Staff Alumni

At the end of 1996, weeks of cold rain in California’s Sierra Nevada mountains gave way to warm, tropical rainfall. Unusual for that time of year, the warm, heavy rains melted the snowpacks, which began to run down the mountain into the valleys below, including Yosemite Valley. In early January 1997, with NatureBridge educators living at the park and students scheduled to arrive soon, National Park Service (NPS) officials did not close the park out of an abundance of caution; they closed Yosemite because one million gallons of water was pouring into the valley. Every five seconds.

On the eve of April 16, 2012, Vanessa Morel busied herself with last-minute preparations in Prince William Forest Park; in less than 24 hours, the first group of school children would be visiting for NatureBridge’s inaugural program in Prince William.

“I was like a mother hen that just couldn't settle,” says Vanessa, the Founder and Principal of NextGen Conservation who was NatureBridge’s first Washington D.C. Director at the time. “It was time for me to go home and leave it in the hands of the overnight staff, but I almost couldn't leave because I just felt this awesome responsibility. Would it all work out?”

Before Ty Cobb shepherded Yosemite National Institutes (now NatureBridge) through a series of potentially devastating events as its President and CEO, he served under President Ronald Reagan as National Security Affairs Special Advisor. The position required adaptability, flexibility and high-level ingenuity each day. “The crisis of the day dominates your time, and in the White House, we were in constant crisis mode.” Little did he know, after he was hired, it didn’t take long for Ty and the organization to be tested.