Establishing Roots as a Public Lands Advocate

I am absolutely honored and inspired by the fellow ambassadors of Runners for Public Lands. I was at first shocked to be in their presence; how did a silly gal like me end up in such wonderful company? I’m lucky to be in the presence of ambassadors like Griselda Garcia, whose kindness and thoughtfulness is apparent in her leadership with Santa Mujeres Run Club. Or Rich Hidalgo, whose joy and purpose is so infectious that it makes me feel like RPL can do anything. Meeting other ambassadors and learning about their stories has also caused me to reflect upon my own life and history in a new way: from the lens of a love for public lands.

I grew up in Fillmore, California, in the shadow of the Los Padres National Forest, and spent countless weekends as a kid playing in Sespe Creek behind my house, or watching it from my bedroom window with awe when it swelled after heavy rains. After the annual floods subsided, me and the neighborhood kids would jump in the remaining springtime swimming holes about a half a mile away and joke about riding pool toys down the gentle trickle into the sea. 

I would ask outdoorsy neighbors if it’s possible to climb to the top of San Cayetano mountain, and they would regale me with compelling stories that I could hardly believe. In my late teens, random, quiet nights would lead us up to Dough Flat, where we would camp, count the stars, fall in love, fall out of love, and wonder if we would live in Fillmore much longer. On some mornings, we would hike up the hills just outside of town and survey the many peaks in the distance. In my 20s, after leaving that small town, I fell in love with trail running. When I would visit Fillmore, I would venture up those roads above the Sespe and think: wow, I can run these now, where I used to drive them (and also, wow, these are steep).

Looking back at my youth and my experiences running throughout California, I see clearly what we have to protect, for both us now, and the children of the future who will someday find themselves looking out their windows at the mountains, imagining if they can climb them.

What it means to be a RPL Ambassador

As I’ve grown, I’ve connected more and more with like-minded lovers of our accessible spaces, who awaken to the reality that those spaces may not be around for us forever. You may have your own stories of discovering the lands around you. Perhaps they were lands you called home, or lands you visited, or came to know. Can you think of one now?

This line of thought is what deepened my connection to ambassadorship. So what does it mean to be a Runners for Public Lands ambassador? Like brand ambassadors, we share a baseline enthusiasm for trail running and a strong awareness of how it changes lives for the better. We also tell our friends, family, and running community members news related to public lands concerns and successes. At the core, we aim to foster RPL’s mission statement on a grassroots level: helping other runners recognize the importance of protecting and restoring the public lands we all enjoy and celebrate trail running at every turn. 

RPL ambassadors can help connect communities, both on a local, regional, and national level, through leading trail work outings, organizing runs, attending and planning larger running events, and meeting with lawmakers. No matter the effort, an ambassador is crucial to ensuring members of trail communities are aware of dangers to our public lands, as well as opportunities to protect them. It’s important to create opportunities for trail users to feel empowered to come up with an idea or take action.

The good company of RPL ambassadors has retold my own story, making me the better human I wanted to be, and allowing me to put energy into greater things. As I look around at the incredible ambassadors in our monthly meetings, I realize the importance of putting faces to the cause. I see how the choices we make and actions we take as people can help us be better stewards, and humans, overall.