Poll: POC β‘ Outdoors
Since Iβve been writing about race, diversity and inclusion in the outdoors, my inbox and the various comments sections below my stories sometimes read like braying from a Trump rally. βWe never hung βwhites onlyβ signs at any parks.β βBlack people just donβt like bugs...
An Urban Initiative for NPS
Using small-unit nimbleness to attack national parks’ big-picture diversity issue By Glenn Nelson White, male and βmidcareer,β Seattleβs Charles Beall in a lot of ways is the face of the National Park Service that turns 100 on Aug. 25. He also may be the best...
System failure
A change in hiring programs cost the NPS a diverse, young ranger You may never have heard of him, but Masyih Ford is arguably the third most-recognizable African-American ranger in the National Park Service. The first and second are, of course, Shelton Johnson at Yosemite,...
Mountains of Diversity
Antonio Solorio helps national park tap into L.A.βs Latinx majority The Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area is a 157,000-acre quilt of national park, California state park and state beach lands, bordered by the Pacific Ocean and inland valleys. Itβs located in the greater Los...
A Backup in the Parks Pipeline
Young, diverse job candidates like Nancy Fernandez find it hard to make inroads in an overwhelmingly white agency that needs them NOTE: Clicking on most images will launch a full-sized viewer. Itβs a nasty, end-of-winter night in the coastal Washington town of Ilwaco, but the...
Bringing Outdoor Rec to the Hopi
By Krista Langlois Marshall Masayesva is lying on his side in a dandelion-sprinkled lawn, clutching his stomach and groaning as if someoneβs sticking a knife into it. A clean-cut, athletic 28-year-old who recently founded an outdoor education organization called Adventures for Hopi, Masayesva isnβt actually...
‘Spokesperson for the Dead’
Shelton Johnson keeps alive the story of the Buffalo Soldiers to connect African Americans, other nonwhites to national parks NOTE: Clicking on most images will launch a full-sized viewer. Story, photos and multimedia by Glenn Nelson Shelton Johnson is the Michael Jordan among people of...
Time to Camp Like a Girl
By Liz Song I have a confession. Iβm not a fan of pooping and peeing in the woods. Or being bothered by mosquitoes. Or getting my hands incessantly dirty. Or getting dusty. Or developing the dry dirty boogers that form because of the dust. Iβm...
Ranger Betty: Back to Work
By Kathleen Richards Healed but still bearing βbruises internally,β Betty Reid Soskin, the countryβs 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 β 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...
JosΓ© GonzΓ‘lez & 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...
