Earth Systems Science, Inc.

Manzanar Volunteers Help Prepare for Grand Opening

May 03, 2004

In just two days (12-13 April), 19 volunteers donated more than 250 hours of time as Volunteers in the Park to help prepare Manzanar National Historic Site (Manz NHS) for the 35th Annual Pilgrimage and Grand Opening of the new Interpretive Center and park headquarters. Volunteers were formed into teams and did weeding around the Interpretive Center (the former Manzanar Gym and Auditorium) and parking area, cleaned garden ponds on the Hospital Block, and Blocks 12 and 34, installed privacy slats in the pump house fence, cleared broken asphalt along a ?¼ mile stretch of road, and moved artifacts and materials to a storage facility.

The volunteers (Jaime and Kate Aquilera, Frank Berumen, Rolando Blanco, Synara Chit, Rebecca Gavidia, Gary Hitchman, Michelle Jonke, Ayaka Kitagawa, Gregory and Saifon Lee, Ann Loc, Robert Lopez, Morio Miyazaki, Miho Nakashima, Thieu Nguyen, Angelina Pineda, Jose Rios, and Peter Xie) provided their own camping equipment, food and transportation to the site. Manzanar staff provided some of the camping equipment, and coordinated camp sites at Diaz Lake with Inyo County Parks and Recreation. In exchange for their efforts, the group was given a ?“sneak preview?” of the 20-minute introductory video to the park. For many, this was their first trip to Manzanar.

With the current budget, volunteers are a very important aspect of keeping our National Parks viable. Volunteers serve in many ways from community service projects like this to staffing the bookstore / gift shop, being docents leading tours, staffing information counters, and many other jobs.

The project was led by Earth Systems Science, Inc. (ESSI) as a Partners in Stewardship effort to implement the National Parks Conservation Association?’s Cultural Diversity Program. ESSI organized the effort in conjunction with other Los Angeles Community Partner member groups Expo Neighbors Environmental Group, and Sports Spectacular USA, and the staff at Manzanar NHS in a continuing effort to maintain links with the park.

Last year, ESSI and Expo got an $18,000 Public Land Corps (PLC) grant to conduct a youth job skills preparation at Manzanar. The students (aged 16-24) were paid and trained to use Trimble GPS units to conducted surveys of historic trees and roads in the park. The data were used to help prepare the Cultural Landscape report for the park. This year, Sports Spectacular and Compton Community College join ESSI and Expo to conduct a GPS / GIS training program and have applied for another PLC grant at Manzanar. (Watch this newsletter for updates on this proposal.)