RANGER PROGRAM

Snowbowl Ranger Talks happen every Friday, Saturday, Sunday and holidays from 10 am to 4 pm at the top of the Skyride. Learn about the flora, fauna, history and geology of the San Francisco Peaks. Talks are sponsored by the National Park Service/US Forest Service Interpretive Partnership program.

The National Park Service (NPS) & U. S. Forest Service (USFS) Interpretive Partnership is a team of nine Rangers, mostly retired, and most volunteers.

The Partnership mission is to help understand, cherish, and preserve our local (Flagstaff area) natural and cultural resources. This 20-year-old program is a seasonal partnership between the  Flagstaff Area National Monuments and the Flagstaff Ranger District of the Coconino National Forest. It was created in 1991 by Kim Watson (NPS) and John Nelson (USFS).

Partnership Rangers: (1) Provide programs or “ranger talks” at the top of the Arizona Snowbowl Scenic Skyride every Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and holiday each summer. (2) Campfire talks at Bonito, Dairy Springs, and Pine Grove campgrounds every summer weekend. (3) Formal and informal interpretation at Sunset Crater Volcano, Wupatki, and Walnut Canyon National Monuments. (4) Interpretive walks and hikes in the Coconino National Forest. (5) Special programs for children at summer camps.

From the top of the Scenic Skyride, Partnership Rangers help visitors understand the scope and significance of the 6-million-year-old San Francisco Volcanic Field. The first volcano can be seen in the western horizon, Bill Williams Mountain, a lava dome volcano that erupted about 6 million years ago. The view, one of the most spectacular in the Southwest, shows the first three million years of the volcanic field that moved from west to east. The most recent volcano is Sunset Crater Volcano. It erupted about one thousand years ago and is located about ten miles east of the San Francisco Peaks and not visible from the Skyride. Today, it is a National Monument. Also visible from the top of the Skyride is about one thousand vertical feet of the face of the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. Why is it so visible? The North Rim is about one thousand feet higher in elevation (8,000 ft) than the South Rim (7,000 ft).

Many Partnership events are listed in the Arizona Daily Sun Community Almanac. The Partnership also publishes a large monthly poster that features some events, and sends out a weekly email to over five hundred enthusiasts.

In 2010 the NPS/USFS Interpretive Partnership won the Flagstaff Convention & Visitors’ Bureau “Best Cooperative Partnership Award.”

Many of the Partnership events may be found on the Coconino National Forest website. Just type in Coconino National Forest or go to http://www.fs.fed.us/r3/coconino/

For more information please contact us at (928) 779-1951 or skyride@arizonasnowbowl.com.