Community Engagement

Park Ranger Shelton Johnson

“Yosemite’s Community Engagement Office strives to connect the disconnected, those culturally, ethnically, and otherwise diverse populations that have yet to fully claim their inheritance of America’s Public Lands in general, and America’s Best Idea in particular. The Yosemite is both a national park and a World Heritage Site, and that shared birthright empowers our mission to make this inheritance known by any means necessary. This goal is not rooted in affirmative action, but driven by our negative inaction to offer healing, to do the right thing, on behalf of those who need this medicine the most, and to adequately promote our national parks as natural environments to invigorate mind, body, and spirit.”

- Ranger Shelton Johnson, Community Engagement Specialist

Mission Statement

The Yosemite Community Engagement Office strives to bind those diverse populations historically disconnected from Yosemite National Park specifically, and America’s Public Lands in general. Forging this bond between people and the earth not only constitutes the roots of our humanity and democracy, but strengthens the belief that we are a government of the people, by the people, and for the people, especially when all are bound to a childhood spent in America's Best Idea, adventures that all youth should and must have in order to become good stewards of what Terry Tempest Williams referred to as “the open space of democracy”; citizens who “get” the need to nurture and sustain the earth, regardless of economic status, gender, sexuality; political, educational, racial, cultural, spiritual background; or physical/mental challenges.

Interest Form

• If you are interested in connecting with the Community Engagement office, email us.
• If you are interested in being included on the Community Engagement email list, please add your information here.

Accessibility

If you are interested in connecting with the Accessibility Office, email us. Learn more about accessibility in Yosemite.

 

Additional Resources

• 

  Yosemite Indians

  Learn about the culture of the Southern Sierra Miwok, one of seven tribes traditionally associated with Yosemite.

• 

  Yosemite's Women

  Women have played an important—though often hidden—part in Yosemite.

• 

  Chinese History in Yosemite

  Learn more about how early Chinese immigrants played an important role in shaping the Yosemite that we know today.

• 

  Buffalo Soldiers

  Buffalo Soldiers, like their white counterparts in U.S. Army regiments, were among the first park rangers.

• 

  George Melendez Wright

  Despite a brief career, George M. Wright’s many contributions to the National Park Service are as valuable today as they were a century ago.

• 

  Accessibility

  Yosemite's goal is to provide the highest possible level of accessibility to our visitors.