I & E News @ Golden Gate
JUNE 2015
Recent Successes
UN70 at Muir Woods
On May 19, Marcus Combs and Mia Monroe greeted delegates from the United Nations to mark the day, 70 years ago, when delegates walked to Cathedral Grove to start the proceedings to establish the UN (and honor the memory of FDR). The event at Muir Woods was part of the kick off celebration which continues through June in the Bay Area.
Nike Visioning Session
In early May, an interdisciplinary group of staff got together to develop a unified vision for the Nike Missile Site in the Marin Headlands. Staff from cultural resources, business management, interp and education, projects, planning and maintenance discussed how to improve the visitor experience, honor the history and set priorities for the future. Special thanks to Susan Ewing-Haley from Cultural Resources for planning and Marcus Koenen, Lynn Fonfa, Al Blank, Roxi Farewell, Andrew Felton and Lucy Scott for their participation.
International Migratory Bird Day
On May 9, Muir Woods celebrated IMBD. Special thanks to Lou Sian for coordinating the day which included partner led walks and activities and participation by community groups such as Venetia Valley School, Latino Outdoors and Girls Scouts, Additional thanks to MUWO staff, Conservancy Stewardship and Outreach staff for their
participation.
Alcatraz in a new Light
If you spend any time on Alcatraz, it will not be long before you dream of what lies beyond the waters edge. Those dreams may include thoughts of freedom, of escaping a horrid past or challenging times. For others those dreams turn to changing a societal wrong and living in a better world. Regardless of what you dream is, art has a way of bringing ideas to life in new ways. There is no doubt that ideas presented through art can change us. It can touch our soul in deep and sometimes surprising ways. It allows us to look at old ideas or preconceived notions in new light and even turn them upside down.
Alcatraz has a long tradition of celebrating art. Over the years, the National Park Service has hosted a variety of exhibits and performances, each one also started as a dream.
To name just a few:
Native American Art (Jose Rivera)
We Are Still Here (SF State)
Table of Voices (Richard Kamler)
Hamlet (Ava Roy/We Players)
California Prison Art (We Players/San Quentin Prison Art Project)
Life After Murder (Nancy Mulane)
Restorative Justice (Jim Breeden)
50 Years Since Alcatraz Closed (Devik Weiner)
Ai Wei Wei @large (Cheryl Haines/ForSite)
Each of these exhibits or performances has touched us in unique ways. To continue the tradition of Art on Alcatraz, two new exhibits will be presented during the summer of 2015: The Sentence Unseen and Prisoners of Age. Many thanks to Marcus Koenen, John Cantwell, Kathryn Daskal and all of the AZ Rangers that have helped make these projects happen over the years.
Welcoming New Staff
We have hit a new record within Interp & Education, hiring 24 new staff members in the last 2 months! With a mix of 6 terms, 16 seasonals and several emergency hires, we filled many vacancies, geared up for the summer, and launching Centennial projects. We of course have a few more vacancies to fill, but on a roll. MANY MANY thanks to Marcus Koenen and MARISOL Gutierrez and Supervisors Kay Wang, Theresa Griggs, Kathryn Daskal, Marcus Combs (MUWO detail), Andrew Felton (during MAHE detail), and Lucy Scott (current MAHE detail), for your extraordinary work recruiting, hiring and onboarding all of our new staff. Additional thanks to everyone else for making them feel welcome, supported and well connected to their sites and fellow staff members. Also want to that Matt Chepin, Seasonal in Presidio for his fine work as his season ends at the end of the month.
Below are a list of staff starting in June/July. As I receive bios, I will send them out.
Alcatraz- Helena Colindres, Kathryn Marcouiller, Stephen Cote,Kat Mcallister
FOMA -Stefanie Taunton(Centennial), Benjamin Austin (Digital App)
Outreach- Desiree Munoz and Courtney Balcer
FOPO - Frank Largaespada, Han Xu
Pres- Denise McEvoy,Sarah Merlau
MAHE- Andrew Duncan,Kit Krupp,
MUWO -Kelsi Ju, Nelson Zuniga, Jasmine Reinhardt
STAFF ARRIVALS AND DEPARTURES
MUWO Seasonal: Kelsi Ju
Kelsi Ju grew up with split time between the enchanting San Francisco fog and Hawaii’s blue surf. Her family yearly went on camping trips in the Marin Headlands
and Half Moon Bay. When they were all in Hawaii, beach weekends would be spent snorkeling and surfing.During her high school career she became a youth counselor and taught backpacking to Chinatown YMCA youth. Kelsi graduated with a BA from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. After graduation she joined the Peace Corps where she lived for 2 years with the indigenous people of Panama (Ngäbes) in the remote mountain reservation. There she worked on environmental health programs including sustainable agriculture, reforestation projects and HIV/AIDS programs. Upon returning to the US she worked for Oahu Nature tours while volunteering with the Ka Wai Nui marsh restoration project.
AZ SEASONAL: Kate Marcuille
AZ SEASONAL: Helena Colindres
I am a Salvadorian-American 18 year old freshman at City College of SF. I have lived in the Presidio since I was three. I first started working in the GGNRA as a VIP with the community outreach team when I was seven years old. In middle school I was in the Urban Trail Blazers program and in high school, I also took part in the I-YEL program at the Crissy Field Center. In these programs, I learned a lot about sustainability, leadership, team building, and our parks. I have also worked at the Fort Miley Ropes Course with the Pacific Leadership Institute at Lands End. During my freshman year in college, I was a historical interpretive academic intern with the NPS in the Presidio. I worked alongside many amazing rangers who were truly an inspiration. I got to work at the Presidio VC, GGB Pavilion, and Fort Point. I am studying to be an opera singer and am a Latino Studies major. In my free time, I like to spend time with my family and sing.
AZ SEASONAL: Steven Cote
After seven amazing summers (and two winters) working in Yosemite for the concession company, I decided to return to school. I worked one summer of graduate school as a Park Ranger on the east side of Sequoia, making five day patrols along the Pacific Crest Trail and the occasional summit of Mount Whitney. Most of those summers, however, were spent on research trips in the Andes. I finally received my Ph.D. in History from the UC Davis in 2011. I was lucky to spend the past four years teaching history at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio and Western Washington University in Bellingham, WA, but now am excited to return to NPS where I will still get to teach history, but avoid grading undergraduate papers.
FOMA Seasonal: Stefanie Trauton
MUWO TERM: Juan Quezada
I am a recent graduate of Humboldt State with a BS in Environmental Management & Protection. My emphasis area was in Environmental Ed and Interpretation. My career in the NPS began during high school as an intern in the SAMO Youth Program. The program was aimed at immersing inner city youth in the outdoors. Since then I have worked in several parks including Channel Islands, Grand Canyon, Redwood, and Yosemite. Now I have the great opportunity to work within the GGNRA at Muir Woods. Being a native Angelino raised in North East Los Angeles, I have developed a deep commitment to increasing the visitation and connectivity between park resources and urban communities, especially for inner city youth. I have even had the opportunity to express this interest as a guest panelist at the 2012 White House Conference on Conservation: Growing America’s Outdoor Heritage and Economy.
MUWO SEASONAL: Nelson Zuniga II
MAHE Seasonal: Kit Krupp
MAHE Seasonal: Alex Duncan
Highlights and Resources
An Interpretive Guide to the NPS Centennial
Here is a link to the new document An Interpretive Guide to the NPS Centennial. This beautifully designed booklet provides practical guidelines for interpreters, educators, and other communicators for commemorating the centennial. It features major interpretive thematic messages to use in interpretive programming. Use this tool to help refine messages, shape thinking about current programs, and guide development of new interpretive programs.
Building Stewardship through Internships Report
The Institute at the Golden Gate recently released the publication, Building Stewardship through Internships. The report pulls out key recommendations to help park staff establish strong, effective internship programs that engage a range of communities and help to build long-term stewardship in our parks. Thanks to Terry Kreidler and Kay Wang for their input and expert contributions.
“Bear Sighting” according to James Osborne
Last Sunday, a visitor at the Presidio reported a small bear, in the woods below Washington and above Arguello. My first thought was that we jokingly call squirrels “minibears”, but the fuzzy photo on her phone showed something bigger. I told her there had been no bears here for over a century, but I would check the area. I walked up a path through the trees to Washington, and back down another social trail, and about 50 yards down I spotted an adult coyote, which was about 10 yds off the path, but got up and walked behind more trees when I stopped to photo it. The path wound down to the Infantry Terrace Quarters/Thomas Avenue, and at that trailhead there was a sawhorse sign that the area was Coyote Habitat, with dens and pups in the area, so I concluded that the visitor had seen a pup. I later left the visitor that message. Jonathan Young, Trust Wildlife Ecologist, confirmed that a breeding pair with at least four pups is in that area. He sent me this picture.
Diversity & Inclusion
On the 112th anniversary of when John Muir and Theodore Roosevelt camped in Yosemite and birthed the national park idea, I had the wonderful opportunity to discuss the future of our national parks and outdoor spaces. 30 inspiring participants including Sangita Chari, who is spearheading the Office of Relevancy, Diversity and Inclusion in WASO, and staff from over a dozen organizations including Forest Service, BLM, CA State Parks, Center for Diversity and the Environment, Sierra Club, Latino Outdoors, NPCA and Foundation for Youth Investment, generated ideas on how to make diversity, equity and inclusion take hold at all levels of the organizations and in the outdoors. High Country News reported on the event if you would like to read more about it.
Safety Message of the Month
Art Exhibit: The Sentence Unseen
Celebrated documentary photographer Ruth Morgan and visual artist Deanne Morizono have curated a site-specific installation of compelling large format photographs, video diaries, and two- and three-dimensional visual art on Alcatraz that challenges assumptions about people behind bars. The exhibit reveals the unrecognized impacts of incarceration - the sentence levied on children and families when a loved one is imprisoned. Much of the exhibit features testimony from children of incarcerated parents and art created by men and women in prison. But it is Morgan’s poignant and uplifting portraits—larger than life—coupled with the stories of young people with only vague memories of their fathers or who wonder what it would be like to spend Mother’s Day with their mother that leave a lasting impression. The exhibit is produced by nonprofit Community Works West and hosted by the National Park Service on Alcatraz Island. The art will be displayed in both the Band Room (May - August) and the New Industries Building (May- June)
Monday, Jun 1, 2015, 08:00 AM
Band Room and New Industries Building, Alcatraz Island
Prisoners of Age
Prisoners of Age was originally exhibited on Alcatraz over 10 years ago. The award winning photographs now return to Alcatraz July - Dec. 2015.
Prisoners of Age is a haunting series of photographs and chronicles of elderly men and women, taken over a period of 18 years, at prisons and prison-wards for geriatric offenders in the United States and Canada. Brilliantly designed by Michael Wou of Origami Branding, the exhibition features 60 large-scale photographs in cellblock environments. Accompanying the photographs are revealing narratives from conversations with the inmates of age, guards and prison officials.
Senior inmates comprise the fastest growing age group in the United States. One-in-ten inmates is 55 or older. A decade ago, that was one-in-twenty. As Federal and State prisons begin to look more like high security nursing homes, the people who manage North America's prison system worry about how to handle the imminent explosion in the geriatric population.
Wednesday, Jul 1, 2015, 10:00 AM
New Industries Building, Alcatraz Island
Interp Get Together (IGT)
Afterwards, we will further our work on infusing the Relevancy Standards into interpretive programming. Hear from fellow rangers about their success and challenges during this process. More details to come as we get closer to the date.
Thursday, Aug 20, 2015, 01:00 PM
TBD
To find out more with what is happening in the park, check out other upcoming Park Events page on the Parks Conservancy website.
Michele Gee
Chief of Interpretation & Education
Golden Gate National Recreation Area
National Park Service
Fort Mason Building 201
San Francisco, CA 94123
415-561-4759
Email: michele_gee@nps.gov
Website: http://share.inside.nps.gov/sites/PWR/goga/SitePages/Home.aspx
Location: San Francisco, CA 94123
Phone: (415) 561-4759