Written by Lauren Berroa
It was probably around April or May in 2023, months before starting my freshman year at SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry that I found out who my two roommates would be. Maggie Menigoz and Kathy Aguilera. Maggie is from Pacifica, California, I’m from Denver, Colorado, and Kathy is from Michoacan, Mexico; she now lives in Sodus, New York. Our room was a home, a safe space, a collection of memories, a map of our lives and a feeling of familiarity, but most importantly, we all shared one common thing.
Growing up in the outdoors looked differently for all of us, but having a connection to nature was a feeling and passion we all held.
I hold the truth, that growing up with abundant access to nature has shaped who I am as a person, but I recognize that not everyone has those same opportunities. According to the Wilderness Society, communities of color are 3 times more likely to live in nature-deprived places than white communities & 70% of low-income communities live in nature-deprived areas. This is only one example of hindered access to the outdoors. National and State parks now require day passes, transportation costs, and any necessary gear, are all costs that eventually add up, and lead to barriers in access to natural spaces. In addition, one’s own life experience in the outdoors heavily impacts how they recreate outdoors as an adult.
“It was never recreation for us, it was always about surviving outside,” Aguilera said when asked about the difference between recreation in the United States versus in Mexico, “The way you live in Mexico, you have no choice but to farm, so we had cows, we had horses, we had sheep. We also had plains of corn that my dad was in charge of, and the way that you earn your earnings is by selling your corn. So it was our livelihood to be a part of nature.”
Kathy Aguilera holding a photo of her father, the picture was taken in the early 2000's while he was in Colorado working at a lumber yard. Kathy attributes her love and appreciation for the outdoors to her father, "He never told us, 'oh you have to save the earth', but the way he taught us how to live, I was like wow, maybe I do need to live outside," Aguilera said. Photo by Lauren Berroa
Aguileria explains how after moving to New York, she noticed the difference between how land in the United States was portrayed in comparison to how land in Mexico is. “There [Mexico] we would just exist outside because it was all we knew, and here [New York] you have to make such a big effort to get outside, that it [becomes] so inconvenient and annoying to people,” Aguilera said.
Aguilera describes how owning land in Mexico was a part of culture and reciprocity instead of ownership and power, “You can’t own a piece of land, you should just feel responsible for taking care of it”.
The commercialization of nature has created an entire industry, whether that be through hiking and backpacking, skiing and snowboarding, fishing, boating, hunting etcetera. Another substantial influence that changed outdoor recreation was Covid-19. Since Covid, there has been a large and noticeable increase in the amount of people recreating outdoors. Although this has positive implications (such as the obvious, more people are getting outdoors), there are also negative consequences. There has been an increase in waste, lacking knowledge about Leave No Trace, an increase of people who are going outdoors uneducated about conditions that may arise, and an overall disregard for the surrounding environment.
Wilderness guide, skier, avid backpacker & hiker Alex Slovack explains how he’s seen Covid impact the Adirondacks, “Trailheads are more and more congested, mountains are more and more crowded for skiing, the water has more and more boats on it but I think that it's ultimately a good thing to get more people outside,” Slovak said.
Alex Slovack (in front) leading a friend and I through the Siamese Ponds Wilderness area during a SUNY ESF Bob Marshall Club backpacking trip in the fall of 2023. When asked about the increase of people recreating outdoors he responded with both pros and cons, "“I also think that Covid, while it increased the number of people going outside, which I think is a net-positive, I think it increased the number of people who don't fully understand the sensitivity of the resources," Slovack said, and referenced the High Peaks alpine tundra biome as an example of a very delicate ecosystem, which is extremely sensitive to human compression. If someone steps on the plants there, they'll die. Photo by Lauren Berroa
The Bureau of Economic Analysis recently reported statistics for 2023 on the Outdoor Recreation Satellite account which showed an immense growth in outdoor activities such as biking, snow activities, climbing, hiking and camping. Although this surge only accounted for 2.9% of the United States economic growth in comparison to the 10.2% of growth in the 2022 year (due to the pandemic), there is still a noticeable increase in outdoor recreation, “It [Covid-19] has led to a big increase in price in the outdoor gear industry, where shortages from Covid spike prices where stuff that I could have afforded before Covid is now 20-30% more expensive because of the increase in demand,” Slovak said.
The monetary costs create a barrier for low-income and marginalized folks. This being said there are still ways in which business and companies are trying to lessen those financial obstacles. An example of this begins at Camp Fowler, a summer camp located in Speculator, NY, where Alex Slovack has volunteered and worked at for the past six years.
The monetary costs create a barrier for low-income and marginalized folks. This being said there are still ways in which business and companies are trying to lessen those financial obstacles. An example of this begins at Camp Fowler, a summer camp located in Speculator, NY, where Alex Slovack has volunteered and worked at for the past six years.
The camp, which is associated with the Reformed Church of America, receives funding to help sponsor students who might be unable to attend otherwise.
“They do a lot of work for scholarship opportunities for people,” Slovak said, “The organization is structured as a nonprofit, where a good portion of the money that would be considered profit, gets put into a scholarship fund for the next year. So we’ve had a group come up from New York City, from the lower East Side Girls Club from Hudson… they would get to come up and have a week's worth of experience, despite the fact that they can't necessarily afford it.”
Camp Fowler is just one of many places that is creating initiatives to increase access for marginalized groups. All Rise Outdoors is based out of the Long Beach Rising climbing gym in Long Beach, California. Their mission is to give marginalized youth a new outlook on the world and themselves through climbing and other outdoor activities. Their goals include building a kid-friendly wall to accommodate children and teenagers from nearby schools, and creating a grant that will allow a select group of kids free access to the gym as well as the Long Beach YMCA’s boys and girls club.
Another foundation based in Burlington, Vermont is working to inspire young people through board sports (snowboarding, skateboarding, surfing, stand up paddle boarding) and building a more equitable outdoor community. The Chill Foundation, founded in 1995 by Jake and Donna Carpenter (also the founders of Burton Snowboards) has served more than 30,000 young people since its founding. The Chill foundation partners with social service & mental health agencies, foster care programs, juvenile justice initiatives and schools in local communities to engage youth participants.
Organizations like those aforementioned are ones that are creating lasting impacts and breaking any barriers that may have existed in the past. Companies like Patagonia, the North Face and Arc’teryx have created a nonprofit called Opening Up the Outdoors in hopes to ensure that anyone regardless of race, gender, ethnicity, sexuality or physical ability is welcomed and included when they step outside. Initiatives like these, sponsored by large outdoor companies that are the “Face” of outdoor recreation are creating a new spotlight for those previously underrepresented.
Going to college displayed the vast array of people's own experiences in the outdoors, but, for many of us, the outdoors had been a safe space and escape. Ensuring that access to the outdoors is equitable is a problem that is still being solved, but the progress made so far is heading in the right direction.
“We had a boy who was from the Rochester area, he came on scholarship which was found out to us in hindsight because he had told us he had come on scholarship,” Slovak said, “he came with basically nothing on the packing list and ended up wearing mostly my clothes all week… he had a much different perspective on the experience than the other participants on the trip did… If you’ve never backpacked for a week at a time, putting on a 30 pound backpack is hard, but this kid never batted an eye at it being hard, never complained about it being hard, never complained about the food or the portioning. He was nothing but grateful and wide eyed at the experience.”