Katie Bliss serves as the Deputy Division Manager for the Division of Training at the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s National Conservation Training Center. Although she just moved to the FWS in February after serving as the US Forest Service’s Director of the Arthur Carhart National Wilderness Training Center, Katie’s conservation career spans three continents and 25 years, starting with a BS in Wildlife Ecology from University of Florida. In college, Katie worked for a turtle hatchery on a remote island in Japan before joining the Peace Corps as a Parks and Wildlife specialist in Uruguay. There, despite conducting surveys of the endangered Pampas Deer by horseback through the rolling countryside and rescuing oil-covered Magellanic penguins along the otherwise-pristine coastline, she found herself gravitating away from fieldwork towards environmental education.
Upon her return stateside, Katie joined the National Park Service and worked as an interpreter, educator, and supervisor in Golden Gate National Recreation Area, San Antonio Mission National Historical Park, and Everglades National Park before becoming a full-time trainer and instructional designer. After earning her M.S. in Resource Education from Stephen F. Austin State University in 2005, she joined the instructional team at Indiana University’s Eppley Institute for Parks and Public Lands on a long-term intergovernmental agreement. There she established an interpretation and education distance learning platform, award-winning online courses, and coaching network before moving to the Stephen T. Mather Training Center in 2010.
In 2011, as the Servicewide Training Manager for NPS Interpretation and Education, Katie initiated a comprehensive revision of interpretation and education competencies. Working closely with field practitioners, non-profit and university partners, she designed and conducted a training needs assessment based on established and emerging practices, such as facilitated dialogue and audience centered experiences. The exploration of these practices, while designing the training needed to close identified performance gaps, led to philosophical and practical changes in how interpreters and educators engage the public. Katie was awarded the NPS Sequoia award in 2017 for her sustained, positive impact on the profession of interpretation. Today, Katie continues to explore the edges of personal and professional growth through new recreational pursuits, voracious reading, and seeking those who challenge her comfort zone.