Building the Next Generation of Preservation Trades Workers in the National Parks

The Great American Outdoors Act (GAOA) brings substantial annual funding to maintain and preserve the national parks. Much of it goes to large infrastructure projects, but it also pays for smaller jobs carried out by regional Maintenance Action Teams — skilled Park Service trades staff who handle historic preservation, carpentry, trail work and renewal of building components.

Closing the trades gap

Seeing both GAOA's opportunity and a serious shortage of skilled trades workers, the Historic Preservation Training Center (HPTC), part of the Park Service's Park Planning, Facilities, and Lands directorate, created an Individual Placement (IP) program in partnership with Conservation Legacy. It shows how GAOA money can help small and mid-sized parks and their communities.

The program gives young adults and veterans hands-on experience in skilled trades and a direct route into Park Service careers — preserving the nation's heritage while training the people who will look after it. It is part of HPTC's larger Traditional Trades Advancement Program, which builds a skilled preservation workforce. HPTC Superintendent Moss Rudley has said that GAOA's real legacy is not only restored parks but a new generation with the skills to protect them.

Where interns have gone

Devin Burkhart saws a plank at a project site. NPS.

• Devin Burkhart tried several trades before settling on preservation, working at parks such as Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore and Indiana Dunes National Park and learning everything from roofing to masonry. He went on to a 10-year term preservationist appointment with HPTC.
• Matt Wooten discovered historic preservation at Sleeping Bear Dunes, then worked on projects from Kansas to Maryland as a Conservation Legacy intern before landing a 10-year term WG-5 maintenance worker position.
• Joe Glowack became interested in preservation through a chance encounter at Voyageurs National Park, and worked at several parks while finishing a bachelor of science degree, leading to a 10-year term preservationist position.
• Ben Glowack brought a wilderness and park management degree to HPTC projects across the Midwest.
• Jelani Coggins, from St. Croix, worked on projects such as the historic bandstand at Christiansted National Historic Site and trained in masonry, earning a term WG-05 position with HPTC's Caribbean section.

Joe Glowack works on a project site. NPS.

Matt Wooten marks a board at a project site. NPS.

Ben Glowack handles roofing tiles on a building. NPS.

An intern paints gates along a building's exterior. NPS.

By pairing hands-on work with direct paths to employment, the program is both preserving cultural resources and growing the workforce that will care for them.

Sources

Rewritten from the National Park Service article "Historic Preservation Training Center's Individual Placement Program: Forging a New Generation of NPS Stewards" (public domain), in hubnx's own words. One caption there names the painter "Jalani Stable," while the text names the St. Croix intern Jelani Coggins; the page leaves that caption unnamed. Pictures an earlier version of this page left out were restored on 2026-09-26.