Wild Diversity

Despite all the challenges this year, we are grateful for all the ways we were with our community. We completed our Leadership Development Training, hosted our Resilience Conference virtually, pushed out a bunch of new, amazing resources on our blog and our YouTube channel, and co-created full-time outdoor educational support for K-2 in response to a virtual school year. The thing about this year that I appreciate the most is our team’s commitment to showing up for our community and our community’s commitment to supporting the work we do. We focused on creating a landscape that was more habitable for BIPOC/LGBTQ2S+ folks and have felt the immediate reward of our work. 2020 has shown our strength, determination, and commitment to each other. It’s shown what support during tough times can do. We could not have done this without you. And for that reason, I’m asking you to reaffirm your belief in Wild Diversity and donate to our year-end giving campaign. We need your help so that we can h...

By Jayla Meaux Diana Simumpande Many Black and brown folks don’t feel safe in the outdoors, and I can personally relate to this. I’m a young Black woman and I consider myself to be pretty curious about nature, but fears and inexperience stop me from exploring. Growing up, I would spend time outside with my dad and siblings. We would take trips to the beach to watch my dad fish and we would go to playgrounds and waterfronts. I always enjoyed the beach the most. I love the view and the feeling of walking on the sand. As I got older, I started going outdoors less. I realized that I wasn’t feeling confident in nature, and that I was developing anxieties that were making it harder and harder for me to feel at ease. I’d love to get to a place where I can enjoy the outdoors again, so I’m going to talk about some of my personal fears that have made the outdoors feel less accessible to me, and ways in which I’ve been working to overcome those fears. Hopefully this will help other people who a...

By Viv Cai & Sofia Baum All images by Sofia Baum Inspired by Organeyez’s Instagram post on Wilderness as a Colonial Construct , Wild Diversity Youth Ecology Coordinators Viv Cai and Sofia Baum break down postcolonial effects on the wilderness and human connection to the land. The Term Wilderness The wilderness as we know it today is a postcolonial concept that has been crafted to portray nature as a place separate from our human identities and lives. We are taught to either conquer nature, modernize wilderness, or to leave it alone to preserve its integrity. This dominant ideology was brought over during the European explorations. The European colonizers approached these new lands with these presumptions and forever changed the ecological systems of these lands. This postcolonial wilderness experience has affected all of us and our relationship with nature. The commodified nature, privatized natural resources, altered natural landscapes, and disrupted ecosystems have made nature in...

By Sofia Baum Photo credit: Myles Tan Cooking in the outdoors is a fun, satisfying, and ever-evolving experience that can be nurturing for our communities, both literally and spiritually. With just a little patience, care, and some planning, we can all be well-fed and thriving in the wilderness. Before jumping in, a quick reminder that whenever you're cooking — indoors or outdoors — you should always practice food safety. Plan out your meals to inform how and what to pack. Depending on the amount of days and the activity, you may have to bring your food in coolers, sealed containers, or food bags; if you're backpacking, you should hang food in a tree away from your sleep system and gear to avoid damage from animals. You should also be following the seven principles of Leave No Trace , especially those involving consumption and waste. Meals that are well-planned lead to safer and more satisfying experiences overall. When preparing food outdoors, the most important decisi...

By Viv Cai Photo credit: gc2b CONTENT WARNING: This article mentions body parts, gender dysphoria, and the covering/hiding of body parts. Summer can be a time of heightened gender dysphoria for many transgender and nonbinary (enby) folks. As the layers come off, there is less to play with to help us create the body image or gender presentation we feel most comfortable in. This can be especially true in situations involving water activities where our bodies might be more exposed than we want them to be. What can we do to feel comfortable so that we can enjoy summer adventures while being affirmed in our gender identity? I would first like to say that all bodies are beautiful and that we can all find confidence within ourselves. However, “passing” can an integral part of our safety while being trans, and our emotional health is important. It's validating to be seen as your gender identity and to feel confident in your body. Of course, not everyone who identifies as trans o...

By Sofia Baum Photo credit: Sofia Baum The Leave No Trace Seven Principles share a guiding framework to a fulfilling and intentional experience in the outdoors. The purpose of Leave No Trace is to reconnect with the natural world and avoid damaging the land, waterways, and wildlife. 1. Prepare and Plan Ahead What does this look like? ✓ Identifying goals for your experience ✓ Lining up experiences and activities with your or your groups level of knowledge, skill, and experience ✓ Considering weather, terrain, regulations, and anticipated food consumption. What's the impact? ✓ Ensure safety for yourself and your group ✓ Minimize impact on natural world ✓ Increase level of comfort and enjoyment of the experience ✓ Encourages self-growth Photo credit: B en Duchac 2. Travel and Camp on Durable Surfaces What does this look like? ✓ Staying on trail specifically on rock, sand and gravel; ice and snow; and sparse vegetation ✓ Avoiding living soil as it miti...

By Viv Cai Photo credit: Yuri Arcurs (Getty Images/iStockphoto) Just because we may not show early signs of sun damage doesn't mean that protection against the sun is any less important for dark-skinned folks than it is for people with light or white skin. Outdoorsy BIPOC people especially need to be mindful of the dangers of sun exposure and make a habit of adding sunscreen and protective clothing to our adventure check lists. Many folks of color, especially darker-skinned folks, don’t think that sun protection applies to them. But melanin alone will not protect you against the sun! While we might not display the initial signs of sun damage as early as light-skinned folks — such as wrinkles, age spots, or hyperpigmentation — our skin is still being damaged by the Ultra Violet (UV) rays. UV damage looks different on people with different skin tones. Folks with higher melanin can still get sunburned, but might not show the redness that is typical in lighter skin tone...

by Endria Richardson Last Spring, I became certified as a Wilderness First Responder through the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS). The premise of WFR training is that it teaches lay-people systems for responding to a medical crisis when, *emphasis*, there is no other access to medical care. In the context of WFR training, that’s generally when you are in the backcountry (that is, far enough into the woods, or mountains, or other nature that cell service, roads, or hospitals aren't readily accessible). But WFR training can be relevant in any crisis where professional medical help is not available. This might occur during large-scale natural disasters like earthquakes or hurricanes. And it is occurring to some extent right now, due to the rapid spread of the novel coronavirus, or Covid-19. I am not a doctor, nurse, paramedic, or EMT. I am only a certified Wilderness First Responder. That means I’ve taken a 10 day course in wilderness medicine and have a laminated piece of ...