Nestled in the southern foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains sits a red brick building with the NPS logo and a painting of a quail on its side. The building is surrounded by desert plants that endure temperatures of over 100 degrees in the late summer month. It also acts as the headquarters of Sequoia National Parks, which is known for its iconic giant trees, diverse wildlife and lush forests.
It was strange to see the building in a setting so similar to my home in Tucson, Arizona and about 5,000 ft below the first giant sequoia. It was here I was supposed to have my meeting to talk about diversity in the park. I left my campsite from the top of the mountain at 10 a.m. and made it to headquarters at around 11:15 a.m. using the low gears on my Subaru Forester so as to not blow out my brakes on the steep ride down.
I hadn’t had service in two days and as I inched my way closer to the building, I realized they had wifi. Before I even unlocked my phone, I saw an email from the coordinator of my meeting. She was out sick; I should just talk to visitors. Damn.
I paced around for a while, staring at the Manzanita trees as if they had the answers for me and looking at the rangers, trying to build up the courage to go talk to them and ask about my project. Finally, after about an hour of confusion, I went into the gift shop and introduced myself to a young woman, a ranger behind the counter who seemed as if she could help me out. I told her about my project, and if her boss (the coordinator of my cancelled meeting) had mentioned anything.
Her eyes lit up and she smiled, “Yes! She did mention it. Give me a second and we can chat,” she said. And she slipped behind a door to her left.
I was relieved, hopefully the trip wouldn’t be a total failure. Maybe I would talk to a person or two. Maybe the woman could set my mind at ease.
A few minutes went by and she opened the door and signaled me in. It was a medium-sized room with big windows and little desks facing out towards them. A table in the middle suggested the rangers often sat to collaborate on things and that’s where she waited for me. I had a seat, and she pulled her chair by mine, “what do you want to know?”
The first thing I noticed about her was her eyes, during the interview even if she wasn’t actively smiling, her eyes were. It’s probably a part of what makes her so good at her job. Miriam Lagunas, 26, is an Interpretive Park Ranger at Sequoia National Park and come December of 2021 she will reach her one year mark working at the Foothills Visitor Center for the park.
She’s had a love for the outdoors since she was young, but she didn’t get introduced to the national parks or careers in them until her second year at community college, when she volunteered for an event at the Channel Islands National Park. It was the first time she saw park rangers in uniform and their presence there really made an impact on her.
The following summer she took her family to Sequoia National Park. She had been camping before, but never with her family and she knew it would be difficult to get them to agree.
“At first my parents were very hesitant,” Lagunas said. “My mom has big fears of wildlife interactions and my father, as an immigrant father, was perplexed. He told me, ‘why am I gonna go outside and sleep on the ground when I worked so hard to get away from that?’.”
Their reservations made sense, but Lagunas was so set on taking the adventure as a family that eventually her pleas were heard. They camped for two nights in Forest Service Land by the park and as the days passed, she noticed a change in attitude from her parents, mostly her dad. He seemed more at peace and was having interactions with other visitors, telling them where the bathroom was and talking about the beautiful trails and scenery. He was enjoying himself.
“Something I’ll never forget is what my father said to me after the trip,” Lagunas paused, and I watched as little goosebumps spread across her arm. “He told me it reminded him of his childhood growing up in el campo. And that he had disconnected from that for so long because of necessity, but really enjoyed it.”
The experiences she had with her family brought her closer to Sequoia National Park itself, and while she’s happy she is working here for now, the journey to where she is wasn’t easy.
After her time at the community college, Lagunas transferred to a four-year institution to complete a degree in Archeology. In her last year she realized she had no idea what her next steps were and began looking for jobs with the parks service, her search led her to find the Hispanic Access Foundation (HAF).
The HAF helps the Latinx community find and secure internships to different agencies in the U.S., one of them being the National Parks. Lagunas jumped at the opportunities she found and started her summer working for the Casa Grande Ruins National Monument in Coolidge, Arizona.
Her first experience with the NPS was a good one. Although the upper management at the park was comprised of all white people, she was able to collaborate with the tribal communities in the area and never felt out of place as a brown person. She made friends, had a good time and was able to learn a lot about her surroundings while feeling comfortable in the space.
The following season Lagunas had a fellowship opportunity offered by the HAF in Colorado, and things didn’t go as smoothly for her there. It’s not that she had a particularly bad experience, but she felt out of place, alone and ostracized, not only at her job but in the whole town. “It was very different there,” she says. “I was in rural Colorado, not only as a woman working with my hands for the Forest Service, but also I'm short and brown. It wasn’t fun and I felt alone.” Her eyes swelled and I could tell she was emotional talking about it. Even just the memory of her time there brought back some pain. She told me she never shared her feelings with her family because she felt they didn’t understand the work she was doing there and would tell her to just come back home.
Lagunas couldn’t do that. She’s not the type to go home and call it quits. Despite being uncomfortable with neighbors that sported Blue Lives Matter flags and Trump stickers, she saw the fellowship through. She wouldn’t take back her experience there, it’s not something she would do again, but she learned a lot and was that much happier to come to a park closer to her family in California when the opportunity arose.
It’s been her goal while at the park service to create an atmosphere where everybody feels welcome and comfortable. She doesn’t want anybody to feel ostracized in outdoors spaces as she has been in the past. Lagunas knows how special nature is and wants to make it so everybody, regardless of the color of their skin, can enjoy it.
Her goal doesn’t come without its challenges. Sequoia can be a tricky park. There’s a 5,000 ft elevation gain within an hour to actually see the giant sequoias and she knows that not everybody has a reliable vehicle. If somebody were to break down during the climb, they would have no service and need to wait for law enforcement to drive by and help. Just having to rely on law enforcement for some is very threatening, so it can be a deterrent. Something Lagunas struggles with is her own resemblance to law enforcement while in uniform. It’s an issue many rangers have because it creates a sense of power and rule from the ranger and can make visitors feel uneasy.
Lagunas recalls an interaction she had with visitors when it snowed at the foothills. It’s not a normal occurrence and children were making snowpeople on the other side of the road in front of Headquarters. She wanted to go and see what they were up to and when she got to them, she asked, “Did you build this?” immediately the children put their hands up and shook their heads, saying they didn’t know they couldn’t make them. She was so saddened by the interaction. It was never her intent to say they couldn’t make them; she was just looking to create a conversation with the kids. She has to be very careful about how she words things and tread lightly when interacting with people from communities that might be weary of people in uniform working for the federal government.
It’s something that weighs on her, but for now all she can do is focus on herself, and how she treats each interaction. For her that means telling people where her favorite spots are and encouraging them to try something new.
She has two spots she likes to tell visitors about. The first is the Congress Trail starting from the General Sherman tree area, a popular trail with a running creek and frequent exposure to wildlife. The second is a trail starting from the Potwisha overflow area, making its way to the river.
“The first time I did that hike I got chills all over my body,” Lagunas said. “There’s a lot of bedrock mortars next to the river and when I go, I close my eyes and think about how life might have been before this area was even a park. I feel very connected to my ancestors and the land there.”
Her connection is something she wants to share and pass along, with the hope of creating a deeper relationship between all communities and the national parks.