Yosemite Leadership Program Internships

Since before the new campus opened, the Yosemite Association has been working with the new University of California at Merced to recruit its students to spend a summer of professional development in the park.  Recruiting heavily from regional agrarian communities, this campus is the most culturally diverse of all the UC campuses, with a high proportion of first-in-family college goers. 

Our intern program springs from the understanding that as America’s demographics change, the need for national parks to provide successful and meaningful experiences for a wide array of visitors becomes more vital. Reaching and connecting with these under-represented populations is critical to the future of our national parks.

Diversity

The University of California opened its 10th campus in 2004, within two hours of Yosemite, in the San Joaquin Valley town of Merced.  This focal point gives Yosemite an outstanding opportunity for connecting with non-traditional park users.  Including multilingual, multicultural UC Merced students in the work of caring for our public lands expands our constituency of informed, concerned citizens beyond the traditional Anglo visitor.

Professional development

The interns receive training in Sierra natural and cultural history, the heritage of the national park and designated wilderness concepts, public speaking and interpretation skills as well as mentored on-the-job learning.  Depending on their specific assignments, interns receive specialized training in wilderness trail patrol, bear/wildlife management, search-and-rescue, and district interpretive programming. Working side-by-side with NPS naturalists, biologists and wilderness rangers provides an unparalleled introduction to careers in public lands conservation.

Ramifying effects

This group of young people can show the park how to successfully reach the New California.  The NPS employees that they work with are gaining new appreciations of the contributions that people of color make to the park and to visitor experiences.  Thousands of visitors from around the world and thousands from close by in California are benefiting from seeing people in uniform who can speak their language, who have their skin color or appearance, and who are vital ambassadors welcoming them to their park.  These interns will add to the next generation of knowledgeable, committed park stewards, returning to their campus, families and communities as advocates for Yosemite and other natural areas. What this program does is invaluable for the interns, the NPS, YA, the state of California, and our national parks.

Investment

Yosemite Association has committed over $150,000 to growing this program over the past four years.  Starting with four interns, we’ve grown the cadre each year, and will host ten interns in 2009.  NPS has given YA three abandoned houses which have been repaired and upgraded for free occupancy by interns.  The Education Branch of the NPS Division of Interpretation has been very focused on growing a strong program, putting approximately one FTE employee into the work of recruiting, training and supervising the interns.  UC Merced has worked to develop the Yosemite Leadership Program into an enduring education connection between the campus and the park. 
Students selected for the program undertake a full-time, twelve-week summer work assignment, which begins with a two-week orientation from NPS and YA. Once trained, interns are supervised and coached by a park ranger and are expected to act as members of the NPS staff. 
Interns receive a $10 per day stipend, along with their uniform, free housing and a box of our Yosemite books and maps. Upon completion of the summer assignment, each intern receives a $2,000 scholarship for tuition.  We believe that starting next summer the UC Merced will be able to offer university credit for our interns.

Outcomes

One of our interns from 2005 became a seasonal NPS employee in this past summer.  Two from our 2006 group were in NPS uniform here.  Two are working on the university campus, in NPS uniform, in a new outreach effort.  One of the 2007 interns, who speaks English, Spanish, French and Italian spoke with so many foreign visitors that he has changed his major to linguistics.

The Yosemite Association, UC Merced, and the National Park Service hope to grow the Yosemite Leadership Program Internships to include twenty-five culturally-diverse students within the next ten years.  We are all proud to be assuring that Yosemite is a park for all people.