Spotlight on Francis Mendoza
/BY CARA SCHAEFER
Perhaps now more than ever, local parks serve as a source of connection and community health.
We spoke with Francis Mendoza, a naturalist at East Bay Regional Parks, about outdoor interpretation, breaking down barriers to parks, and spending time outside with his daughters.
Francis Mendoza (photo courtesy Francis Mendoza)
Out There: What does an interpreter or naturalist do?
Francis Mendoza: We interpret the cultural and natural history of historic sites and parks to the public. Oftentimes that involves doing activities such as nature study, hikes, and climbing. Interpretation is sort of like teaching environmental education, yet it has a deeply rooted history in provocation, and conservation as well. It’s a way of getting people to care about the environment and nature in a very loving way.
OT: Is there a memory that comes to mind where you helped someone experience a greater connection with nature?
FM: Absolutely. One I often talk about came early in my career when I was an environmental educator with an organization called Kids for the Bay. We would bring animals from the bay into the classroom, fish they could touch and feel, but the last class was taking them out into the watershed. These are a group of rambunctious, eager, enthusiastic youth that, you know, it’s pretty tough to get them to quiet down when they are having a good time and learning. We went up to the Oakland Hills, and they did a restoration project, reinstalling willows into the watershed. Then we did an art project where we got oil pastels, and all thirty of them sat on the branches of this big oak tree, and they were quiet for twenty minutes, just drawing what they saw in nature. That was a powerful experience for me and showed how affecting nature can be to people’s mindsets but also their love of nature, reconnecting them with something that might be lost when we are living in an urban environment.
OT: What are some of the barriers to accessing parks and other green spaces, and how do you think these barriers could be broken down, so that we have more people and children outside?
FM: Oftentimes when we are doing projects and collaborations with different groups, or when we’re looking for grant money, the sort of pigeon-holed responses will be transportation or cultural barriers or money. I don’t think those are barriers. Those are easy things to overcome through diligent work and research and community engagement.
The barriers that I often point out are the cultural stigmas that people put on a group of folks. Stereotypes like that Black or Latinx folks don’t go to the outdoors. Well, we both know that they do. They might do so in a different way, where they’re having large family gatherings, where they are interacting with nature using social media, but these are valid and important ways of interacting with nature that a lot of dominant paradigms look to as, “Oh it’s not valid”. It’s completely valid. Those stigmas and mindsets that look at interacting with the environment only in a few ways are a big barrier that we all have to overcome.
Francis Mendoza poses with a shark Rostrum (PHOTO courtesy Francis Mendoza)
OT: As a ranger you probably get asked a lot of questions. Have any stood out to you as especially challenging to answer?
FM: One thing about being a ranger is that we have a really multifaceted set of responsibilities when it comes to protecting, conserving, allowing access (but not too much access) to places that are especially sacred to native folks.
So one of the things that I like to ensure is that when you talk about native people it’s not just in the past. And when people ask questions like, “How many native people lived here?” I like to go, “Well, I’ll talk to my friend who’s native and ask what their ancestors have done and how that knowledge has been passed down from elders to youth.” So in answering that question, I like to destigmatize the whole romanticization of native cultures as being in the past. And instead look at them in the context of the modern world, how they live in a modern way along with honoring their ancestors in the way that they do ceremony.
OT: Outside of work, what is your personal relationship with nature like? It can be hard to separate the two when you work in the outdoors.
FM: There’s really not an outside of work for me. And that can be problematic at times, because when you are knee-deep in your work, you also want to be able to take a step back from it and delineate what you can do outside of work hours. What I do is I try to focus on my self-care. And read books — oftentimes books that are aligned with my work, but also books that speak to other passions in my life, like activism and racial equality. Which also delves into my work, essentially, of trying to get more folks of color out into the outdoors and show representation. So outside of work I’m reading, and I’m spending time with my daughters and my relatives, enjoying their company.
OT: With your daughters, are you working to foster a connection with nature for them, and what has it been like sharing outdoor experiences with them?
FM: Ever since they were young (they’re both fifteen now) I’ve been exposing them to the outdoors, but not in excess. The reason why is because oftentimes when parents try to impose a certain kind of mindset on their kids, they’ll rebel. And that kind of thing is something that I just wanted to expose them to nice and gently as they grew up. And I think they’ve gotten it. Because with this pandemic, the first thing that they wanted to do was go camping.
This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
Photo courtesy Francis Mendoza
You can find Francis Mendoza on Instagram @roving_ranger or read their Op-Ed on being an Asian Outsider here.
