2018 Yosemite Alcoa Scholars are going to Olympic!
Each year, our two groups of Alcoa Scholars explore some of the most beautiful public lands in the U.S. Typically, our Scholars go to Shenandoah National Park and Yosemite National Park, discovering the landscapes of each respective park over the summer.
This year, however, there has been a change of plans for our Yosemite Scholars. Worsening air quality conditions in Yosemite related to the nearby Ferguson Fire have led us to open the doors for our Alcoa Scholars in Olympic National Park.
About Olympic National Park #
Located on the Northwest coast of Washington state, Olympic National Park encompasses nearly one million acres, protects a vast wilderness, thousands of years of human history and several distinct ecosystems, including glacier-capped mountains, old-growth temperate rain forests and over 70 miles of wild coastline.
Our campus is located on the edge of Lake Crescent, a beautiful body of water that is home to a rich history. Students stay in historic cabins, immersed in the hundred-year culture of what was once the Rosemary Inn (which housed prominent figures in its day such as President Franklin D. Roosevelt!).
Students engage in strenuous hikes deep in the forest to Mt. Storm King and go canoeing on the lake, learning more about endemic species as well as the lake’s dark history.
Olympic National Park is also home to the largest watershed restoration project in U.S. history. The Elwha River dams were constructed in the early 1900s, and for over a century disrupted the web of ecological and cultural connections in the Elwha Valley.
In 1992, Congress passed legislation to remove the dams and restore the altered ecosystem. Since removal of the dams in 2014, there has been a revival of a slowly recovering river. The river is now the site of a fascinating story of rebirth and is still in process of growth and improvement.
This week, our Scholars will be able to explore all of these amazing places firsthand. Stay tuned for more from our class of 2018 Olympic Alcoa Scholars!
Stories
Fall Reflections from NatureBridge Yosemite
As an environmental science educator, I spend a lot of time teaching about nature, but this season I’ve been finding that as it turns out, nature has a lot to teach us, too. Sometimes I can let the trees, the meadow, and the lichen teach for me. They show us how to respect each other’s boundaries, how to celebrate differences, how to work together, and how to lean on each other’s strengths in order to exist in a new place. These lessons felt incredibly relevant to me heading into the first week of November, a notoriously busy time at NatureBridge Yosemite. I wanted to focus on messages of kindness and inclusivity with my students, I wanted them to feel a sense of belonging in this new space, and I also hoped that they would share those messages with others.
An Incredible 10th Anniversary of Evening on the Lake
On October 25, the Amazon Meeting Center in downtown Seattle buzzed with celebratory energy as over 300 NatureBridge guests and supporters gathered for the 10th anniversary of "Evening on the Lake," our signature Pacific Northwest fundraising event for our Olympic campus.
"Science became fun" at NatureBridge for Alum Laura Lomeli Russert
Laura Lomeli Russert is a NatureBridge alum who grew up in Groveland, CA and now calls Washington, D.C. home. Laura’s journey with NatureBridge began when she attended the Golden Gate campus as a young student with her class from Tenaya Elementary. Laura credits NatureBridge with shaping not only her love for nature but also her passion for education and science. "Science became fun,” she recalls. “You weren’t learning from a textbook anymore, and it became so much more real." Her hands-on, scientific experiences at NatureBridge laid the foundation for her eventual pursuit of a Ph.D. in psychology. “I feel like I owe a lot to NatureBridge."