Who’s got the best geoscience guidebook? We can make a good case that it’s DNR. The agency’s publication, Roadside Geology of Mount Rainier National Park and Vicinity by former DNR geologist Pat Pringle, won the Geoscience Information Society’s Best Guidebook Award for 2009. The book is just what it says: a handy guide to take along when driving the back roads around spectacular Mt. Rainier. You don’t need extensive knowledge of geology to understand the text and you’ll learn a lot about the sometimes-violent geologic history of this landscape.
The award was presented October 20 at the Geological Society of America conference in Portland. Pringle , formerly a geologist with DNR, is currently Associate Professor of Earth Science at Centralia College. The book was edited by former Division of Geology editor Katherine M. Reed, Jaretta M. Roloff, Karen D. Meyers, and J. Eric Schuster. Cartography was by Anne C. Heinitz, Elizabeth E. Thompson, Robert H. Berwick, J. Eric Schuster, and Jaretta M. Roloff.
The 190-page book–Roadside Geology of Mount Rainier National Park and Vicinity: Washington Division of Geology and Earth Resources Information Circular 107–is available from DNR as a free download or from the Washington State Department of Printing for $17.53.
