Wilderness land and the backcountry teem with diversity: Flora, fauna and geographic formations show a striking array of beauty. But in one area of the outdoors, diversity is markedly absent: its visitors.
As a fan of National Parks and a frequent backpacker, hiker, cyclist and camper, I can’t help but notice the difference in representation between “traditional” park attendees, like Caucasians and international travelers, and other ethnicities that more fully represent the population of the Central Valley.
Like a canary in a mine, this observation is a signal of a deeper problem.
According to a 2009 Park Service study, only 1 percent of Yosemite’s visitors last year were “African American or black.” The majority of people visiting Yosemite last year were white, a staggering 88 percent of travelers to the park.
Shelton Johnson, Yosemite’s sole full-time African-American ranger, recognizes the potential impact of exposure to the outdoors.
“The result of that [exposure] is the expansion of what you perceive as the boundaries that are around your world,” Johnson says.
However, Johnson recognizes that before a shift is seen in ethnic representation in the outdoors, traditions of outdoor experience must be built.
It was this realization that provoked Johnson to contact Oprah Winfrey a few years ago, suggesting she use her position of influence to promote the outdoors.
This fall Winfrey answered that challenge, filming a two-part segment for her show featuring her and a friend camping in Yosemite. The trip even included a pit stop at Fresno’s REI outdoor gear store.
Winfrey’s segment is a major advancement in the diversification of the outdoors.
However, there’s still work to do.
Tim Cohee, owner of China Peak Mountain Resort, says he sees no increased movement of minorities toward skiing. But in the more than three decades Cohee has worked in the snowsports industry, he says that his most recent venture with China Peak has shown the largest multicultural draw. Cohee attributes this to the accessibility and affordability of China Peak compared to other resorts.
While economic and geographic issues play a role, the missing link in the chain of outdoor diversity is family tradition.
Without a heritage of outdoor experiences, children from non-white backgrounds are less likely to experience the outdoors than their white counterparts.
When these youngsters enjoy the vast sky and fresh air of the outdoors, their boundaries expand. Their connections to what is real and calm and clean deepen. They experience the last truly wild and untamed gems of America and get a sense of reality: A sense of smallness, and at the same time, a sense of significance.