Career Connection

Career Connection: Jul 5-17, 2015
Career Connection
Yosemite National Park

Six incredibly thoughtful and enthusiastic participants from Los Angeles, Kingsburg, Turlock, and Stockton came for two weeks of learning, growing, and playing together. The participants got a wide variety of experiences this year, including meadow restoration, invasive species removal, a tour of the Hetch Hetchy "chalet," discussions with park partners and the concessioner, leadership skill building, and patrols with law enforcement, wilderness rangers, and wildlife experts. Discussions were rich, fun was had, and the group went home with fond memories, a high level of professional development, and more confidence in themselves and their futures.

Interpretive Ranger Shelton kicks off the program with an inspiring discussion about keeping a sense of wonder and connecting to a place.

The crew learns about the park concessioner's sustainability program, Greenpath.

Yosemite's park videographer Kristen teaches about photo framing and how to tell a story through images.

Practice framing photos.

Learning how park scientists study and monitor the health of Yosemite's meadow habitats.

The group looked closely at informal trails to classify them into different categories to add to the dataset.

Though the Mariposa Grove of giant sequoias closed just three days earlier for a two-year restoration project, the Career Connection participants got a special behind-the-scenes look when they headed out to help the vegetation crew remove invasive species.

The group met park planner Erin ("Echo") at the Ahwahnee Hotel to discuss the challenges and opportunities to managing a park as big and with as many visitors as Yosemite.

After learning about park management from Echo, the group then examined particular case studies in Yosemite to determine how compromise could be utilized to best meet the needs of all stakeholders.

Cultural interpreter Ben teaches the group about native plant uses.

They were then treated to a lesson in the prehistoric skill of atlatl throwing.

One of the impromptu highlights for the group during the program was the opportunity for the students to step into a leadership role and teach younger students how to throw atlatls.

It wasn't all work! The group also learned about various recreation opportunities in the area, including a sampling of rock climbing!

Yosemite Conservancy project coordinator Ryan discusses the important role park partners play in the implementation of projects in Yosemite National Park. After introducing the Conservancy's role, the crew got to participate in a debate about the merits of funding different project. The discussions were rich!