Spring 2007 - Yosemite Online

EDUCATION PROGRAMSOutdoor AdventuresWe have pared down our usual offerings of field seminarsto a smaller number of the most popular programsthis year, and hope you’ll be among those who join uson the trail this summer and fall. You’ll find a greatmix of courses in photography, natural history, art andwriting, some wonderful backpack trips and a few newthings. We are celebrating the thirtieth year of MichaelRoss teaching for YA. He is the most encyclopedicYosemite naturalist, the accomplished author of overforty books, and a gifted and giving teacher—someonewith whom it is a delight to be afield. Michaelis combining these strengths in a special seminar onwriting children’s books. It’ll be based in TuolumneMeadows, a source of great inspiration to many.Also based in the high country this summer is“Natural History of the Sierra,” taught by the dream teamof David Lukas and Jack Laws. David wrote the longawaited“Sierra Nevada Natural History” field guide revisionfor UC Press, and Jack has just finished writing andillustrating “The Laws Field Guide to the Sierra Nevada.”It’d be hard to find an educational combination anythinglike these two leaders and the Tuolumne setting. See thecatalog enclosed with this journal, or you’ll find manymore details on our website, www.yosemite.org/seminars.If you’re looking for something different, we hopeyou’ll contact us at (209) 379-2321 if we can conduct aneducational Custom Adventure for you.JAMES KAISERYosemite Cooperative Student Intern ProgramLook closely at the uniform insignia of park employeesthis summer, and you may find that the person leadingyour naturalist hike or campfire program or answeringquestions at the Wawona Visitor Center is a YA/NPSintern. Working with the NPS Division of Interpretation,we’ve recruited nine students from UC Merced to serve inpublic contact roles for the summer. These interns providevaluable services to park resources and visitors, whilelearning about public land management and conservationcareers. We house them, give them a small livingstipend, and provide scholarship money for their tuition.All of the funds for our intern program come fromdonors; we welcome your financial support for this valuableoperation. Contact Pete Devine or Laurel Rematoreat the YA office to learn how you can contribute to thisimportant program.Yosemite Art & Education CenterIf you’re in Yosemite Valley this season, please come bythe Yosemite Art & Education Center at the lower end ofthe pedestrian mall in Yosemite Village. Here you’ll findart supplies and free public art classes six days a week,taught by a different artist each week. You can find a listof artists on our website at www.yosemite.org/visitor/AAC.html. At the YAEC you can also learn more aboutour Outdoor Adventures and sign up for an interpretiveprogram on the spot. We’ll be conducting a new series offee-based naturalist hikes this summer, in both the Valleyand Tuolumne Meadows, providing a different avenuefor visitors both new to Yosemite and familiar with theessentials to connect to the charms of their park. You’llfind more details in the park’s newspaper, Yosemite Today.G. W. STELLER18 YOSEMITE ASSOCIATION, SPRING 2007