Summer Stewardship Shaping Up for 2020
Hello from the wide world of all things Stewardship!
Things have been touch and go as of late, with the pandemic throwing our plans into uncertainty since the beginning of March. Our plans have changed seemingly every couple of weeks or so, but now we’ve entered a welcome state of solid ground for what we can expect our work to look like this summer with regards to our stewardship program. Below are some updates of what stewardship and programmatic offerings will be this summer:
- Thanks to grants from the National Wilderness Stewardship Alliance and the Strong Foundation, and generous donations from you, our donors and supporters, we will be able to hire a Trail Ambassador for the summer, to assist me in the care of our public lands this summer, from Lone Pine to Bridgeport.
- We will offering our popular interpretive hikes virtually for the first time. Due to the pandemic, our traditional model of sharing the exciting details of the geologic, floral, faunal, and natural histories of the area will not be possible. So, we’re pivoting to online resources to continue to bring you that educational, enriching, and inspiring content. Stay tuned for more details, and for videos to be posted to our YouTube channel.
- Our stewardship events will also be making the leap into the digital realm. If you know me, you know that our large community gatherings to pick up trash and fishing line, maintain our trails, and share in the joy of having a positive presence on our public lands are my very favorite part of my job. We still want to engage with y’all to care for our public lands, riparian areas, and ecosystems, and so are launching a series of “virtual” stewardship events where we encourage you to pick up some trash where you live. We’ll also be sharing stories and video from some of our favorite projects from around our working area, showing you what. our stewardship team is up to all summer. And by showing off your hard work on social media, you’ll be entered into a raffle with great prizes. We are still ironing out details, and will be rolling out a full description of how to join us in these fun opportunities to give back to the land we love. Stay tuned!
- Lastly, we are still hoping to offer our backcountry Wilderness Week work experiences as we have in the past. Thanks to support from the National Wilderness Stewardship Alliance, and partnership with the Inyo, Sierra, and Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forests, we are very optimistic we will be able to hold three week-long backcountry work weeks. These will each see seven lucky volunteers join us as we pack in to a remote area to do some much needed work. Details and a call for volunteers will be forthcoming (once dates are set with the agencies), but know that we will be bolstering our safety with some added parameters to participation to keep our staff, partners, and volunteers safe.
Update: July 13th, 2020
Lindsay and Alex have been out on trail, from Lone Pine up to Bridgeport. They had a big weekend on the 4th weekend talking to people, ad they continue to look forward to a great season. There will be more updates on our stewardship season to come.
Meet Our Trail Ambassador, Lindsay Butcher!
Originally from San Diego, Lindsay grew up spending summers in the Sierra on family camping trips. After graduating from SDSU with a B.S. in Nutrition she dove into a career in enology and wine making. However, after working multiple vintages in California and Australia she discovered her hobby of rock climbing was becoming an obsession. So she ran away from real life to work and play in Yosemite National Park. She made the transition to the east side permanent last year and is excited for the opportunity to be an ambassador for the land and trails she now calls home.
floppy disk – obsolete
superhero – Batman
coffee – delicious
Harry Potter – fantastic
Favorite Wine? (Lindsay worked on a vineyard) – Malbec