Stories from the Field

Last Sunday, eleven fantabulous volunteers (aka Resupply Angels) joined me in hiking fresh fruits and vegetables, bagels and yogurt, chips and cookies, along with next week’s meals to the Armstrong Scholars. This year’s resupply team was one of a kind, in that TEN of us had been Armstrong Scholars or Armstrong Scholars leaders ourselves! Three of us flew across the country to be resupply angels! We represented 2002, 2014, 2015, 2017 and 2022 and were all there to support the team and pay forward the goodness we’ve received from this program. It was such a delight to see Joie’s light burning so brightly on Sunday! 

“If I was still teaching, I’d still be taking kids up there.” For high school teacher Dave Ficke, class trips to Yosemite Institute (now NatureBridge Yosemite) were always the highlight of his school year. After 27 years of bringing students from Upland High School to our Yosemite campus and sharing his own enjoyment of nature with them, Dave reflects that his focus as a science teacher “was always getting them out in the environment to see and experience.” The immersive, hands-on approach offered by NatureBridge programs—coupled with the passion and compassion of NatureBridge staff—kept Dave coming back with his students year after year.

“These are your people!” Former NatureBridge staff member Cassie Hughes often thinks about this exclamation from her then-girlfriend (now spouse), which was elicited by her first visit to campus to see Cassie at work at Prince William Forest Park. Looking back now, Cassie agrees that her partner’s words succinctly summarized her NatureBridge experience; for Cassie, the best part of working at NatureBridge was “the people, for sure. An enthusiastic, passionate, fun group of people” who were incredibly supportive of Cassie and her family during several major life events and challenges.

When your classroom is the great outdoors, teaching and learning can happen anywhere! That’s the attitude Drew Gallant brings to his work with NatureBridge as a multi-campus educator. Drew first joined NatureBridge as an educator at our Prince William Forest campus in Virginia in the spring of 2022. From there, his multi-campus adventures have taken him to two of our California sites, Dangermond Preserve and Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Although it’s located across the country from his childhood home of Maine, Drew now considers our Golden Gate campus to be “home.” This isn’t surprising, considering his favorite NatureBridge memory is that of sighting a pod of dolphins off Rodeo Beach with a group of Golden Gate students!

Whitney Mowll’s experience with NatureBridge (then Yosemite Institute) always returns to the question “Why,” but not in the way you might expect. An innocuous moment conducting water monitoring tests caused Whitney to wonder why she only thought of science as a singular experience revolving around lab coats and test tubes, and why does any of this type of science matter in our daily lives? This led her on a lifetime’s work in and around environmental education and stewardship. Now, as the Executive Coordinator for the National Park Service Friends Alliance and Instructor at the Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources at the University of Wyoming, “Why” is the question that continues to inspire her work both personally and professionally.

The National Park Trust, in partnership with the National Park Service (NPS), announced recently $375,100 to fund 18 education and outdoor recreation projects through the 2023 NPS Challenge Cost Share Program. Each project connects a local community to a nearby national park, national trail, or wild and scenic river. This year’s group of awardees will engage more than 8,600 participants in active, healthy outdoor recreation and in education initiatives that increase knowledge about our nation’s natural and cultural heritage.

“It’s always good to have a plan, but things often happen along the way.” This is a sentiment that Cleveland (Cleve) Justis has taken with him from his time with the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy, to teaching at UC Berkeley and UC Davis, to his own executive search and consulting company Potrero Group. With this ethos, he has inspired and educated organizations and nonprofits at the intersection of business, government and social entrepreneurship around the world, and it all began at NatureBridge!

Our Olympic campus was buzzing with activity as we welcomed volunteers, friends and NatureBridge board members for a spring clean-up day earlier this month. Friends and community members joined our campus educators the following day for Elwha Exploration Day, an opportunity to walk in the footsteps of NatureBridge students discovering the Elwha River’s history and engaging in hands-on science activities exploring the river’s ongoing restoration.

Anne Baxter’s connection to NatureBridge spans over 30 years, though her connection to nature extends well beyond that. Anne came to California from the east coast and fell in love with the majestic Sierra Nevada, where she could be found backpacking, birding and fly fishing. That love for the mountains led her to take her 5th and 6th grade students to Yosemite each year. Those trips to Yosemite often created a connection with the natural world for these students that would last a lifetime.