ALASKA—Each spring, a dramatic change takes place at a small part of the Tongass National Forest located just north of Juneau. It’s not ice breakup, birds migrating or trees budding—no, this is a change of a different sort.

Every April, the area around the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center transforms as dozens of Forest Service employees ready the area for the summer season and the influx of visitors that come with it.

If someone were to visit this area in March, they would probably encounter a snow-covered, somewhat sleepy visitor center, minimally staffed and looking like a frozen scene from a Scandinavian fairytale. One month later, that same visitor might arrive and wonder “Is this the same place?” Gone are the ice rescue ladders, kids riding sleds and locals casually walking their dogs. In their place is what looks like an army of Forest Service interpreters educating an influx of visitors from all over the world.

To the outside, this change might look effortless, but it’s anything but. Staff at the visitor center begin preparing for the summer early in the winter, hiring dozens of seasonal employees from all over the country and bringing together experts to train them in what they need to know for the summer.

Training topics range from ecology to geology, wildlife management to wilderness first aid, salmon migration to safety mitigation. To fully prepare for all the expected visitors—and their questions—these new employees go through more training in two weeks that most people get in a year.

One of the training experts, University of Alaska Southeast glaciologist Eran Hood, admits, “Each of the training sessions on glaciers I present could easily be a full course unto itself—it’s like cramming two semester-long courses into two 90-minutes classes.” And his is just one of many topics on the training agenda.

With one of the densest black bear populations of any place in public lands, employees also must be prepared for daily encounters between humans and bears, crowd control and conflict management.

Maintenance employees are not exempt from all this preparation—not only do they often end up in bear management situations, but they also must physically prepare the grounds for the summer. This involves painting parking lots, hooking up drinking fountains and water bottle fillers and raising multiple bus stop tents—not to mention a full day each of installing signs and speedbumps. And keep in mind—they somehow must do this after the snow melts but before the cruise ships arrive.

With all these moving parts and such a short amount of time to prepare, it’s a minor miracle that the folks at the Mendenhall end up running each new summer influx like they’ve been doing it their whole lives. With that in mind, next time you find yourself in Alaska be sure to stop by the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center and give those folks a “big ol’ thanks!” At the end of the day, they do it all for the benefit and enjoyment of the people.