Thruhiker and official: my public land history

I have spent six seasons working with the USFS and NPS, in addition to doing a non -profit job. I can echo what many others have already been saying, but I also wanted to offer my personal history for the perspective. With many co -workers and friends who had now left the civil service, any confidence he had in working for the federal government has been destroyed. Purchase cards and government contracts remain frozen for public land agencies, as well as their ability to carry out any of its typical duties. Without a reliable workforce or budget, agencies such as the United States Forest Service (USFS) and the National Parks Service (NP) only exist in the name, not really. They can keep public land open for now, but that is less guarantee than ever.

Find my passions

While working at Yosemite in the summer of 2016, I made my first walk in more than 30 miles. I didn’t think it was possible for me, but I had the idea of a friend’s suggestion. That walk changed my life. That day I realized that I did not love walking very far, it was also good at that. The inspiration stayed with me when I returned to the state of Humboldt to finish my degree, where I concentrated on geography, hydrology, sig and public land management. Then he fed my goal of walking on Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) the following year.

During my time at school, I was incredibly passionate about the natural environment. Every time I could, I volunteered for several non -profit and state local agencies and worked in the waste reduction area of the university. Everyone knew me as obsessed with Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada, and my plan to work in those areas after graduating. I saw how the privatization of services in Yosemite had negatively affected both access (e.g.

Through the PCT

In 2017 I put myself along the way, after having spent only one night in the field alone. Growing up, I had always been a nature lover, but I had imagined as clumsy and not as a athlete. I will not say that the transition to Thruhiker was not mental and physically terrifying sometimes, but I naturally put myself to those around me. At the end of the PCT, I knew I had found my fascination more outdoors.

From there, I submerged first at the postgraduate school at the University of Northern Arizona. I was anxious to learn more and equip me for a lifetime career focused on the health of the mountain environments that I loved. After the PCT, I also knew that I wanted to specialize in field work. So, in addition to making the 7 am at night sometimes in the classes, the library or for the data science laboratory for which I worked, I was also in field sites such as the Kaibab plateau every weekend where I could balance it. To the out there, it would help to graduate students with their field work for free just to gain the experience.

Why do I want to work for public lands

When I graduated an exhausting calendar year later, I wasted what will always remain my last dream work in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National National. My eyes sprouted while walking through the high Sierra landscapes that I had seen the previous year on the PCT. Now, I returned to them as an NPS employee who could help protect them in coming generations. I was collecting water quality samples, algae and amphibious surveys for one of the long -term monitoring programs of the parks. It is important, since they are noticing higher levels of nutrients in the waters of high lifting lakes, probably due to valley agriculture and air pollution.

This work highlighted how connected everything is in the landscape and how important each piece is and each person to maintain their well -being. I was happy to have worked hard and found a career in which I could incorporate not only my gratitude for walking away, but also my commitment in the basin and environmental management. I think the three, how long they spend living on Earth in a tent (or not), have a unique sense of importance of public land and our responsibility for it.

Dedicate my life to public lands

Let’s quickly advance so far, in addition to my work in Sequoia, Kings Canyon and the National Yosemite parks, I have also developed a deep connection with Desolation Wilderness and the Tahoe basin. Although I have been a seasonal employee within different facets of the outdoor industry since I was 18, I felt stability in my long -term professional goal of working for the federal government. It didn’t matter that I had to live outside my car in my summers just to pay basic expenses, eventually I would get permanent job and could continue my work (as many of us imagine). The priorities and culture of federal environmental agencies aligned with mine, and I felt very satisfied working hard for the public good.

It didn’t matter that I had to live outside my car in my summers just to pay basic expenses, eventually I would get permanent job and could continue my work (as many of us imagine). The priorities and culture of federal environmental agencies aligned with mine, and I felt very satisfied working hard for the public good.

And I mean working hard. Ask anyone who has worked, I was always trying to discover how to walk more, work faster and do more. It did not matter if it was frozen, cozy, flood conditions, a heat wave, an early start or a late ending, I wanted my job duties to become better than they initially commissioned me. Field employees are generally scheduled for 10 hours, but the natural environment sometimes has their own plans and can easily become 12. I remember one day when, due to a change in the field partners and a lack of communication, it was filtering water samples in my store until 11 pm

Each USFS and NPS employee is important

What else could want the United States of your public land employees? In current circumstances, with employment cuts in Congress and Executive, as well as financing freezing, I feel completely discarded. And so do many of my coworkers, some that I have seen provide their eyes because they know how devastating are current changes for both public lands and their ability to protect them. For me and for them it was never money or benefits, in large part because most seasonal federal employees never get them, I never did. It was about contributing to the concept of public lands. To ensure that they were there for my generations and future, thriving and supporting wildlife and river routes that deserve to exist intrinsically and to enjoy. But now, in the heart of my first years of work, many others with the same dream tell us that we discover something else while we see the beloved public lands that we administer in flames.

In current circumstances, with employment cuts in Congress and Executive, as well as financing freezing, I feel completely discarded.

The biggest problem with this is how are the federal agencies intertwined with the State, the county, the investigation, the non -profit organization and even the private ones. The natural environment has no real borders, so a public services agency or a construction contract can also depend in part of federal workers or financing. I believe that many people may be surprised to hear that these changes in federal agencies have affected businesses as usual for each part of the environmental sector. And could affect national paths such as the continental divide trail (CDT) in the future.

So yes, I can get private work in the case, Environmental Consulting. And finally I will have to do that. But work with these companies can also slow down, not to mention the fact that I did not spend seven years at school to do so. I do not effort to contribute to the industry for profit, I want to help support and strengthen the American idea of public lands and civil services.

Be with those who take care of public lands

The average American probably does not want to give up their public lands, but that is what is happening. If the resources are online again, the foundations of the USFS and NPS have been demolished and must be rebuilt by brick in the coming decades. Yeah, decades. According to my experience, working with the government and non -profit organizations, there will not be a quick solution for this unless there is a sudden tide of funds to completely restore tides. Federal employees dedicated to public lands had been working on practical miracles every year with existing adjusted budgets.

Now is the time for a call call, a time to support people who have committed their lives to make possible the continuation of public lands. Public lands and those who have them in personnel should not be considered guaranteed, and should not be taken for granted. Know the real stories of these people and the internal functioning of what enters their work. Even seemingly simple services, such as garbage management or junior ranger programs, probably take much more than you think. I will thank Government’s official volunteers who continue to make possible many of the programs in the midst of skeletal budgets. It is time to meet their officials again because they are likely to need their support. They have done it for a long time, but they made things work anyway. Now, they cannot continue defending the public lands alone.

It is time to meet their officials again because they are likely to need their support. They have done it for a long time, but they made things work anyway. Now, they cannot continue defending the public lands alone.

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