serve 1,400 participants! William Walton
Secretary
Board Members
Wynne Benti
John Kopczynski
Bob Lehmann
Tom Moritz
Dan O’Brien
Administrative Staff
David Blacker
Executive Director
Sandra Andrus-Sheet
Office Manager/Accounts Receivable
Thanks to a grant from the Fund for People in Parks, new entrance signs will Geneil White
replace older signs on backcountry roads. This is difficult to keep up with Development Director
when your Park is 3.4 million acres and designated 93% wilderness! Memberships/Telescope Editor
New signs should be installed this year. Danielle Wood
DVNHA produced the first ever Special Projects Development Assistant
comprehensive guide to plants found at Renee Rusler
Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge Field Institute Director
thanks to author Larry Lodwick, many hours
of volunteer proofreaders, and free design work Warehouse
completed by, Kimber Moore, Wesley Massey, Warehouse Manager
DVNHA's newly elected Board Chair. Bill Pelkey
Bookstore
Justin Baldino, Bookstore Manager
Tony Bruno
Adrian Gonzalez
Anika Perry
We helped Death Valley National Park put on the Devils Hole Workshop, a Nathan Wabbel, Accounts Payable
valuable dissemination of first-hand scientific research pertaining to the Serena Revere
survival of the endangered Devils Hole pupfish. The Devils Hole Dive Team were Ash Meadows Visitor Services
recognized for their many years of volunteer service and participants received
pretty cool swag. Proceeds from this event benefitted the Devils Hole Fund! Newsletter Design
Kimber Moore Design
T E L E S C O P E death valley natural history association dvnha.org 3
NON PROFIT
US POSTAGE
PA I D
DEATH VALLEY, CA
PERMIT NO. 3
du led-
sc he
-Re
PO Box 188 www.facebook.com/DVNHA
Death Valley, CA 92328 dvnha.org 1-800-478-8564
2020
Science Conference
Inspiring a passion for Death Valley National Park
and Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge
Forget about June,
JOIN US on the new date:
October 28 - 30th
Our 2020 Conference
has been rescheduled.
We hope you can join us
Wednesday - Friday
October 28-30, 2020 !
Find out more, register, and pay at:
dvnha.org
The 15% DVNHA early bird member discount
invitation has been extended
to August 31st.
Need your discount code resent?
Please contact:
memberships@dvnha.org.
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