U of I grad helps shape Idaho state parks through research and service

As a fourth grader at Ramsey Elementary school in Coeur d’Alene, Olivia Wells ‘26 visited the Cataldo Mission for an Idaho history class.    

Last year, she was the guide that led elementary school classes on tours of the state park.  

“It was pretty cool taking the class as a child and looking up to the tour guides — they were so old — and then, you know, 10 years later being one of the guides that teaches the kids,” said Wells, who is currently a earning a master’s in natural resources at U of I. “It’s a pretty neat experience to come full circle like that.”

When Wells graduated from the College of Natural Resources with a bachelor’s in wildlife, she had already gathered a full resume of experience working with Idaho’s parks. It included making interpretive signs, guiding visitors and understanding the value of state parks and their place in Idaho history.  

As an undergraduate in Professor Chris Zajchowski’s Environmental Communication Skills course, Wells used her knowledge of graphic design to create a sign for Lake Cascade State Park that focused on the importance of local pollinators.  

After working for a summer at Cataldo’s Old Mission State Park, which features the oldest continually standing building in the Gem State, she joined Zajchowski’s Parks and Recreation Lab. In the lab, she earned a slot assisting Bruneau Dunes State Park to design its visitor signs. She completed the work remotely from Moscow while finishing her bachelor’s degree.  

“Liv made some fabulous contributions to the park’s educational efforts,” Zajchowski said.  

This summer, while working as a seasonal ranger at Round Lake State Park in North Idaho, Wells continues to be part of Zajchowski’s lab while collecting information about park resources, interviewing park staff and visitors, and documenting the interpretive signage at the park, its exhibits and landmarks.  

The information will be used to create a report for the park that managers can refer to when planning any future changes or upgrades. It’s also part of her master’s degree coursework.  

“As an incoming Master of Natural Resources student, she’ll get academic credit for her work at the park this summer,” Zajchowski said.

Wells has been gathering data on Round Lake State Park since she was a child, so by the time she was hired as a seasonal employee, she already knew a lot about the park.

“We visited Round Lake a lot as a family when I was a kid,” Wells said.

Growing up less than an hour drive south of Round Lake, Wells and her family often visited the park in the summer to swim and picnic, and they traveled the hour north in the winter to snowshoe on the park’s trail system.

What can she tell you about the park without referring to her notes?

• “The lake is fed by a creek from Cocolalla Lake, a couple of miles southeast of the park, and its outlet eventually drains into the Pend Oreille River (a tributary of the Columbia River). The creek is one of a few streams with a naturally reproducing brown trout population in North Idaho.”
• “The park land was once part of a homestead that was eventually given to the state to make the park.”
• “The lake is about 55 acres and was formed through glacier activity.”
• “It’s a great place for families to visit to overnight camp or just for a day.”

Spending time outdoors was a family bonding experience, and it impressed Wells to enroll in science and natural history courses at Lake City High school and pursue a natural resource degree at U of I.

“Growing up, I was outside all the time, hiking and huckleberry picking with my family, and I wanted to continue doing that,” she said. “I love wildlife and natural resources, anything to do with the outdoors.”

Her goal is to continue working outside.

“I plan to work at parks or nature centers as an environmental educator,” she said, “to be in contact with visitors and to learn and tell them about the natural history of all these places.”

Hold tight, and she’ll tell you more about Round Lake where her internship ends this summer.

“One of the cool things about Round Lake is that it doesn’t allow gas motors on the lake, so it’s completely pristine,” she said.

A less fortunate detail:

“Someone once dropped aquarium snails into Round Lake and they infested the lake,” Wells said.

The park offered free ice cream to visitors who collected and turned in the snails – called Chinese mystery snails.

More details can be found on the park's signage, its brochures and programming that Wells is helping to produce for the small natural enclave in North Idaho.