I’ll Go If You Go Save the Redwoods League

In Season 4, we’re exploring the different kinds of jobs you can do in the redwood and redwoods parks. In this second episode, host Emily Harwitz chats with Francisco Saavedra about forestry, how his Yurok heritage informs his forestry practice, who the redwoods are to him, and what he hopes to accomplish as a Guardian of the Redwoods. 



Francisco Antonio Saavedra Jr. is a proud, federally enrolled member of the Pit River tribe Madesi Band, with Yurok and El Salvadoran ancestry. He was born and raised in Northern California.  Francisco is currently studying tribal forestry at College of the Redwoods and aspires to obtain a Bachelor of Science degree in Tribal Forestry and Natural Resources from Cal Poly Humboldt. He was a 2023 Redwoods Rising Forestry Apprentice and is returning to apprentice for the 2024 season. Find him on Instagram @francisco_sav



Note: Marbled murrelet calls in this episode are taken from a recording by Andrew Spencer in Redwood National and State Parks and used under the Creative Commons license. The full recording can be found here: ⁠Marbled Murrelet (Brachyramphus marmoratus)⁠


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Welcome to Season 4! This season, we’re exploring the different kinds of jobs you can do in the redwood and redwoods parks. In this first episode, producer and host of season 1, Leslie Parra,  interviews the current host Emily Harwitz. They talk about Emily’s love for nature, what she does for work when she’s not hosting I’ll Go If You Go, and how she’s approached her career in science and environmental storytelling.




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In Episode 6, the final episode of Season 3, host Emily Harwitz talks to Agnes Vianzon (she/they), the founder and Executive Director of Eastern Sierra Conservation Corps (ESCC) and a first-generation, queer filipinx. They founded ESCC in 2017, starting with an initial all-women crew, and the organization has served over 100 alumni and counting. ESCC is changing the demographics of outdoor stewardship and parks employment and visitation while providing jobs for young people who want to experience working in the outdoors. 

Emily talks to Agnes about the importance of building community and capacity for outdoor spaces, plus the magic of trail building: not only does it bring together the crews who work on them, but the trails remain a lasting connection between those crew members and anyone who experiences the trail forevermore. 

Links:

Eastern Sierra Conservation CorpsESCC on Instagram


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In episode 5, host Emily Harwitz chats with Michelle Warren, the Vice President and Co-founder of Black Girls Trekkin Inc. (BGT). BGT is a Los Angeles based 501c3 nonprofit for Black women who choose to opt outside. BGT seeks to inspire and empower Black women to spend time outdoors, appreciate nature, and protect it. BGT is building a community that will show the world that Black women are a strong and present force in the outdoors. Emily and Michelle talk about BGT’s origin story, how to build and nurture community, and the importance of affinity spaces in the outdoors.

Michelle has a bachelor’s in marine biology and a master’s in biology with an emphasis on community-based conservation. She also has professional experience creating and facilitating nature-based programs for kids and adults.

Tiffany Tharpe, CEO and Co-Founder of BGT, was unable to make it for this podcast conversation, but we felt her presence nonetheless. Tiffany holds a BA in English and works as a Veterinary Assistant. She is passionate about this planet and the animals and plants that call it home, as well as building community and inspiring others to care for the planet. Her favorite outdoor activity is challenging herself to face her fears in the outdoors and trying anything at least once.

Visit Black Girls Trekkin’ website

Follow Black Girls Trekkin on Instagram

Follow I'll Go If You Go Podcast on Instagram


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Episode 4’s guest is Max Sovine (they/them). Max works at Queer LifeSpace, a San Francisco-based non-profit providing mental health services for the queer community, where they just launched the new project Outlandish! which will bring queer youth out into awesome parks and recreational areas in the Bay Area. Max has a master’s degree in Ecology, Spirituality, and Religion from the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS). Drawing from their experiences as an outdoor educator, death doula, hospice volunteer, firefighter, and EMT, they focused on ways to confront and change the Western capitalist aversion to nature and death. Max also coordinates retreats at the Buddhist Spirit Rock Meditation Center. Host Emily Harwitz chats with Max about coming into oneself outdoors, what it means to be liminal, what the new Outlandish! program is doing, and more.


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Episode 3’s guest is Kathryn Luna who builds community and partnerships at the outdoors retailer Mountain Hardwear. She’s also on the Board of Directors at GirlVentures, a non-profit that inspires girls to lead through outdoor adventure, inner discovery, and collective action. Host Emily Harwitz talks to Kathryn about her relationship to the outdoors, including: starting young, the safety of exploring in community, and passing that on to others through the work she’s doing now. They also chat about coming from mixed cultural backgrounds and what we can learn from nature’s ecotones—where two ecosystems meet to mix and blend.

Links:

GirlVentures: https://www.girlventures.org/ 

Kathryn Luna’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kllunaa

Kathryn Luna’s website: https://www.kathrynluna.com/

IGIYG’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/illgoifyougopod/





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