Pinedale Boys & Girls Club Students “Nature-Map” Mendota Wildlife Area

Holding GPS units and wildlife identification booklets, 12 students from the Fresno-Pinedale Boys and Girls Club became the newest local wildlife inventory specialists. In late November 2007, conditions were perfect to observe dozens of species of migratory birds stopping over on their Great Pacific flyby south for the winter. By lunchtime, the students called themselves official nature-mappers.

The students, led by Pinedale B&G Club director JJ Velasco, spent the day in groups, walking the trails and margins of the Meyers Waterbank, located on remnant wetlands near Mendota, CA off the San Joaquin River. GPS units, watches and counters were used to document the species observed and their geo-positional coordinates.

The Meyers Waterbank is a unique natural system of saving water, actually saving water like a bank in its above-ground marsh – which is slowly returning to ideal feeding and nesting habitat. The waterbank, under private ownership and maintenance in cooperation with several area farmers and the Spreckles Sugar Plant, stores water in the summer to sell off for residential or rural use.

The San Joaquin River Stewardship Council (with blessings from the Fresno Co. Office of Education) has coordinated a long list of field trips for students of all ages to come and visit. Jason Dean, leading the Meyers Waterbank outreach program, conducts nature tours and environmental education through the wetland. Steve Starcher (SJR Stewardship) has acquired GPS units and developed a science/observation unit for students called nature-mapping.

SJ One Stewards Bring Stanislaus Day Use Park to Life

Revisiting the Riverside Day Use Area that Stockton’s San Joaquin ONE School had worked at last spring, Stanislaus National Forest Interpretive Specialist Phyllis Ashmead felt the love for student volunteers.

“Because of the work these students have done consecutively last Spring and this Autumn, this park is finally being used by the right kind of visitors,” said Ashmead on the morning of December 3, 2007. Previously, the site was overgrown with blackberry vines and other invasive species, including incense cedars, which disallowed a healthy variety of flora on the forest floor. Ashmead quickly pointed out that a site that seems un-kept will usually be mistreated by visitors.

So the cycle of stewardship continued behind the lead of teacher Amelia Ramirez and her WildLink students. Volunteers picked blackberry vines out of a specific section of streambank to improve accessibility for visitors. At the end of the day, a Forest Ranger working on a fire brigade led a tutorial on how to burn green material at a restoration site. By count, over 20 square meters were cleared of nasty blackberry thorns.

WildLink Ambassador Harley brought her peers, Nicole , Phil , and Michael.

Crenshaw HS Eco-Club Does Dirty Work to Close Out 2007

There were no minced words on recruitment fliers for the Crenshaw HS Community Garden workday. “Do not come if you are lazy, a whiner or don’t want to get dirty!” said the brochure, designed by Sierra Club Project Administrator and Crenshaw HS Eco-Club mentor Bill Vanderberg. The four-hour project promised hands-on work for Eco-Club members and their peers at the campus garden last December and November, 2007.

Hard work is not new to the Eco-Club and Venture Crew at Crenshaw HS. Throughout the autumn and winter, they have partnered with community stewards – including the Sierra Club and the Boy Scouts – on several projects. Other high school students also attended, but Eco-Club and Venture Crew members earn community service credits.

In addition to a coastal cleanup and several outdoor education hikes around the Los Angeles area, the Crenshaw Eco-Club also participated in the Survivor Challenge at Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area in late October. Over 120 people attended the overnight activity, which focused on promoting the need for environmental education programs and to introduce local students to the natural resources and public parks in their home communities. Students participated in a campfire program, a sunset hike and received a new Coleman sleeping bag to keep after the event.

The Eco-Club has over 25 members, and has been a long-standing active program with WildLink.

WildLink Opportunities Help Alumnus Build "Bridge" to Career Ambition

"There was something spiritual there in Yosemite, something I had to learn about myself," recalls WildLink alumnus Crisol Chavez about the personal connection she made with nature during her expedition with the Harbor City Boys and Girls Club in Los Angeles. Chavez, who attended Harbor City B&GC as a student and as a volunteer, now works as an administrative assistant at the club. "We all get exposed to nature, plants and animals on TV and in our front yards. But in Yosemite we get a better understanding of how everything works all together. Wild life! Life that's truly wild!"

The WildLink expedition, coupled with her experience in the NPS/WildLink Bridge Program last summer, became a process of exploration about the wilderness and job opportunities in the parks system. The disciplines that most impacted her concerned nature-based education, interpretation and natural resource management, says Chavez.

"I've always known I wanted to work with kids and Mother Nature," says Chavez. "The Bridge Program really opened my eyes to the complexity of jobs and the world of nature and education, which is so different from my life in the city. We just don't get exposed to it as much [in Los Angeles]."

Chavez has been working for the Harbor City B&GC for three months, writing monthly reports for association funding. She invests a lot of time with the various leadership and activity clubs within the B&GC, such as the Keystone Club, Adventure Club and Career Launch. Because of her leadership role at the B&GC, Chavez enjoys a unique opportunity to recruit students for what she calls a "life-changing opportunity" with both the WildLink expedition and the Bridge Program. In 2008, the NPS-WildLink Bridge Program is slated to begin June 16.

When asked what she says to young kids to persuade them to join the WildLink expedition, she says "I didn't know I had the strength to take the load! We had to set goals physically and mentally, and I was so happy that we got to the top of that hill. The backpack was so heavy!"

Chavez says she would like to work in child education some day, and believes Yosemite helped solidify that career goal for her.

WildLink is now accepting applications for the June 2008 Bridge Program. Click here to learn how to apply!