Park ranger asks: Where are the black visitors?

Nothing would make Shelton Johnson happier than the sight of Snoop Dogg singing by a campfire or Oprah hiking to the top of Yosemite Falls.

Johnson, one of a scarce few African American park rangers in the United States, said a black American celebrity publicly frolicking in the woods would do more to help people of color embrace their heritage than all the money in Hollywood.

Johnson, a musician, storyteller and interpretive specialist at Yosemite National Park, is determined to inspire young inner-city African Americans to experience what he says transformed his life. Less than 1 percent of the visitors to Yosemite are African American, a number he's eager to improve.

"It's bigger than just African Americans not visiting national parks. It's a disassociation from the natural world," said Johnson, who has worked in Yosemite for the past 15 of his 22 years in the Park Service. "I think it is, in part, a memory of the horrible things that were done to us in rural America."

The rejection of the natural world by the black community, he said, is a scar left over from slavery.



Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/08/08/MNF31926R7.DTL#ixzz0NniRtUNT

i wasn't impressed with the yosemite campground i visited a few years ago. i was with a group of black women...we used to camp frequently.

:hi:

it's right down the street in hayward, but it's very beatiful. also lots of things to do. i plan to park it in a chair, but others in our groups will be boating on the lake, hiking, etc. :hi:

for a very large percentage of African Americans. Hiking and camping are just not what I consider pleasurable. Now, my husband is an avid angler and made it to Eagle Scout. I don't think he would mind but it's not something he would actively pursue.

every black person, ESPECIALLY sistas, would be hauling ass for the car.

Most of the black folks I know will play sports, go to the gym etc. all day every day. But hiking and climbing? Outdoors??! In the ELEMENTS??!! Nah.

:rofl: some of us sistas actually enjoy the outdoors. i went camping once every couple of months when i lived in LA...with a group of black woman. one sista who obviously hadn't camped before showed up in her high heels...in the woods :rofl:
on another trip with a group of sistas to yosemite, some people were partying too much and ignoring the food they'd left out on the table. i thought to myself: these damn fools are going to attract a bear, and i went inside my tent. sure enough, about five minutes later, i heard all this noise, then hollering and screaming, so i looked out my tent window, and there was a big old bear. the bear destroyed a giant cooler, and took whatever food was left on the table :rofl: they have bear lockers for the food for a reason. i never went camping with that group again :rofl:
i am going camping again in a few weeks, and i did invite a few "five star hotel" type sistas, and of course they are not coming :rofl:

:rofl:

I'd be the one trying to smuggle a gas oven, bathroom and washing machine onto the campgrounds. And a color tv with satellite cable.

so i looked out my tent window, and there was a big old bear.

Oh my God! That's awful!! :rofl: I know I'm not supposed to laugh but just the thought of a bear showing up at a picnic is so horrible and hilarious at the same time. The minute he showed up, you would have just seen the dust of me HAULING ASS running to get in the car. That would have been it for me. Forever! :)

and because i kept telling them to put the damn food away...they said i was paranoid :rofl: paranoia is a good thing when you're out in the woods :thumbsup:
if i had driven my own car, i would have been hauling ass right along with you :rofl:

oh my dear, #23...high heels, gas oven, bathroom, washing machine :rofl: you are definitely NOT a camper. i camped once in a place where there were pipe toilets and no showers, and that wasn't fun :thumbsdown:
we do citified camping now...still in tents, but only at campgrounds with running water and showers...public showers though :scared: plus...i have a nice, roomy tent, a queen-sized air mattress and a double sleeping bag. we eat great food, drink and generally have a blast. i really am not into "roughing it." seriously though...there is nothing more relaxing than hanging out in nature. no phones, no televisions, no noise. perhaps my capricornian nature predisposes me to the outdoors, but there is nothing more relaxing to me.

i have to organize a camping trip and invite you, Fire1, Raineyb, and bliss :rofl: although bliss is being very supportive of my outdoorsiness in this thread, something tells me she's not a camper either. you'd all love it :hi:

ha! thought you knew! ;) loved camping and the outdoors, worked my little heart out trying to get those cute badges to wear on my sash. :P

....and you know where i grew up, so i'm no stranger to roughing it! :rofl:

sadly, bliss learned late in life she is asthmatic and has environmental allergies (tree, grass, mold, pollens, etc.) making camping pretty much a pleasant memory, not to be experienced again. :( i refuse to give up the water and the beach, though.

dh has promised me a trip up to big bear. so i'll see if some time in the snow capped mountains can fulfill my camping void.

camping! Those badges were not earned and that was fine with the kid! LOL!!

...i think brownies (and the uniforms) were way cuter than the girl scouts. (bliss pouts) ;)

i think it was tougher for inner city/urban girl scout and brownie troops to have exposure to 'camping.' i know my troop was an exception, and not the rule for many troops of color.

(bliss drools):P

you must be a natural at sales--to have enjoyed selling cookies at such a young age! i recall some of the girls freaking out over having to sell cookies. i thought it was fun, too!

i go through withdrawal when i can't locate a troop locally to get my yearly girl scout cookie fix. they're usually posted in front of local stores, making it easy--but sometimes...:shrug: ...can't find anyone. :(

They sell 'em at school and posted in front of the local Kroger grocery store. I be PIGGIN OUT!!!LOL!!!

that's a lot of cookies, but i don't blame you. how can anyone resist?

i've tried to stash a box or so in the freezer, but my husband always finds them...and they vanish. :cry: he and i fight over the lemon ones. :P (droooooool).

hubby they vanish!!! LOL!! I love the Tag alongs or whatever they're called. Hubby likes the lemon, too! Son loves the peppermint!!!:9

http://bakingbites.com/2009/02/homemade-girl-scout-cookies-samoas-bars/

Within days after making my first batch of Somoa bars (They're my favorites but making the cookies with the holes isn't worth the extra time) my boss tells me he knows somebody who works at a factory that makes them and gives me a couple of boxes. The day after that my mom sees some Girl Scouts at the mall and buys me a couple more. Before I discovered this site I perfected a cookie recipe that's similar Do-si-dos (my second favorite Girl Scout cookie) but I like it better.

I was a Girl Scout for a year. Except for the time we made Christmas decorations out of clothes pins and toilet paper rolls all we did was play board games. I went to Catholic school then so I already was a nature at selling stuff when it was cookie season.

:bounce:

the recipe...! :wow:

hmmmmm....


i have gone camping before with other groups...had a great time (this was just overnight stuff, not that 5 weeks in the wilderness stuff)

...i'm seriously sorry to hear this. :( every cub scout should get to go to camp, at some point.

:rofl: :blush: i should have known better, my bad. in fact, after i wrote that, i thought: damn, i hope i did not piss off that lion. :blush: little sis was a leo, and boy did she have a temper :scared: dad was a sag, older sis is aries...me and mom are caps, but we were surrounded by the fiery ones :scared: i can hang though cause my rising is....drumroll, please...leo.
i was a girl scout too....and a brownie. yeah...south central is definitely teaches you how to rough it.

...you did NOT piss me off. :hug::hi:

though i feel kind of sorry for you--having to grow up around all that fire. :wow: it's a good thing your rising sign is leo, or things could have got...:scared:

my rising sign is air (fans my flames)kind of balancing me out....or makes me stranger. :crazy:
i haven't decided yet. ;) :spray:

that crazy leo was my best friend and biggest supporter :7 i never had to fight when we were kids because she would knock fire into anyone who looked at me the wrong way before i could do anything. she was my muse later...most of my love poems were inspired by or dedicated to her.
:cry: i miss her terribly.

:hug:

we are like that, though. very loyal, dedicated--absolutely nothing we wouldn't do for someone we love and care for.
yes, and there is hell to pay if you cross us (or someone we love). :scared:

i have to organize a camping trip and invite you, Fire1, Raineyb, and bliss

If you can organize that I am sooo there! But first I'll have to check my husband into the hospital because I'm sure he'd develop five different types of cardiac arrest if he found out that I was even CONSIDERING ever going camping!! :rofl: :rofl:

i have a nice, roomy tent, a queen-sized air mattress and a double sleeping bag

Now THAT's what I'm talking bout! Shoot, it doesn't sound nearly as revolting when you put it that way! :)

At best I'd do a day trip and there'd better be a grill involved. I really don't see the appeal of spending time sleeping under a thin bit of material in a bag on the ground. Although I did learn how to build a camp fire at camp.

...and organizations (found through a search engine). perhaps he could interest more black campers in his park. maybe they could work together to get more interested in trying out camping!:

a blog by an african american family that likes to camp:
http://blackcampers.wordpress.com/about/


a blog by an african american woman that wants to encourage others to enjoy the outdoors :thumbsup:
(really appreciate her efforts! i also love outdoor activities--biking (started as a kid & never stopped). also swimming, snorkeling, boogie boarding--can't wait to try more!:

http://www.outdoorafro.com/2009/04/wanted-african-american-campers.html


the national african american rv'ers association:
http://www.naarva.com/Southern%20Chapters/AlabamaBlackCampers.htm


dated article regarding a diversity in camping program--created in pacific northwest:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/outdoors/2002356450_blackcampers03m.html

Promise me good weather(near water is a plus), a grill, and cooler full of food and I'll go just about anywhere. Snoop Dogg can only do so much to encourage people to enjoy it. This type of activity is best promoted through personal interaction. Friends and organizations to promote it can do far more than any celebrity.

...reminds me of fishing trips as a kid. too much fun!

Bryce Canyon, Utah. The rangers told us that 75% of the visitors were from France, 15% were from Germany, the rest from the US.

Bryce is not one of the big "star" parks, but must be highly promoted in Europe. It is out in the middle of nowhere, yet a number of the local motels have French-speaking staff and serve continental breakfasts. I think my wife was the only black person around the entire time we were there.

Many people who go to any of the parks don't camp, but stay in hotels, motels, or camp in an RV. Not too many Americans like to rough it. When I was in college I worked at Yellowstone, and did some camping. As soon as we were a hundred feet away from the roads, we were very alone. Most of Yellowstone is totally wild.

Yosemite, where this ranger works, is one of the most beautiful places in the world, but it is overrun with tourists in the summertime.


and just to blow stereotypes a bit, my first interracial relationship was with a nice young black woman who I met on a hike in the Santa Monica mountains.

here is Bryce:

My adopted Geschwister tramp around the U.S.A. on a regular basis. Florida used to be the preferred sun and sand destination but these days the hearty types who want to experience the landscape seem to be the majority.

:cry:

and we did a couple of camping weekends, and I had a great time. I haven't been camping since, but the experience was never forgotten.

I do know that camping has quite a few economic and logisitic hurdles which Ranger Johnson has overlooked, and are more likely than "a scar left over from slavery". Some of those are...

-Camping is not a cheap habit.
-Few black people have been exposed to camping.
-Few people I know are campers, and camping is normally a group activity.
-Most of the national parks are out west, places where black people are less than 10% of the population, not to mention that you have to get all of the people and gear from here to there.

Unless you're a regular outdoors type, it's hard to find a group of regular campers, this I've heard from regular campers. Most people I know prefer comfy dry air-conditioned indoors to the rugged wilderness. :)