Barb Miranda has worked with the U.S. Forest Service on-and-off for her entire adult life. So, when the opportunity to be the director of the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center opened up, she put her name in for the job.<\/p>\n
Much to her delight she got the job, but the timing was not the best.<\/p>\n
“My first day on the job I had to close the visitor center,” Miranda said.<\/p>\n
Closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic forced the center’s doors shut, but in the absence of actual visitors, the center has found other ways to reach out to the community. Drive-in movies have been hosted in the nearby bus parking lot, she said, and the center partnered with the Goldtown Theater to host a Safe Graduation<\/a> night for Juneau’s seniors.<\/p>\n The drive-ins have been a fun way to reach out to the public, Miranda said, and they are hoping to do more in a “Science on Screen” series.<\/p>\n “People can expect additional drive-in movie opportunities with a talk from a scientists,” Miranda said, adding that some of the films may be a little “blockbuster-y” but there would always be a learning component.<\/p>\n Like many during the shutdown, the visitor center has gone online to try and reach out to the public. The center’s Facebook page<\/a> was updated with news and (socially-distanced) events, and the center’s livestreamed Arctic Tern camera<\/a> gives the public a chance to watch nesting birds (and was a good way to check the weather at the glacier, Miranda added).<\/p>\n While the shutdown, and the lack of the tourist season and the money that comes with it, will mean the center is looking at a reduced budget, long-term plans are still in the works Miranda said.<\/p>\n [‘It’s like we’re loving this to death’: Commenters say Mendenhall plan has drawbacks<\/a>]<\/ins><\/p>\n Plans to greatly expand attractions at the glacier, including having boats transport tourists close enough to touch the face of the glacier, are still in progress, Miranda said, and the environmental assessment of those plans should come out in the fall as planned.<\/p>\n Some local residents have opposed all or parts of that plan, saying its impact on the local environment would be too great.<\/p>\n