Transcripts For CSPAN3 National Archives Marks 100th Anniversary Of The National Park Service 20161126

Itss my pleasure to welcome you todays program places of healing and expression, National Parks and the next century. I would also like to welcome those of you who are watching us live on the National Archives youtube channel, as well as on pleased span. Were pleased everyone is here to jien us. The National Archives is honored to clollaborate with program a tha will explore issues of public dialogue and personal meeting and National Parks and what this means moving forward into the next century of americas best idea. Before we get to todays program, i would like to tell you about two upcoming programs that will take place in december, in september, september, the people and the police, produced in the aftermath of 1968 riots in washington, d. C. In an effort to highlight the district pilot project, created to foster the development of Community Programs and improve the shattered relationship between the citizens and its police force. After the screening nbc foreign reporter will moderate a legacy of the project and current state of Police Community relations, frank smith, jr. , one of the founders of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee who relocated to washington in late 1960s and long time activists. Sue van, on october will be here to discuss. To fiend out more about these and other programs exhibits and events, please consult our calendar of events and its also available on our web site nor, and our record riegs ration and the materials were created by the federal Government Agencies including, of course, the National Park service. Through wednesday, august 71 on displi, the original organic act, the legislation that created the National Park service 300 years ago today. If you havent done that yet, ill take time. Also part of our holdings related, there are several reels of Motion Picture film. To get us started i would like to show excerpts from three of these films. First well look at a clip from great smokey mountains, which it driens the conservation core and that park. Now well see an excerpt from the 1934 film, the travel which shows people over time interacting with the parking, montana and this film was silent, so if spirit moves you, you can feel free to hum along or whatever. Well move 50 years ahead in time and see it from the 1984 film produced by the park service, the fountain of life, Rocky Mountain National Park. Without further adieu, lets roll those clips, please. Most of them from new york and nvj nj, they know their in fifth avenue, the river side drive and the metropolitan hotel. But these National Institutions have not added much enjoinment to their lives, they didnt know the Great Outdoors where perhaps the greater opportunities for their future may lie. Theyre happy, healed. And theyre paying their way with my service and making it competition to health and happiness of men now living and still more millions on the future. In the leisure time, well organized Educational Program which is part of it is using their mag snificent surrounding. Practical knowledge, more applicable to present day needs than any theyve admired before theyre not giving them. And they look to the future with high hopes. By 1909 the idea for Rocky Mountain National Park was borne. The issue was an emotional one and so, it pitted commercial interest against those who would preserve such places. Let music say the things that words can never teach. Forget the language of the world. To him the Rocky Mountains were a fountain of life. This was his home and inspiration. Became the chief spokesman for the parked cause. The greatest resource of the people is that which empowers and inspires them to do their best. People are wrestless for the medicine and spell of the wi wilderne wilderness. After six years, mills saw his dream achieved, Rocky Mountain became the tenth National Park in america. What do people see. Why do they come. The answers are as varied and numerous as the people themselv themselves. For me they mean a trail to the top of the continent. To stand in the alpine world where waters diverge to either the atlantic or pacific ocean. For some it is a place to savor a pace of living not easily found in todays world. So that was the past, now to bring us to the present and look to the future its now my turn to program over. Will you please help me welcome julia and our panel to the stage. [ applause ]. Thank you very much, tom, good afternoon everybody. Good afternoon. Thanks for coming today. Its a pleasure to see all of you and to see those of you from a distance. I would like to first begin by introducing our panel. Ill start with wayne rogers who actually began his National Park Service Career as a volunteer and worked at several parks and currently a park ranger at Independence National historical park in pennsylvania. Our next panelist is julie, is the ceo and president of the names project, which is the organization that cares for and interprets the aids quilt, welcome julie. Ronda, here is our next panelist, ronda started her career at mount rush more where she grew up and then became a classroom teacher for 20 years and has then returned to the park service, worked at several parks and now the chief of Museum Services and interpretation at jefferson service of National Memorial in st. Louis. We have carol mcbryant. Mcbryant is a relevance diversity and inclusion strategist at the National Level for the National Park service. She has more than 30 Years Experience in the park service and one of her jobs of many that she held, was the chief of interpretation of the lewis and Clark National historic trail during the by centennial of the lewis and clark expedition. And did a lot of work with the native peoples route of the trail making sure that all sides of that story were told, welcome panelists. And i am just going to get us on to the correct slide here. Its a pleasure to be here to talk with you about National Parks as places of healing and resiliency and expression. like to say that the National Park service is probably the only Government Agency with the word joy invite you all to go and look at that in the ro tun da today and see the exact words there. That word enjoyment can be interpreted in many different ways. One really important way is returning to a sense of peacefulness and health and healing and making a deep connection with place and with yourself. And parks can be places for deep healing and they can also be places for healing on a societal level. Thats what were going to be exploring today in our panel. I grew up here in washington, d. C. And my father, avid wash burn, was a warrior during the 50s and 60s. And he credits Rock Creek Park here as saving his life. What made him able to do that important peacemaking work that he was doing during those periods. And we understand that and embrace it in the white house the Obama Administration also understands that and embraced it. Which is why we have National Park our x day and weve started a Prescriptions Program you can see the Surgeon General there in that picture we have doctors across the country who are beginning to write prescriptions to people to go outside, mover their bodies, get into parks, these are great prescriptions for both physical and emotional healing. Were excited to be able to take that and sort of help doctors embrace it. Our National Parks represent our American Heritage and they represent the american narrative. Therefore places when we commemorate that struggle. We can have important conversations. If youll note here this is selma to mobt gom ri back in march we were able to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the march from selma to montgomery. One of the ways we commemorated it was to bring 150 young people from across the country together to recreate if march. We called it a learning march because every day they did a little piece of the walk and would have dialogue in the evenings about what freedom means to them and what social justice issues are we working on today and how can a country heal from its past injustices. Parks are platforms for these kind of conversations. We have a distinguished panel here today to talk with us about their own work in relationship to parks with healing and resilience as were going into this next century, we move from conservation to conversation and to that end we will be inviting you to join us in a conversation after we watched several film clips and im going to turn it over to wayne right now who is going to start us off with introducing a film. Ive been with the park Service Three years now. Just past my threeyear anniversary. I did spend it here as a volunteer. It was just a chanced outing, family outing, i saw signs volunteers, so i inquired, talked to the big boss wife. She gave it thumbs up and here i am today. Coping with ptsd something weve started to learn throughout the park service is that a lot of veterans and even Current Service members visit National Parks to get away. And i wrote a story a couple of years ago about my experiences and the question i like to ask is for those of you who need healing or those that you know need healing, what are the thing that is have helped you or your loved ones in that healing process and have the National Parks been a thought help in that process. Its a veteran who served in iraq also came home diagnosed with severe ptsd. He decided the to take his camera and went and travelled for 25 days, 12 National Parks and hell i dont want to get too much into it, but it really experiences how it helped him just in that short amount of time yet that next foot forward to that next step that he needed to get to in that healing process. With that well roll the clip. And i recently spent 25 days ton road going to the National Parks. Roughly 7,200 miles from coast to coast and in california. The parks i visited wfr great falls National Park and battlefield, lincoln memorial, big ben, carls bad. Yellow stone, Mount Rainier and redwood National Park. I want to reconnect before i started having issues with posttraumatic stress disorder. In 2000, i joined the u. S. Army. Spent almost a year there, came back. And shortly after diagnosed with ptsd. For me, its just unwanted Anxiety Stress and aggravation on my normal every day life. A good example of that is going through the grocery store. I try to go in the early mornings or midafternoon, i know the least amount of people there, the more people im around, the more anxious i get, i become hyper aware, as you can say. I try to avoid situations that might trigger any negative thoughts or emotions in my every day life. I usually tend to stay at home as much as possible. Over the years i have researched how others have dealt with the stresses of getting in the military and readjusting back into life and the one common thing that i actually saw there eesz a lot of veterans that will go out and explore the National Parks. The more i thought about it, they seem like something that can benefit me as well. So i jumped and started researching the National Parks. Theyre going to be celebrating centennial. In fact i own a camera and i use that as part of my therapy for my ptsd, i figured stwoub a Good Opportunity to take my camera and put myself in the situation of getting out of the house, but also capturing beautiful footage of parks at the same time and hopefully challenging myself along the way. Once i commit today myself, i went ahead and started mapping out where i wanted to take my trip and i made that coincide with friends and family i havent seen in a while. I think i started breaking out of my old comfort zone and started feeling a little bit more open. And helping to open those barriers. I felt like it was going to be problematic for me because it reverts back to the whole ptsd aspect. Once i got there and kind of settled in little bit. I tried to focus on getting footage and focuses myself on my camera work and what i was doing. It was a Beautiful Day to get out there and sun was out and people were out. Definitely got me anxious, im glad i did it. Every park conference is zoned middle per se. I was out of shape, so i knew that going on hikes and different terrain would kind of help me a little bit, another challenge, on top of other things i would try to deal with. Its a challenge i welcome. I think one of the first big physical challenges for me was carls bad cabin. I forget 1. 2 miles downhill to massive cave. The temperature drops as you go down and theres lots of stuff but i made it. One thing i liked about the military it put me in situations that forced me to, you know what i thought they were. I think theres a parallel with the National Parks. Once you get out there you find yourself in situations that you otherwise would not have. Before you know it youve accomplished a big hill, youve travelled through streams for me it was getting out where there were a lot of unknowns and getting out of my comfort zone. The tragedy that it brings, i can honestly say the National Parks did give me a sense of peace that i had not felt probably since i was a teenager, but that person by i think is not only limited for someone like myself or other veterans but anyone can experience, all you have to do is get out there and go visit some National Parks. Good afternoon. Im here to talk to you a little bit about the aids memorial. And i think our interpretation is a little bit different than being with Many Park Service folks. But we have been an entity thats been in operation for 30 years and who would have thought that 30 years ago, a simple act of beginning to make a quilt panel to testify to work through your greech and lo for a loved one who was lost to aids would turn into this incredibly ep pick monument that is testament to 94,000 lives created by over 100,000 individuals. Our founding story comes at a time in 1987 when there were tens of thousands of people who were sick and dying and it felt like no one cared an it felt like the group that was being impacted the most was the other and we were being talked about in statistics and it was terrifying. Young man named clooef jones had an idea. He asked people that harvey from San Francisco to carry a plaque card, a poster board simply with a name written on it of someone you loved who had been lost to this disease. When they got to the end of this march, they had hidden ladders in the bushes and they take these names up aside of the wall. What happened people stayed and they started talking about the person whose name was on the plaque card. I didnt know he was gone. It looked like a quilt, you know, we need a National Memorial. We need to wake people up and we need them to talk about people rather than statistics, he knew that this would change the face of the epidemic, for two years he told people we needed quilt and for two years they told him it was the craziest idea ever. In 1987 he made that first memorial and today, as i said. We have over 100,000 lives engaged in this conversation. Our connection to the National Park is about our National Mall and our civic stage where we brought this quilt in 1987 it was the first time we had the voices of tall people, short people, white people, black people. All engaged in a conversation about changing the dialogue about hiv and aids. And it changed our conversation from one of the other to one of were all invested and involved in this conversation. This particular photo is from that first display and. One of the things i think about is its epic and intimate at the same time. Had the intimate details of individual like sewn in which approximates the size of the human grave. We are laying out our dead in washington in the hopes that washington would wake up and help us and its now so epic in scope and i feel like that is part of the joy of the National Parks every time youre in an epic kind of situation, theres an intimacy to it as well. As we set up this clip, this clip is from 2012 when we came back to d. C. And we were here for two particular events. One was the folk life festival and the other was the International Aids Conference and this film was produced by the park service and the National Capitol planning commission. You can roll that clip. And 25 years ago when the number of dead in just one small neighborhood, the castro in San Francisco reached a thousand, our founder had an idea and he asked people to march with plaque cards in their hands of the names of people who they had loved and lost. When they got to the Federal Building at the end of this march, when he looked at it. He realized it looked like a quilt. Well, i think the thing that makes it so powerful, is the fact that it has been kre yacrey thousands of people who are parts of communities who had been effective by hiv aids and its their personal investment that makes the stories in the quilt so powerful to the public that sees it on display. The first one we started on that allows people to search and browse digital images of every one of the 6,000 blocks or the 48,000 panels that make up the eight memorial quilt. The second experience that we brought that we brought to washington is interactive timeline of the 30 years of the history of the development of aids or public recognition of aids and 25 year history of the quilt. The third digital experience is a distributed experience. Its here but its everywhere. And its what we call mobile web app. Throughout the course of the history of the aids memorial quilt. Its been on display in more than 25,000 locations and more than 20 Million People have experienced the quilt. The quilt is ever changing and that is both a wonderful thing as well as a burden because it grows day by day by day and so how do we gather this information collected and preserve it and make it accessible. The ever changing nature of it is part of its beauty and part of its additional workload. I think its the aids quilt is different from many of the traditional memorials here in washington. Youll see as you walk around the National Mall in that it is a living memorial. It is constant with being added to. It is not something thats static and seen in one place. But it moves to the audiences and new audiences can interact with it in different kind of ways. I think that more nontra degsdil would be well received by the republic to see their response over the course of 25 years tells you theres profound interaction with this type of expression. In a sense that the National Mall is contested place with its meaning evolving over time because they can invite various communities down to interact with them over time rather than setting up a permanent place. It really does invite Community Engagement and it addresses motivates people to think about how these issues effect their lives, effect the broader culture in the country and throughout the world. So its not just something that commemorates something from the past. But it commemorates something that are living for now. Both personally and publicly. Thank you. Public service, we have discovered more and more that we are here not only to visitors who come from the great distances but we are ear that w are here for our park neighbors who live close by. And were discovering more ways that we can have conversations and forth partnerships to help our Community Neighbors with issues that are very important to them and their communities. So i bring with me today the conversation, some experiences from National Parks that demonstrate this kind of a collaborative model and this new focus in our mission. So for instance, at Mount Rushmore National Memorial, the park staff hosted tribal elder summits to invite the native neighbors to come to the park and have some crucial conversations about the best ways to share the story of the ancestral homeland of the lacota people in addition to the president ial story depicted in the sculptures on the mountain. So that was a point in time where stories that were often untold were soon revealed in new ways to build a Better Community of learning and understanding. At independence National Park in philadelphia, the park had very crucial conversations with park neighbors about how best to share the story of the enslaved workers at the president s house that george and Martha Washington brought with them. In addition to the story of the foundation of the nation that is shared at independence hall. At the Edgar Alan Poe National Historic site, the young kids who live in the urban area learned how to have important conversations with children in rural areas in mid america. And they shared back and forth the ways that they were working to preserve the resources of their neighborhood and their community. At valley forge National Park, the Community Neighbors celebrate and honor annually the patriots of african descent. The park found ways to reveal these stories that are often untold in the national narrative. There was a voices series of workshops coordinated by teacher ranger teachesrs that brought forth africanamerican history from one continent to another through dancing and drumming and art and literature. At Jefferson National expansion memorial and ulysses s. Grant National Historic site, theres a partnership in place with educators and Community Leaders as theres a team working together to support a community in need and sometimes a community in crises. The park staff was able to provide programming and Emergency Education centers during a time when the community was fearful for their childrens safety and schools were closed down. There was a curriculum developed by the faith and justice initiative. There will be teacher training workshops to help the educators and students learn better ways to expressivie civic. So as we watch this movie, of young urban youth exploring National Parks and open spaces for the first time, we get a sense of what its like for them to learn new things about themselves, build team work, learn how to overcome animosity through a challenge of crossing a fallen log hand in hand with a classmate. So the idea with these kinds of initiatives and these kinds of programs is that these young people are learning the skills necessary to implement social responsibility and civil rights as they become the voice of the future of our National Parks and help to forge new ways of building really Strong Communities of teaching and learning. So i think i have a question to consider. Which button do i push . I think theyre going to roll the film. There you go. Can you push the one that worked for you . There we go. Very good. Thank you. So as we watch this clip, i would like us to consider, when did a park experience close to him prepare you for something bigger than you expected or launch a new understanding in ways that surprised you . And now we can roll it. We get to be adventurous and go to places we wouldnt normally go to and that we wouldnt know about. Adventure helps us Work Together and focus on team work and not judge each other. We can get through the whole adventure together. Never give up. Always believe in yourself. Concur our fears. Teaches me to be brave. Urban blazers is a nonprofit in philadelphia that provides about 1,200 kids with Character Education through active experience in nature. So we take kids on local trails, we go skiing and canoeing, rock climbing. And we also do a lot of more of a low ropes course model that we do on a regular basis at their schools or community centers. Urban blazers is excited to work with the National Park service, their rivers, trails and conservation program. A big piece to our partnership is to be able to provide a better experience for the students. The rivers, trails and Conservation Assistance Program of the National Park service is a Community Assistance arm of the agency. So we work with local Community Groups and nonprofits, municipal governments to plan parks and trails to improve access to waterways and to create recreational ways through partnerships. One of the things were trying to do a lot more is to work with innovative partners to really engage a population that we havent done a good job of engaging, which is young people in urban areas. And urban blaze serz prrs is an partner for us because they have connections with different schools. Theyre doing some of this work. Urban blazers was founded by someone who felt that a lot of the most important experiences that he had as a child were hiking and rock climbing and skiing with his family. And decided that he wanted to offer those some way to kids in philadelphia. Sometimes you are scared about it before you try it. Then once you try it you are like, oh, you know what . That wasnt that bad. Im glad i did it. Sometimes you try it and you say, that wasnt that bad, but i dont ever really want do that again. Right . We opened this middle school to serve the community. Were a community school. And we only accept students that qualify for the free and reduced Lunch Program and also who are in this immediate neighborhood. Saint james is an independent school. We do fundraising ourselves. We do that so we can ensure students have a high quality of education. We want to make sure they really have a Holistic Education and that were educating the whole child. We partner with urban blazers, Understanding Team building, the importance of outdoor play and the role that being outside and being in nature can play in a childs life. We find that it helps calm the students to be outside as much as possible. One of the most Important Reasons that urban blazers was started is because of the character traits that you are able to either practice or develop in the outdoors. Going out into nature is the ultimate new thing for almost every single student that we work with. Theyre doing something that practically no one else in their neighborhood has ever done. Which creates bonding as a class. My first year here, i didnt really know anybody. So when we were on the trips, i got to know them more and more and i got to become really good friends with them. Now theyre like my best friends ever. The favorite part about the trip was getting in the water. Often when they come to school, their shared experiences are negative. Going on all of the outdoor trips, it gives them positive shared experiences to discuss and to build their friendships. There were two young boys in my class who had known each other from their previous schools through who fought who and who yelled at who in the hallway. They didnt know anything about each other other than that. They would not speak to each other. It was difficult to have them function because of this animosity. We went on a hike. We had to walk across a fallen tree. They were both terrified. All of the other students went across. It was the two of them. They talked it out. They held each others hands and they walked across the log bridge together. After that, they had something in common that wasnt a negative experience. That wasnt harmful for them to be thinking about. Now theyre much better friends because they have something to talk about and that they really trust each other and had a sense of unity. They understand that when were on any field trips, its listening, its paying attention, its being responsible. And that carries over into the other classrooms that focus pays off in many ways. I have seen students Work Together in school much more effectively after being able to help each other through a difficult situation. The problem solving skills that they need when theyre trying to figure out how to maneuver on the ski slopes or when they were hiking, all of those things come back into the classroom. You do see their problem solving skills improve over time. Their experiences outdoors give them so much to write about. Concurring their fears, using determination, experiencing new things are all topics that they can feel comfortable and confident writing about and that are shared with their peers. So its easy for them to discuss with one another as well. I had to go across a lake on these rocks. I was scared to. I still did it. I didnt get wet. For them to explore and find out theres more than just playing basketball, they can go hiking, fishing, see eagles, see hawks. Now they appreciate the outdoors. Its great. Skipping a rock, seeing a reindeer. It just excited me. Its a scary, scary place. Urban blazers, they really focus on unstructured time in nature and selfdiscovery. And i think those two things are really ways that more young people can feel connected with the outdoors. Its great how the National Park service is embracing the idea of a broader population, getting into the parks and experiencing them. We can start in the parks that are local to us that its a stepping stone to the state parks and then to the National Parks. The National Park service as an agency realizes that if they want to remain relevant to the American People for another 100 years, they really need to do a better job of meeting people where they are by working with partners like urban blazers. We Start Building those connections and then maybe you really connect with one student. And then they come back with their parents. And then they decide to do an internship with the National Park service. And then through that internship they can get hired. Were going to line up across the creek working up against the water. So even if you engage 100 students and get one student to come back and work for the park service, it will really help us to diversify our agency in a way thats very needed. The way to their intellect is through their heart. And if we have opportunities for them to learn something that intrigues them, sparks their curiosity, gets them more interested, thats where the fire begins to grow of them wanting to do more research, more reading, more active participation when theyre in the classroom or theyre having a conversation around the dieping rodiep i dining room table with their family. Thats what will help them make the personal connection to carry with them not only back to the classroom but for the rest of their lives. Sg a female. She does have eggs. Shes very much a reproductive female. She can lay hundreds of legs. By removing her, you are removing hundreds of potential rescues from the creek. Philadelphia has an incredible park system. But the usership tends to be much more from the wealthier neighborhoods rather than some of the high poverty communities or even working class neighborhoods that are really close to the trail. Were going to be walking, like, two blocks to get on the 61 bus. As much as we would love to have the funding to take kids out to yosemite or a huge park like that, its not what is going to build them into lifetime users of the parks. We take them to the boxers trail, which is across the street from where some students live. Then they can go out there on their own. When its hot and theyre bored on a sunday, we want our kids to be able to hop on to a bus and they know where to get off, they know where they can hang out, they know how to get back. And at 13, 14 years old, theyre able to do that safely. Ive seen how our students have grown through urban blazer. Its not just taking kids hiking or rock climbing. Its educating the kids and making them the at wear the park system, the nature, environment, how that all plays in educating a child. Schooling needs to be for the children and for what the children need for their lives and for their learning. And theres nothing that can really replace the enrichment of showing these inner city students sites and places that they will have never experienced otherwise. And they deserve to be able to see those things and have that experience and have those peaceful moments where all you hear is just the trees blowing. Its really just an experience that could not be replaced. My favorite thing was looking at the waterfalls. Just looking at them. Sometimes we get frustrated. Sometimes we get mad and everything. But we gotta do team work. You can come up here. The whole group. Would you like to hear my feedback . I like how everything, they was walking and just when some people faced difficulties, they didnt stop. I like how we was helping each other and we wasnt laughing at each other when we got scared or anything. In life, it would be a good thing to have a person that you can work with and go through a lot of stuff with and not be criticized on what you do. You have another person to back you up. Did you ever think you would be able do this that good . Yes, i think i would be able to do this that good because i believe in myself. First of all, i would like to thank the National Archives for the work that they do in helping us curate the things of our national narrative, the things that make us america and the heritage that we have, that we can go back and look to as we begin to look at who we are as a nation. Id like to thank the National Park service for the journey that they have given me in the last 30 years. And id like to share with you some of the emotional work that i have been doing in native america and ask for you to take some time today to ponder the things of what National Parks might mean in both the hurt and the healing of our native nations. The work that i have done in the National Park service is tremendous. And it spans an entire career. But the most meaningful work that i think i have ever done is to sit and listen to the people who this continent belongs. When i listen and hear the pain of the taking of land, taking of culture, taking of language, i begin to think about what that means for me. I have a dear friend. Her name is faith spottedeagle. She does tremendous work around generational trauma and healing in indian country. What she tells me is that healing will take place when we come together as a nation. Healing of our Indigenous People will be able to happen when we begin to set aside the denial and the shame that soeferves as barriers between us and our native nations. Im humbled to sit here today. There are plenty of other people that certainly could be here to talk through indigenous eyes. I only share with you what i have experienced myself. I ask you to also think about your experience with our native nations. If you dont have experience with our native nations, i encourage you to reach beyond your comfort zone and think about what it might have been to have a great loss in your life and what it would take for you to come back to a place of balance and to show a film to you produced by stylehorse collective by a group of young people from the tribal youth programs. In connection to the unity conference of the northwest. It points us to a deeper level of understanding of why our tribal nations might be facing some of the things they are. And think about how we might be able to come back to a place where our nations are healthy and sharing their indigenous knowledge with us, so we would understand the place of our American Heritage as the National Park service turns 100 years old today. I encourage all of us as citizens of this nation and citizens of this world to reflect back on the Indigenous People and their perspectives of land. As you watch this film, think about your own self and your own family and your own community. Have you ever had a loss or conflict that led you to a place of selfdestruction, depression or Great Sadness . Then, also, think about what helped you return to that place of healthy balance. There will always be wounds in your life where there is great loss and sadness. But you have come back. We all have come back to a place of healthy balance. National parks may be the places for us to think about for our native people as they go home to the an ses industrial lands, as they walk in the moccasin tracks of those that came before them. The National Parks have a role in helping to heal a nation, our first nations. Thank you. One morning, i woke up. I heard my brother crying. He was screaming so loud you would have thought someone was dying. Mom, dad, he screamed. There was no use trying. They werent around. I went outside and saw he had had a pretty bad crash. His bike was in the ditch. Down his arm, a bloody gash. He looked so pitiful just sitting there in the dirt amongst the trash crying, i want mom and dad. I picked him up and started running towards my uncles up the way. It started raining and got real dark. You could barely tell it was day. My brother cried and asked, sister, where is mom . I didnt know what to say, when the truth is, i dont know. My uncle saw us coming. He ran into the yard. He took my brother from me and he held him in his arms. When he saw my face, i could tell, i could tell he was alarmed. He said, what happened, you fall too . Uncle, im so tired. So tired of wondering why, why do they drink . Why do they do drugs . Why do they leave us . Why . He said, sister, its hard to explain. I said, uncle, try. Then, he told the story. Once this land was teepees as far as you can see. The water was clean, the land pristine. We were where we were meant to be. Then, strangers came across the sea and brought with them their disease. Our people cried and prayed and sang but it brought them to their knees. We will rise up from the darkness we will overcome the pain warrior spirits live within us we shall remain imagine that your family and most of all your tribe, what if most everyone you love suddenly got sick and died and before you even had a chance to bury them and mourn, the strangers came and took away the land where you were born and you wondered if your parents even cared as they stole you and your brother away or if they had been so beaten down, they had nothing left to say. At school, they cut your hair and beat you if you spoke. The language that our creative gave our people when earth awoke. We will rise up from the darkness we will overcome the pain warrior spirits live within us we shall remain sister, im not trying to tell you that your mom and dad are okay or that they are not responsible for the choices that they have made. You see this bloody wound on your Little Brothers arm. If we dont clean it, it wont heal and it will do all kinds of harm. Those deep wounds of our ancestors still bleed within our hearts when we remember all they have done. Thats where the healing starts. So every morning when you wake, you pray this prayer out loud, creator, help me live in a way that would make my ancestors proud. We will rise up from the darkness dont you forget this. You can be anything you want to be. Just work hard. We will overcome the pain just work hard. Never give up. Perseverance is the key. Warrior spirits live within us strength, dignity, honor, thats all in your family tree. Hold your head up high and know that. We shall remain we will rise up from the darkness creator, help me live in a way that will make my and says to ancestors proud. We will overcome the pain creator, help me live in a way that will make my ancestors proud. Warrior spirits live within us help me live in a way that will help my ancestors proud. We shall remain we shall remain little brother, we will rise up from this darkness. Little brother, we will overcome the pain. We shall remain remember, warrior spirits live within us. We shall remain. I may pose to you something that i do when i feel sad or have great loss. It has to do with going back to familiar places, going back to my family, going back to where i grew up. Indigenous nations are invited to return to their homes, the familiar places and the National Park service is committed through providing Youth Opportunities with elders to go back to the homelands to walk in the moccasin tracks of their ancestors, to heal as the National Park service opens up, sits and listens and learns from those whose land we sit. We all need to go back sometimes to familiar places, to the places of which we came in order to heal sometimes. I am proud of the National Park service for beginning to really open up to the elders, to the youth, and recognizing the places of our human existence here on this planet, in this continent that once belonged to and still belong to our Indigenous People along with all of us who have inherited the lands that we call National Parks. Thank you, carol. Thanks to wayne and julie and rhonda and carol for curating the film clips and introducing them for us. We now have about 50 minutes where we can engage in conversation, conversation with each other, conversation with all of you. You will note that we posed a series of questions, some big ones. So im going to review the questions with you. Wayne asked, what are the things that have helped you or your loved ones heal . Have the parks ever been a thought to help in that process . Julie asked, what is a cause you care deeply about on a personal, intimate level or a public, societal level, and what could be effective public platforms for addressing your cause both personally and or publically . Rhonda asked, when did a park experience close to home prepare you for something bigger than you expected or launch a new understanding in ways that surprised you . And carol asked, have you or your family had a loss or a conflict that led you to selfdestruction or Great Sadness and what helped you return to healthy balance . These are questions we posed to you. We welcome you to share your stories with us. We have microphones on both sides of the house. We welcome you to share your stories and we also welcome you to ask questions, make comments and observations and engage in conversation with our panelists. If you have a story to share or a question or a comment, please come on up to the microphone and while were waiting for people to think of their questions and their stories, i will pose a question to each of you. So in your own personal journeys, i can tell that you are all very, very passionate about the work that you do. In your own personal journey, can you think of a time when you kind of knew, right, this was what was right for you and what was that connection . What made that connection for you . Im going to put wayne on the spot. Wayne, can you start . Well, actually, it involves rhonda. Rhonda was my boss at valley forge, my second park. We were just discussing in the back my last day at valley forge was veterans day, 2013. We had a guest speaker drop out. This speaker was supposed to speak to a group of people that i helped organize come to the park. This group of people were brand new recruits in the United States army. My idea was, why not have them do their oath of enlistment in the place where the United States army was born. Rhonda loved it. Being a seasonal at the time, my thought was, im just a seasonal. Im not going to be here long. Is she really going to like it . Thats the kind of boss rhonda is. We are all park rangers whether we are permanent or seasonal. We get this group. We organize it. They come down from the recruitment station in harrisburg, i believe it was. They brought a group of about 50. The night prior, i get a call from our special Events Coordinator, we have an issue. I need you to write a five to seven minute speech and give it tomorrow. Being the good park ranger and soldier i am, i did it. I emailed it to our special Events Coordinator and that was it. I showed up to work the next morning and we had our event. When i was introduced and im standing up there, towards the end, i kind of ad libbed a couple things that werent in the speech. I know just from the look. I remember the look on rhondas face, was, where is he going with this . There must have been 300, 400 people there. Probably about half the group were veterans. As im giving my talk, i removed my hat. I didnt want to talk to them as ranger wayne. I wanted to talk to them as Staff Sergeant rogers, somebody who had been there and walked in their shoes. Towards the end, i threw in there, and i told them, you are no longer our fellow citizens. You are now our brothers and sisters in arms. As i said that, there was kind of this hush in the crowd where it was like, whoa, that was deep. Even i am going, whoa, that was deep. Then, i invited all veterans to stand and retake that oath of commitment, that oath of enlistment with these 50 young men and women that were taking it for the first time. It was kind of like, wow, i did that. I realized at that point, it was kind of like, im going to make it. Im going to do all right here. Rhonda was the one who kind of gave me the thumbs up and sat back and gave me plenty of rope to hang myself. I handed her back plenty of rope. We recognize talent when we see it. We have a lot of confidence in you. I notice we have a member of the audience. So well go to you, sir. Would you identify yourself . Bruce guthrie. When i was a kid, our parents took us to a lot of National Parks. Since it was from their perspective, to me, i saw it as the family trip and i really couldnt identify. It wasnt until i became older and had my own values that i could reconnect and ken burns civil war frankly was what started me going back to the historic parks and exploring the rest, because there is so much there. Im told these days, its hard to get kids off their butts and outside. At the same time, when i go to places now im seeing all the kids with pokemon go and they dont look up, because the little guy they are collecting is over here. On one hand, pokemon go is great, because it is getting people up. But, on the other hand, they are not appreciating what they are seeing. I was wondering how you guys feel about that. Is there some way to coop, make it a more interactive experience with the parks . Thats a terrific question. Who would like to take a stab at that one . Let me turn to one of the other panelists, since, wayne, you just spoke. Certainly, i just sat on a committee for the National Capital Planning Committee and the National Parks service about envisioning monuments and memorials of the future and trying to do an ideation session about what could we do to add an overlay to existing experiences and or another layer to it that would allow people to think about annotating in real time. How has the story been transformed, what has moved forward. We looked at things through the lens of other designers, and what you described was one of the things we discussed this morning because of the whole pokemon go kind of idea. What is it that we could do that would bring the eyes up and once those eyes are up, let people dive deeper in. It is part of that engagement conversation. I understand from some of the folks on our committee that the park service is already doing some of that, within some of the monument structures and other areas that you can look at those. Im really fascinated by that and interested in where thats going. Wayne, do you want to expand . I know the National Mall did something, where it created a tour. Correct me if im wrong. You are right. Independence in philly, were developing the same thing. Many of the pokey stops. We have two pokemon gyms. At independence. When i left work yesterday, i owned one. My kid plays. I do it for him. Were developing a tour that takes us to a lot of the pokey stops that are set up at the second bank, independence hall, washington square. We are trying to develop a tour where, okay, were going to go catch the pokemon. Stop, look up. There is no more pokemon left. We caught them all. Lets talk about where we are in front of. I know between the mall and us, im sure other parts are doing it too. One thing thats really exceptional about mobile technology, which, if you can believe it, it has only been around for like five years. Now, there is one of these in almost everybodys pocket. Not just rich people but everybodys pocket. This is a technology embraced by all different economic levels. It gets you out from behind your computer screen and helps you connect with the rest of the world. So were actually seeing the embracing of the mobile technology as a wonderful way of engaging people and getting them excited not just about catching the pokemons but about exploring and expanding their horizons and with that, Virtual Reality and augmented reality on the horizon, this is going to be a really interesting tool for park tours. Julia may i add one thing . Sure. In light of that, i want to emphasize one of the things we think is so important with the young people, specially like in the movie, i say, put them in the water. The kids, not the iphone. Put the kids in waders and let them search for rusty crayfish, give them a helmet and a bike, put them on trails. Put them in canoes, kids paddling on the water. Besides the wonderful technology, we are always looking for ways to put them into the experience they would have never done on their own, on the trail, on the bike, in the water, in the trees, to be engaged in ways they never could imagine they would find themselves in. Thanks. Good point. Please identify yourself. My name is denise domain. I just recently retired from the park service after 38 years. Congratulations. Thank you. I am so fortunate. I was in philadelphia and washington and wound up at the beautiful Channel Islands National Park in california. I didnt expect this day to be so emotional. Im very emotional, participating in the event. But my passion is making the work force more diverse. Thats what i spent most of my career on. Just an observations, not necessarily a question. When i looked at the urban blazers in philadelphia, my hometown, im very emotional about that. I would like to see the panel take this information and i think we need to there is a little bit of a disconnect on getting these kids employment. I would like to see more mentors, specific mentors, even if we could just get one of those kids out of the 100 into the National Park system. It is not easy. You need that oneonone interaction and someone to take it to the next level. Thats just my passion, if you will. I hope that you can take that back. Thank you, thank you. Im going to ask carol to speak to that one. Carol is actually her job is relevance, diversity and inclusion strategist with that very goal. Also, one of my passions and thank you for all your service with the National Parks service. As we begin to look at our next 100 years, the stories that we tell and the places that we protect are critical that we as citizens of the United States begin to see them as ours and ours being collective and all of the diversity that makes us a nation and in that diversity in the ranger as well as other professional ranks is critical. I think well, i just heard our director say he is putting people at the center. An important piece to inviting diversity into any organization is to also work on probably more important to work on inclusion and to build a place of inclusion where people feel valued and feel that their voice is being heard. I think we are going to start seeing that here as we enter into our next 100 years, that not only will we be looking at touching the lives of diverse america, inviting them into the employment of the National Parks service, but making them feel like they are a part of something that they want to be sitting here 30 years from now in my seat talking about who they are and who their people are and the stories that make us a great nation. So thank you very much. Reginald chapel . Hello, everybody. I just want to say thank you to the panel, thank you for all of the curating that you did for today. The last question really sparked me to get up and to talk a little bit about my experience and maybe answer question number three. So im reggie chapel, actually with the National Park service, the division chief of the office of partnerships and philanthropic stewardship. I have only been here four years. To work on the centennial and come in from the outside has been superduper exciting for me. This idea of getting urban kids, im from an urban environment, los angeles, into the park service through this idea of programs and exposure to the parks, thats not been my experience at all. A little bit about my journey. I was in graduate school at ucla looking for an internship. The only internship i was interested in was this historic building, dunbar hotel, along Central Avenue in los angeles. It was the first black hotel that was built where all the jazz players stays in the 1920s, 30s, and 40s. It was the only place the pullman porters could stay when they came off of the Railroad Lines after work. For me, it became the place to build out my dreams around urban planning. I think there are other tracks that folks can actually take. So it is not just taking a kid to a park and then having them maybe think about a career but there are folks who are actually active in universities who are interested in careers but not necessarily knowing about the National Parks service as an option. So im wondering if the and then the building i was affiliated with was actually on the National Register of historic places. Thats how i then found out about the historic tax credit program, became more interested, worked on more monuments and when i got a chance to apply for the park service, im here now. Are there other programs where the workforce is right there waiting that it is connecting people to people and the park programs. Thats my question. Panelists . Carol . Yes, there are. Reggie, thanks for asking that question. We have folks in the front row that run some wonderful programs bringing College Students and grad students into the National Park service through Cultural Resource programming. It is a great opportunity for ph. D. Students and others seeking masters degrees to do their practical work within National Park service and begin to be exposed to that. I would challenge us to reach even deeper into the diversity of the universities and begin to work closer with them to diversify even the student population of which we are seeing apply for these types of jobs. Our Seasonal Employment Program is another opportunity. I would also challenge us as supervisors and managers in National Parks to be more active and proactive in our communities in letting folks know that these opportunities do exist so that they can be a seasonal ranger like wayne was and experience the parks as an employee and hopefully become a career, dedicated employee of the National Park service. We have to do our part. We have to reach out into the communities and say these jobs are viable. These are places where we want your voice. This is what we want to represent our nations diverse stories. And be inclusive, not just in the workplace itself. We need to be inclusive in how we announce our jobs and ill speak just a moment to the National Park Service People who are watching and who are here today. As supervisors, we have a Critical Role to going beyond hitting the Submit Button for usa jobs and doing all of our work before we do that, making sure that people understand we have places for all of america. Thanks, reggie, for bringing that to our attention and i challenge folks to take that to heart as we enter into our next century. Hr does not recruit. Hr announces our jobs for us. It is up to us and incumbent upon us to do the hard work of getting into communities. So thank you. Hi, julia. Identify yourself. I am jocelyn imani. I am a lot of things but amongst them, a former park ranger, i wanted to i like the way this conversation is going. Carol made a great point just now, about the really Critical Role of supervisors, managers, but i would also include that to be other employees, as well as visitors. The quick and dirty is that i came to the National Park service in 2010 as an intern, partner, volunteer, something. A couple of appointments later, most recently, i was the youth conservation core lead in grand canyon park. My journey in the park Service Started in washington and then to a park and then to a big, wide open western park, which is a little bit different. Now, im at the Smithsonian Museum of africanamerican history and culture, opening september 24th. Mark your calendars right there. I cant state enough how critical it is for people to affirm folks to be exactly who they are. I am a historian of black power, a southerner, a woman. I bring all these various identities to myself when i am being ranger jocelyn. Because i worked with julia, with carol, with margie, with a lot of people who affirmed me in being who i am at that time, fully and completely, when we get to grand canyon National Park this summer, 2016, its a little tense at grand canyon right now, if you Pay Attention in the news. In addition, i was the only black park ranger at grand canyon. There were, i counted, about 3, maybe 4 mexicanamerican park rangers and then thats it. How many people work at the grand canyon . An interpretation, probably 70 people overall, the rest of the diversity came in fees and maintenance. Those are the divisions where the people of color were. I am there. We had 16 greeting youth interns, a total of 56 interns. One of the most diverse summers grand canyon ever had. I mentioned the greening youth interns, because Greening Foundation is an organization that services black africanamerican youth. This summer, when black men were murdered by the police, we were away from our communities, with no cell phone reception and no tvs and limited access to the internet, trying to handle this really tense moment. I drove to mexico, because i was very angry and i came back and what i was able to do, because ive been affirmed in my identity already and taught very well in the mechanisms of how the park service work is lead a couple of facilitated dialogues where the park became a place of healing and when i found, god bless the wonderful rangers that were there, that it was just a point of we dont know what to say. What can you say when a man was murdered in front of his child . The deputy chief of interpretation, had a child the same age as fernando castiles daughter. I was angry too. What can you say . I had this love hate relationship with our wonderful agency, mostly love. A couple of days, it was very frustrating. Going back to carols point, it is really critical for people. There was nobody else but me who could have had the conversation we had in that way, who else, who else. Other people came and they were very grateful. It became a place of healing for staff as well as our interns. That was their First Experience in the park service. They were feeling isolated. They couldnt talk about these things. Instead, we made the park a place of healing. Thank you guys, publicly, for your support and your encouragement. Please keep up the good work. Jocelyn, thank you for your good work. Amazing story from an amazing woman. We really appreciate the work that you do, jocelyn. Congratulations on your new job. I think one thing jocelyn brings up is the love hate relationship with the organization. I will be very honest. I love the organization and have a love hate relationship with the organization. I see the centennial, i see today as a turning point. I see it as an opportunity. Carol mentioned the directors talking about putting people at the center. I think we can. If we seize this moment and we seize this opportunity and say we want a diverse justiceseeking equitable National Park service, we have to make it that. We can. Im excited about that. Im excited about your work this summer. Thank you. We have someone at this microphone. Please identify yourself. Yes. I am going to open my mouth and show you how stupid i am. No. Yes. My husband used to say, keep your mouth shut. People may think you know something. I am helen lee. To get here, i started at 10 00 and i was still 15 minutes late. I may have missed something. My expectation of coming here was 100 years ago, james monroe was the president who started it, i wanted to hear it and spread it to my friends. I was late. So i may have missed it. The other thing is, i really would like to see anorondack and rushmore and yellowstone and i would like to smell it. I have seen enough films but i havent smelled it. Do you organize any do you help people . Im not in school. So i cant go to parks with a classmate. Im beyond that stage. I dont have many years in my life. How do you help people to see the parks . Excellent question, excellent question. Thank you. Thank you. Panelists . Rhonda . Thats a great question. It is fun you summarized we are recruiting the young people and bringing them in buses to the park but what are we doing with the other visitors and senior adults . I think it just opens up more opportunity for us to network and brainstorm and think what we are looking for, the wider audience and more peoples participation. Thank you for the challenge. I know in my experience i have seen lots of tour groups that have all sorts of advertised field trips by bus and take people to short trips and long trips all around the National Parks circuit. Thats one good option to consider. Doing research on what organized tours are offered at different times of the year. I also think it is a great idea to join any sort of Community Civic organization that does this kind of field trip on their own. I know we have had several. We have one group in st. Louis called the oasis. It is people facing the senior years and they are looking for places to go and things to do as a group. They come on National Park field trips. I think that might be an option, check into the Community Organizations that are organizing those kind of field trips. From one contact to another, you might find some Long Distance trips that are available. It is a good challenge to think about ways we could get you on a bus besides the young kids and bring you to our park. So thanks for bringing that up. Well have to ask more people more questions and see what we can offer. I think you bring up a larger issue that faces us as a society that is aging. As an aging society, we need to be thinking about all of those pieces of our experience. Just to answer your question, it was Woodrow Wilson, who signed the organic act. I cant see where you went. There you are. It was president Woodrow Wilson who signed the organic act. You can see in the rotunda here today, you can see that legislation that he signed to make the National Park service what it is today, 100 years ago today. We invite you to do that. I see that we have a person at the microphone. Would you please identify yourself . I would be happy to do that. Im charissa decarlo. I work in the centennial office. It has been a privilege. I wanted to speak a little bit to your question about how we are bringing people of all ages into National Parks. One of the great things i would love to highlight is through the centennial, we have really branched out and worked with a lot of our Corporate Partners to help create further opportunities to bring people to National Parks and National Parks to people. I would just like to thank a huge thank you to the National Park foundation who is our philanthropic arm that helps us to do those things. In particular, i have to give a nice shoutout to humana. About a year ago, they did a Great Program where we brought seniors into parks. We called it senior skip day. It was specifically for anybody 62 and older. They actually purchased thousands of National Park passes for seniors and made sure those got into the hands of seniors at no cost and also did some work with us in helping to bring people actively to sites. It really went all over the nation. It was also kind of an expanding of that Park Prescription Program i think you heard a little bit about and about healthy parks, Healthy People. So im really glad you asked that question. I think everyone deserves to be in their National Parks. It is something to think about as we head into our next century about partnering with those that we have never worked with before or our neighbors up the street or a corporation up the road. We can do a lot together when we put our hands together and our hearts together and really make these opportunities happen. I really hope that starts to reach further and further. Keep a lookout for that. We want to bring healthy parks to Healthy People and keep that expanding further and further. A park prescription could be for everybody. Could you give your name and number to her . I believe that another park Service Person just passed their card on. I think you might be smelling yellowstone. I do want to take a moment to mention the passes available. We have a senior pass for 10 that gets you access free to all public lands the rest of your life. We also have an every kid in the park pass for all fourth graders and their families, which gets a whole year free to public lands, an access pass if you have a disability so that if you provide evidence of your disability, through the mail to us, you can have a lifetime free pass to the National Parks. So there are many, many ways to have getting a pass. I think, carol, you had something to add. Let me also just add a couple more passes. There are also active military passes. If you are an active military person, you can access a pass for you and your family for National Parks. There is also one for the general public that you can purchase for 80. I think it is still 80 a year to get access into National Parks. A whole year. Those are two others. I wanted to just remind all of us, in the Parks Service to think about our history and what we did to bring people to National Parks. We have a huge history that involves the railroads, that involves a lot of things that we might not be so proud of in terms of feeding bears and fire, waterfalls, et cetera, et cetera, that would bring people to National Parks and the awareness. Now, at 100 years. We think about how we can go out into the communities and we also think about the mobile devices and the abilities that we have digitally. We cannot lose sight of this. What is it like to smell a National Park . Thank you for reminding us of that as we are so busy thinking about other way toss reach citizenry. Thank you. And we have another person to speak. My name is vicky schwartz. I grew up in the west. Ive been frequently visiting National Parks since the 60s. I feel like i have a mixed message, visit the parks, visit the parks. I remember when yosemite was getting so crowded and i get this mixed message that we were over visiting some of the larger parks. I dont understand the message. I go to small National Parks, large National Parks, historic parks, cultural parks and i dont understand the message. Could you clear that up for me, please . We can try. Panelists . Well, i think there is a balance and as stewards of these places, the National Park Service Needs to carefully look at that balance as we invite people to the places of their heritage. In that, some of our large western National Parks some of the impacts that compromise that conservation. We need to balance that. I dont know what the future brings in that. I think that the message should be clear and should be very concise that the National Park service invites all people to come and experience their heritage, to experience our nation through the stories and places, but that you also need to be careful in that balance. Its incumbent upon us as an agency and the professionals that work within that, not just human dimension of that but also the balance in the ecosystems and the Historic Structures that we are charged with preserving and protecting as well. So im sorry that you have a mixed message. Everyone is welcome. As we go through time, we may start seeing we have to put some measures in place to balance that so that we can preserve and protect these places for our future generation. I would like to add to that that there are now 413, i believe. I think we just got the north woods of maine added by president obama. National parks across the country, there are parks in all 50 states and u. S. Territories. Mainly when we hear the overcrowding comments, its about yellowstone and yosemite, the grand canyon. The big western iconic parks. They are mainly overcrowded in the front country. Not the back trails, not the distant parts of the wilderness they also protect but mainly the areas around the Visitor Centers and, for example, the valley of yosemite. They are mainly only overcrowded during the summer. So i think if you time your visit properly to those large places, you wont experience the overcrowding but i think we do have to balance visitor use and enjoyment with preservation and thats our job. I dont see any more folks at the microphone. Here comes one more. Hello, miss karen. Please identify yourself. My name is karen. I also work in the partnership office, the entire office has now spoken. I love sort of some of the things that we heard today, because i think as we go back into that partnership office, it gives us a way to think about how to do some more things, where to look for maybe more partnerships and more funding. I think you spoke to that. Even just thinking about this conversation we had now is really maybe we need to do a little bit more with looking at youth groups and groups that serve our elders and pair them together so that when we are bringing children into wherever it is, we are bringing their elders as well. Doing that together gives us that other opportunity to have the pair back in there homes. There are things like elder hostile and the canoemobile, wilderness inquiry, is also ways of gets people who have different abilities. I did give my card. So we will get some other ideas and things. Thanks, for those of you who spoke and those of you who shared your stories. I think we can go back and make some really fun connections and see if we can get some more support for some of these things. Inspiring, isnt it . Yes, definitely. I want to pass that over to carol again on the elders and young people coming together. We are just putting our toe in the water with that idea. But do you want to speak just for a second on that . I will, yes. The National Park Service Sponsors youth from native america. And their elders to come to the places of their ancestors. And this is our second summer of doing this program. And there are many, many, many stories that i could tell you about the youth who hear about the stories of their past on the reservations and in the communities of which theyve grown up and have never left those places to actually experience where these stories took place. And last summer, i was fortunate to be able to go on one of these where some young people were able to go with their elders to little big horn battle field. To stand on the battle field and to be able to see the places where their ancestors fought for who they were, who fought for a way of life, who fought for who fought for their people was tremendous. The healing that takes place and the recognition and one of the things that i see in these young people as they begin to stand in the places and hear the stories from their elders, the same stories theyve heard from their elders at home, but in place, the power of place is so critical as we start looking at healing