Japanese American Activation
After a sometimes rousing, mostly solemn, and often tear-filled memorial ceremony brimming with Japanese and Japanese American influences, a scene unfurled that, to common understanding, may have seemed very un-Japanese. It happened beside an old jail nested in a much larger prison, the Tule Lake…
Chinese Americans in Yosemite
Bill in California Legislature Will Honor Roles Like Tie Sing’s Contributions by yet another community of color—Chinese Americans—to Yosemite National Park and the Sierra Nevada are proposed to be honored by a bill introduced in the California state legislature. Assembly Concurrent Resolution (ACR) 262 was…
‘Every Kid in a Park’ Saved?
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Bending to public outcry, including a strong stance by Next 100 Coalition members, the Department of the Interior is expected to renew the “Every Kid in a Park” program that helps ensure equitable access to U.S. public lands for fourth graders and…
Beyond Bears Ears
This piece appeared in the March 2018 issue of Outside Magazine The last time I visited Yosemite National Park, I made the jaunt to Glacier Point. Standing at the edge of the drop-off, I tried to imagine myself taking in the magnificent vista while discussing…
Taylor Finds Green Orgs Dropping Ball on Diversity
Back in the early 1980s, during an undergraduate environmental studies class, Dorceta Taylor asked a question that would whisk her onto a path leading, in recent years, to groundbreaking research on diversity in environmental organizations. Taylor realized about midway through the course at Northern Illinois…
1,000 Words
My first time as a photographer “in the field” is stored in a place in my memory banks reserved for other indelible firsts—kiss, published story, time I set my eyes upon my daughters. I remember slogging along in a flooded farm field with a small…
CA Moves to Honor Young
Assemblyman Devon Mathis (R-Visalia) recently introduced ACR 142, which would designate a specific portion of State Highway 198 from Three Rivers to Sequoia National Park in Tulare County as the Colonel Charles Young Memorial Highway. Previously, the California state assembly designated as the Buffalo Soldiers…
Kai Lightner Has ‘Next’
BeWild with Kai Lightner The Mountaineers Tue., Feb 20, 7 p.m. 7700 Sand Point Way NE, Seattle 98115 Click Here for Tickets In this era of the perpetual run-up in sports, when the next trend or wunderkind can be spied, not just a mile but…
Outdoor Industry Drags on Inclusion
(NOTE: This Op-Ed originally appeared at Outside) by Glenn Nelson and Teresa Baker Congratulations, Outdoor Retailer. You’ve moved your biannual trade show from a state, Utah, whose leadership is openly hostile to the concept of inclusive public lands and pushed the Trump administration to shrink…
Austin to Head Pac West
Stan Austin, who has served as the director of the Southeast Region of the National Park Service since 2013, has been named regional director of the Pacific West Region by the agency’s acting director, P. Daniel Smith. In his new role, Austin will oversee operations…
Colors of the West
Though I’ve not yet met her, I’ve found Molly Hashimoto a delightful travel companion. I see her dreamy watercolors and vibrant block prints at a couple places I frequent in the Pacific Northwest—the Seward Park Audubon Center and the North Cascades Institute. Just more than…
J.R. Harris is Way Out There
One of the happiest days of J. Robert Harris’ full and interesting life was the day he turned 33. During his younger times, Harris had read about the prophesy for Alexander the Great having a choice between a long, boring life and a short but…
