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On Island Profile: Beth Isler





Beth IslerBeth Isler, 34, is on a sabbatical from her job as a transportation planner at the Burlington, Vt.-based Resource Systems Group, and is currently lending her expertise to the non-profit National Parks Foundation, where she was assigned to a post as a transportation scholar at V.I. National Park on St. John.

"Basically, I came to the park for six months to do what I can to help the situation," she says, referring to the traffic and parking congestion at the park’s North Shore beaches.

On St. John since June, she’s working to develop a shuttle system utilizing the island’s taxi drivers to move people from Cruz Bay to the beaches. When asked about the challenges associated with that task, she says she’s still new to the task.

"I’m meeting a lot of people who are very helpful to me,” she says. “There’s a lot to absorb.”

Park Superintendent Mark Hardgrove pointed out that Isler brings experience to the situation. And, he says, she knows that she must speak with all parties concerned in developing the shuttle service, even if it’s on a one-on-one basis.

"That’s a credit to her experience," he says.

As a transportation planner, Isler enjoys the fact that the work she does is important to people.

"I can improve access to goods and services and have an impact on their lives," she says.

Isler has the credentials for the job. She holds a master’s degree in transportation engineering from the University of Virginia and a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

"Boulder had a big impact on me because it had good transportation," she says.

After getting her master’s degree, she worked for two years for a civil engineering firm that designed roads, drainage and grading in residential grading. She moved to Burlington three years ago to work with Resource Systems Group.

Both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees came after she received a first bachelor’s degree in international studies at Colby College in Waterville, Maine.

After getting that degree, she went to work at Yellowstone National Park in housekeeping and as a nanny. Vail, Colo., was her next stop, where she was a ski bum.

"It was a really good lesson in customer service," she says, laughing.

The Erie, Penn.-born Isler grew up in Topsfield, Mass.

She accepted the post at the park without ever having visited St. John before. That said, she’s enjoying herself. She has discovered that St. John has a contingent of former Vermont residents and, of course, she’s spending what free time she has at the beach and hiking St. John’s numerous trails.

"There is a lot of interesting stuff here," she says.

As for her future?

"I’ll be very happy working in transportation," she says.

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