Bridging the Gap

Jayme Dittmar, a former Wilderness Institute communications intern and an alum of the University of Montana School of Journalism’s master’s program, produced two videos on larger trends in public lands stewardship-youth engagement and workforce and user diversity. Focused on the California Coastal National Monument, these videos were produced in partnership with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in an effort to illustrate successful youth and diversity engagement through the lens of student storytelling.
Created in 2000 and expanded in 2014, the California Coastal National Monument encompasses the shores, rocks, exposed reefs, pinnacles and islands of the entire California coast, including the Rocks and Islands Wilderness. At nearly 3000 acres, it is unique within the National Landscape Conservation System (NLCS) in both its breadth of ecosystem diversity and its ease of access to and use by visitors. The BLM has identified raising awareness of NLCS lands as a top priority for education, youth and cultural engagement efforts. Similarly, creating meaningful employment opportunities for young conservation talent also headlines agency priorities.
To celebrate National Diversity Day, Bridging the Gap tells a story of cultural diversity in outdoor recreation. It melds together the perspectives of Jose Gonzales, founder of Latino Outdoors, and Marysol Alvarez, a BLM intern, to illustrate the current national push to better connect people of diverse cultures to nature and engage them in meaningful public lands stewardship employment.