Sierra Nevada Wilderness Education Project’s

40th Anniversary Events

Multi-Cultural Celebration of Wilderness In California’s Great Central Valley

Underserved youth and family members from the Fresno Area will spend an afternoon and an evening celebrating Wilderness at the Fresno Grizzly stadium. 550 families (whose children are already involved in popular natural resource outreach programs) will be given tickets to attend Fresno Grizzly baseball game on a Friday night in July. The Fresno Grizzlies are the top Triple-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants, with the players just one step away from the Major Leagues. Their mascot (appropriately enough) is called Wild Thing. At the stadium they will join up to 13,000 other fans for an all-American night of baseball, punctuated with messages about the National Wilderness Preservation System, its values and its relevance to their lives. After the game, the fans can all participate in a Wilderness Fair with educational exhibits and demos highlighting Wilderness. These can include rock climbing, stock packing, fishing, backpacking, skiing, fire awareness and safety, etc. Assistance would be provided from all Forests and Parks in the Sierra and other partners. Following the fair the 100 families would redeem their “ticket to wilderness” which allows them to stay in the stadium for a campout under the stars complete with wilderness story telling, visits from Smokey and Woodsy, and a viewing of the video “American Values: American Wilderness”.

The Target Population
With a metro population of 500,000 and another 500,000 within 60 miles, Fresno would be a major city in most places in the United States. But being only a 3-hour drive to Los Angeles or San Francisco results in people overlooking the tremendous diversity and outreach potential that the city has to offer.

California’s Great Central Valley is an area of contrasts. With a cultural diversity of over 70 ethnic groups, many of them immigrants, the area is full of opportunities and challenges. Minority populations make up 49% of the total population, with Latino and Asian populations rapidly increasing. It's an area with tremendous agricultural wealth, yet over 25% of the residents receive some form of public assistance. The valley sits at an average of 300 feet above sea level in a basin where the ground is flat, not rolling flat but tabletop flat. Yet with only an hour drive, you can be hiking in the John Muir, Ansel Adams, Jenny Lakes, Yosemite or Kings Canyon Wilderness Areas. On clear days the Range of Light looms on the eastern horizon, yet few minority families make the trip to visit the public lands that belongs to them.

Sierra Wilderness Rendezvous and Interagency Celebration

Weave a “Wild Faire” into a Wilderness managers/rangers rendezvous in YNP this early Fall. Look for one-page write-up on this by the end of January. Events would include a 2 day meeting of wilderness managers and rangers followed by a one-day interagency Wilderness Fair in front of the Wilderness Center in Yosemite Valley. Multi-cultural families involved in the WildLink project and Generation Green will be bussed to the Park for a campout in a remote campground in Yosemite Valley (yes, there is such a thing). Forest Service, NPS, and BLM staff will offer interpretive activities for these families and the general public.

Sierra Nevada Wilderness T-Shirt and Poster

T-shirts will be created by the Yosemite Association. Featuring the Chiura Obata painting entitled “Clouds - Upper Lyell Trail along Lyell Fork” and this quote from him:

"A paradise for lovers of the out-of-doors is found here...Clouds sail lightly and joyously over the high plateau. The soul and mind of man are lost in the supreme beauty." -- Chiura Obata

Celebrating Wilderness in the Range of Light

For more information on these events, please contact Barbara Miranda, Wildlink Program Director, ().