Ranger Betty: Back to Work
By Kathleen Richards Healed but still bearing “bruises internally,” Betty Reid Soskin, the country’s oldest park ranger at 94, returned to work at Rosie the Riveter/WWII Home Front National Historical Park on Tuesday, two weeks after she was beaten and robbed at her condominium in...
NPS Rules Eased for Plant Gathering
The National Park Service has modified the regulation governing the gathering of plants in national parks to allow members of federally recognized Native American tribes to gather and remove plants or plant parts for traditional purposes. Such gathering previously was granted only to tribes or...
Sheltonisms
A ranger at Yosemite National Park for 23 years, Shelton Johnson has a vivid, distinctive way with language – not a surprise given his training and experience as a writer and performer. During my time around him, I started a list of what I started...
José González & Latino Outdoors: Tapping into a Passion for Nature
Everyone is jammed into a yellow school bus, chattering with anticipation of a snowshoe outing at Snoqualmie Pass, some 40 minutes outside Seattle. Joe Camacho, an educator and one of the trip leaders, begins an orientation, holding up a pair of gaiters. The coverings are...
Teresa Baker: Diversity One # at a Time
This story appears in the June 27, 2016 print edition of High Country News. Clicking on an image will launch a full-sized viewer. by Glenn Nelson During the past three years, Teresa Baker of Martinez, Calif., has organized some of the most significant events in...
Making a Splash
One of the joys of a recent visit to Rocky Mountain National Park was watching a young elk buck splish-splash in one of the Sheep Lakes. Often, Bighorn Sheep visit the lakes for the salt deposits in the soil. There were no Bighorn Sheep this...