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Category: Careers Outdoors

Connecting to National Trails

por Crystal Salvador-Zapote

Growing up with undocumented parents limited what was available to me as a child. Most of our family outings were to the local park, which was less than a mile away from where I lived. We stayed within this one-mile radius for the first decade of my life, until my parents became naturalized citizens. Meanwhile, I got older and ventured outside less. Florida is extremely humid, even in winter, which makes going outside less than desirable.

My grandfather was an important part of the reason I got back outside. He was 60 years old when he moved to the United States, spoke no English, and had no way to navigate around town, yet he somehow managed to find the closest walking trails. He was content to venture away from home and would disappear from sunrise till sunset.

Crystal with her Grandfather

He was 60 years old when he moved to the United States, spoke no English, and had no way to navigate around town, yet he somehow managed to find the closest walking trails.

After a few instances of my grandfather “staying out too late” (or getting lost), my family decided he needed a chaperone. My cousins and I became obligated to be his walking partners. Our only advantage: we knew English and could work a smart phone. We reluctantly accepted, and quickly found out that we had to run to keep up with his walking pace. When I got a job as a backpacking guide he was one of the first people I told, and more than pride I sensed his envy of my opportunity to wander around in the desert.

Recently, through a lot of hard work and persistence—and with the help of an organization called Hispanic Access Foundation— I was able to land a fellowship with the National Park Service. My fellowship is with the National Trails System, a component of the National Park Service that aims to protect and preserve natural and cultural resources through designated National Trails.

While these trails may be unrecognized by a majority of the American public, they offer tremendous opportunities to recreate and reconnect to the history of the nation. The people that I have met since starting my fellowship are working to share this history and promote and provide access to these treasured resources.

Ream Wilson Clearwater Trail, Florida

Soon after starting my fellowship I discovered that the trail my grandfather loved to frequent, the Ream Wilson Clearwater Trail, is a designated National Recreation Trail—one of the four types of trails that make up the National Trails System—I had no idea.

This piqued my interest and, because I knew National Trails Day was approaching, I wanted to share a story about a National Trail with roots in an intriguing history of Latinos in the west, which brings me to Naomi Torres.

Naomi joins Latino Outdoors for a day of training.

Naomi is an advocate for involving the Latino community in conservation work and serves as Superintendent for the Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail. She has been working with the National Park Service for many years and emphasizes the importance of encouraging pride of place with Latinx youth. She has worked with many partners to bring youth programming to the trail and is also working to connect people to the history of the Anza trail, a story that is not typically shared in the classroom.

Naomi also believes the story told today focuses on the Spanish colonial, which does not paint a whole picture of the history of the Anza trail. She hopes to be able to share the story of the diverse characters that make up the trails’ history, which include Afro-Latinos and the native peoples that lived and still live along the trail.

Photo Credit: Anza Trail NPS

This work is not easy to do, as it takes a lot of involved time, but is necessary and the payoff is great. The Anza trail offers many opportunities to get on the trail or to visit historic sites, as well as opportunities to get involved. If you are in California or Arizona, I encourage you to connect to the Anza trail, and if you reside elsewhere just know that there are many other National Trails to visit.

At the beginning of February I was at Hike the Hill, a National Trails conference, when I got a call from my dad. My grandpa had been in and out of the hospital for a few years and had always managed to get back on his feet, but that was not the case this time around. Unfortunately, I did not get the chance to say goodbye, so when I flew into Florida to attend his funeral I knew I wanted to find my own way to commemorate his life. 

When I was still living in Florida and would visit from college, my grandpa and I would often walk the Clearwater trail to a small bay where we could watch the sunset. On my visit to Florida I walked the same trail, this time without my grandfather. As I watched the sun set I reflected on his quiet nature and how he was the one who introduced me to quiet walks. The first that I can remember were walks on his farm in Mexico when I was only a toddler.

For this upcoming National Trails Day, June 6th, I have planned an early morning hike. The outdoors is a space where I can meditate and re-center myself, and with the events going on in today’s world I know I could benefit from carving out some space for quiet contemplation. I am also taking a pledge to leave the trail better than I find it, with the plan of going out with a trash bag to pick up any waste I find along the trail. I invite you to also get outside if possible. However, I understand it may feel difficult to step away from the world due to diverse reasons. If this is the case, no worries, the trail will always be there. 

Taki-lovin’ Park Ranger Shares Her Story and Insight

For the first Yo Cuento Blog installment of 2020, immigrant and NPS Park Ranger, Cristina Martínez, generously shared some of her story with Christian La Mont, LO’s Social Media and Los Angeles Program Coordinator.

Christian La Mont: What is your name and where do you currently live?

Cristina Martínez: I am Cristina Martínez from Los Angeles, CA.

CLM: What was your first memory of the outdoors?

CM: Either looking for bugs in my abuela’s garden or going to a city park.

Abuela’s garden

CLM: Can you give us some background about your personal and professional relationship to the outdoors? 

CM: For a significant part of my life, I have considered urban parks my “great outdoors.” I grew up in a Mexico City neighborhood that had quite a number of urban parks and deportivos (parks with fields for different kinds of sports) within walking distance, so I spent a lot of time playing soccer with other kids. My family would also take frequent trips to el Bosque de Chapultepec, one of the largest urban parks in the Western Hemisphere.

“For a significant part of my life, I have considered urban parks my “great outdoors.”

Cristina Martínez

Not long after I turned 9 years old, my mom made the tough decision to leave the country and migrate to the “U.S.” in the search of “better opportunities.” This meant leaving behind my home, family members, friends, and also my connection to parks that had been an integral part of my childhood.

Once in this country, I wasn’t spending a lot of time in the outdoors for different reasons our community is too familiar with: (1) discriminatory policies that have placed more refineries than green spaces where we lived in Wilmington, CA; (2) no reliable transportation to go anywhere far, as we couldn’t afford a car for many years; (3) my mom was working multiple jobs as a housekeeper, making free time a luxury that wasn’t going to be spent going outdoors.

9th grade Cristina on her first overnight outing

It wasn’t until high school that I got to reconnect with the outdoors in a larger capacity when I became a member of my high school’s Environmental Club and got to partake in outings to places such as the so called San Bernardino and Santa Monica Mountains. Thanks to a special partnership with the Sierra Club, this organization sponsored our outings by providing transportation, gear, and guides so that we would have accessible and safe trips. I once again began to have an intimate relationship with the outdoors that continued to flourish and eventually influence my career interests.

Through classes offered by my college’s environmental science department, I was given the privilege to conduct ecology research in some incredible ecosystems.  My introduction to the US National Park System was through a marine ecology field course that took place in Virgin Islands National Park, the very first National Park I visited.

CLM: What is the Latino Heritage Internship Program, and how did you first hear about it? 

CM: The Latino Heritage Internship program (LHIP) is part of a larger initiative by Hispanic Access Foundation to increase the involvement and representation of Latinxs in “public” lands. The internship program does so by collaborating with the National Park Service and offering paid internships for underrepresented groups to work in various National Park Service units across the nation.

I heard about LHIP through social media, in what I would say was a stroke of luck. I happened to be scrolling down my feed on Facebook when I saw an older student at my undergrad institution share it on Facebook.

Cristina, during her Latino Conservation Week event as part of LHIP

CLM: Is that how you started your career with the National Park Service?

CM: Definitely. I would not have considered a career with the NPS if it wasn’t for LHIP.

“I would not have considered a career with the NPS if it wasn’t for LHIP”.

Cristina Martínez

CLM: Tell us about some of your impressions and experiences as a Latina in the National Park Service?

CM: Though I have been grateful to work in some truly gorgeous and dynamic places, it has come at the cost of being away from my community and dealing with constant microaggressions. Being a seasonal Park Ranger comes with a lot of challenges already, a big one being not having guaranteed employment year round, which is not sustainable and serves as an institutional barrier towards low-income individuals. Add to that the challenges that come with being a woman of color, and it can be discouraging to remain in this line of work. It is clear as day that the workforce of the National Park Service does not reflect the demographics of our country, which is why programs such as LHIP exist as a response to the lack of representation of individuals from various groups.

Along those lines, I’ve had many Latinx visitors come up to me and express how excited they are to see for the first time a Park Ranger that “looks like them.” These are interactions I have treasured, for not only do they validate the significance of having our communities represented, but serve as reminder to continue pushing the agency towards actions to create a truly inclusive workplace. I am extremely grateful for the many individuals that have and continue to put in the work towards transforming the “NPS culture” as a whole.

CLM: You’ve taken amazing photos of your time in the NPS, how important is storytelling to you as a Latina in the outdoors?

CM: Storytelling is transformative, validating, and a way of communication that I am still learning a lot about. When I read stories from other people who’ve had similar life experiences, it validates my feelings and has served as a huge part of healing for myself.  As an interpreter and storyteller, I have the platform to tell the stories that places hold to visitors, especially the stories that are difficult but important to share. I have the platform to figuratively and literally pass the mic to voices that continue to be erased so that they tell their story. And with this platform, I have also found it important to share my personal story with the outdoors to visitors. Not because I am seeking acceptance from them; but instead, to disrupt the “mainstream” outdoor narrative. I tell my story for those in the audience that have similar experiences as mine, for it may make them realize they are not alone in the way they have experienced the outdoors.

“And with this platform, I have also found it important to share my personal story with the outdoors to visitors. Not because I am seeking acceptance from them; but instead, to disrupt the “mainstream” outdoor narrative”.

Cristina Martínez

CLM: What are some of your favorite memories of nature: sights, sounds, smells, etc?

CM: I love the smell and sound of the ocean.

Kayaking!

CLM: How did it feel to go from a city like Los Angeles to a vast wilderness?

CM: It was quite the transition in many different ways. For instance, I went from L.A. traffic to a place that only has one road and no stoplights. Though not dealing with traffic was nice, it was isolating to be away from my family and ethnic community.  I mean, the one grocery store in town didn’t have Takis!

CLM: What advice would you give to a young Latinx person who might be interested in a career in the outdoors?

CM: There will be people like professors and academic “advisors” that will push the importance of internships, even if they’re unpaid because at least it’s “good experience.”  Although it may be tempting to go for the unpaid internship since the environmental field is flooded with them (though I am noticing more paid opportunities in the field), time and labor should be paid. While there is potential worth in doing an unpaid internship (I did one summer of 2015 while working simultaneously at another job), the priority should be well-being. It is so crucial to ask oneself if having little to no income will create a stressful situation and if this stress is worth the “experience” of said opportunity. It is also important to remind yourself of your worth and be surrounded by a community that will remind you of that when you can’t yourself. “Imposter syndrome” made me feel inadequate to apply for paid internships that I did come across, making me believe that I was only worthy of “unpaid” opportunities. In conclusion: Apply for paid opportunities if that’s what you need, because they will expose you to different ways one can have a career in the outdoors.

CLM: What advice would you give yourself from 10 years ago?

CM: Don’t be so critical and harsh on yourself; and that the boy your after isn’t gonna matter!

CLM: Any last thoughts or closing words? 

CM: I am so thankful for this community that challenges me to be better and continue learning (and unlearning) even if it makes me uncomfortable. That is why I consider storytelling transformative: because it is a powerful tool that changes perspectives. Thank you for having a platform where we can share those stories.

In Your Blood

por Jasmin Antonia Estrada

My uncle came to this country in the bed of a truck. He crossed the desert hidden and hot; nature was not separate and he was connected. To the outdoor industry that I have become part of my uncles’ story is not the typical idea of an experience that builds one’s connection to nature. And though it was not a positive connection, it was potent to his relationship to the desert and to himself as part of nature.

He and many people who don’t have access to interacting with nature as a leisure activity deserve to have moments in nature that are not in passing nor fear. Moments that are not plummeted in the history of the wild and dark being used as a place for violence against themselves and their ancestors, for trauma, or seen as dirty for being in it—but as a place of positive connection, for growth, for home and exploration, a place that can be a refuge.

I was a kid, sitting in a red plastic chair with the words Coca-Cola written on the top, in the heat of Guatemala City.  The chair stuck to me no matter how I sat in it. A small parrot cooed. There was no distance between the outside and the inside; I was inside looking up at the sky heavy with weather. The hallway lead from the “patio” to the kitchen, no doors in between and when it rained you would get wet going from the bathroom to the kitchen. The kitchen would be filled with the smell of wet pavement and flowers bobbing under the weight of the midday shower. I was part of nature deeply, the mix of concrete and potted plants was the beginning of my understanding that there is no right way to be the part of nature that you are. 

“I was part of nature deeply, the mix of concrete and potted plants was the beginning of my understanding that there is no right way to be the part of nature that you are.”

Jasmin Antonia Estrada

The young people on the trips that I now lead are from wood and concrete structures. They know the taste of tap water and they feel the pollution in their lungs, they are connected. I found my place in connecting them to the trails and the mountains. They knew about the bus stops and the weeds that have the profound ability to break concrete. I wanted them to also see the rivers and the unadulterated morning light. To hear the birds. 

We were in the White Mountains at our campsite on the fourth day of two weeks on the trail with a group of majority youth of color we were debriefing the day late into the night, sitting in a circle recalling the success and learning moments. I remember this night is when we discovered that “together as a team, when we are on the same page, we can do anything.” The revelation of success. These young people who have never been backpacking before deciding that their group was a home they could have, that nature was a house they could thrive in. The rest of us didn’t notice it, but when it was Michael’s time to share he was silent. This look of awe and fear fell on his face, “Is that the moon?” the question fell out of his mouth so loudly as if forced out by his brain. We all looked towards the dark silhouetted mountains. The red sliver of the rising moon was sparkling over the peaks. “Yes, that’s the moon.” Miles responded slowly. We sat there in a contracted silence. Ten minutes passed. “I have never seen anything like this.” Michael had tears in his eyes, Miles put his arm around him, and we sat there, all slowly sharing the moon we all knew. 

I have many narratives of myself in the wilderness. My history as a mixed person, as colonized and colonizer, my experiences as a child being mesmerized by ants, my time as an educator coming to the understanding that there is no “right” way to be in nature. I have exhausted and am exhausted by the way I have presented my narrative to be part of white institutions, to express a difference yet a similarity that they are comfortable with. 

I can see that moon burned into my eyes, that moon for me is the positive connection that we all deserve. Not just the sunny days in a park, but the part of nature that reminds you that you are nature and that that is a beautiful thing.  He deserved this. There is no number of glossy photos or gear that can make you more or less part of it, it is in your blood, and it belongs to you, and that moon, it was Michael’s.