Adirondack leaders blaze trails for new generations

Meet 4 people working to diversify the outdoors experience

By David Escobar

Only 10% of residents and visitors in the Adirondacks are people of color, despite comprising around 40% of the state’s population. This disparity reflects a broader, national story of exclusion, where people of color have historically been left out of the narrative of “the great outdoors.”

As racial minorities grow into the majority of New York’s population, some outdoor advocates say the preservation of the Adirondacks is contingent on engaging a new, more racially diverse group of people to become the next generation of park stewards. Meet some of the individuals working to expand the park’s relevance beyond its borders, forging connections with diverse communities to reshape the region’s workforce and visitor demographics.

From backyard to the backcountry

Raised in a Chilean-American family in Flint, Michigan, Vanessa Rojas discovered her love for the outdoors after receiving a small tent from her grandparents. She set it up in the backyard and never wanted to come back inside.

Rojas nurtured her passion, car camping with her family and taking primitive trips in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Her love for nature led to a career in wildlife science, from studying bats in the Smoky Mountains to earning a Ph.D. in ecology.

Seeking a teaching role in rugged mountains, she joined SUNY ESF’s Ranger School in 2018 faculty as a wildlife conservation and GIS mapping instructor.

Rojas said the close-knit community has been a source of support as she adjusts to life at the Wanakena campus, which houses around 50 students. But among the forestry school’s student body and faculty, both past and present, Rojas stands out.

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“It’s mostly been white men that have taught here,” said Rojas, who is Latina. “There were probably some people that thought I wouldn’t fit in.”

Over 80% of people working in environmental fields are white, a reality Rojas has encountered throughout her career. Beyond teaching, she hopes her presence at the Ranger School inspires students of color to see themselves in rural, predominantly white places like the Adirondacks.

“I hope that me being here can help convince students to want to come here and feel comfortable being in this remote place where there’s a lack of diversity,” she said. “That it’s not just for their one year of school, but it was such a great experience that they want to come live here.”

Bridging the ‘nature gap’

Clifton Harcum, director of Multicultural Affairs at SUNY Geneseo, did not always see himself as an outdoorsman.

Growing up in Baltimore, Harcum’s perception of “nature” extended no further than a neighborhood playground or urban park. That changed a decade ago during an alternative spring break trip with his students at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore. In a remote wilderness cabin, far from city noise, Harcum and his students had deep, unfiltered conversations.

That experience sparked a love for the outdoors that led him to Saranac Lake, where he became captivated by the Adirondacks. But as he hiked the region’s trails, he felt like an outsider—stared at, sometimes questioned, by fellow hikers who didn’t look like him. Harcum said his experience reflects part of a broader apprehension people of color face when they venture from the city to the backcountry.

“You’re not just dealing with the fear of nature,” he said. “You’re dealing with the fear of prejudices and bigotry.”

So Harcum began organizing Adirondack excursions for multicultural groups of college students, first in his role at SUNY Potsdam and now at SUNY Geneseo. 

He said many students do not know where to go to recreate while others lack the financial resources for transportation or proper gear.

Harcum said removing these barriers gives students, regardless of their background, the opportunity to reach outside of their comfort zone while gaining outdoor skills and confidence.

“That’s one of the real purposes, too—to get people to see that they can do this,” he said. “They can be comfortable despite their fears and despite what people may say.”

Embracing experiences, in a new climate

For Ambie Tepace Garcenila, maintenance manager for the Adirondack Mountain Club, outdoor adventure has always been a way of life.

Growing up in Laoang, a small island in the Philippines, Garcenila spent his childhood spelunking in caves and hunting small game with a slingshot. In 2014 he met his future wife, who served as a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer in Garcenila’s hometown. The couple settled in the Adirondacks in 2019.

He has taken up hiking, skiing, and even ice climbing—activities he once considered unimaginable. While the majority of the people he sees recreating are white, Garcenila said he has encountered a recurring theme of Adirondack congeniality while immersing himself in outdoor activities across the park.

“If you have the same interest and passion, you’re just one—you’re not others.”

That mindset has shaped Garcenila’s sense of belonging in his new home. Since moving to Lake Placid, he has taken on the role of an unofficial guide for Filipino communities from New York, New Jersey and Canada. Through social media, he has connected with fellow Filipinos interested in exploring the Adirondacks and has led multiple group hikes in the High Peaks Wilderness.

In the fall of 2022, he led a group from his hometown in the Philippines on a hike of Mt. Van Hoevenberg.

Adjusting to Adirondack life has been a journey of personal discovery for Garcenila, who now hunts deer and climbs the region’s mountains. Trading his homeland’s tropical climate for the North Country’s winters was an adjustment, but Garcenila embraced the challenge.

“Personally, I can just adapt anywhere you put me,” he said.

Harnessing nature’s transforming power

Lucienne Nicholson grew up in the bustling capital of Haiti, but her fondest childhood memories were in the countryside, visiting her grandmother’s farm. She would walk barefoot through orchards of coffee and cacao plants, immersed in the landscape.

When her family immigrated to Brooklyn in the 1970s, one of the most jarring parts of assimilation was the absence of outdoor spaces in her new urban community.

When Nicholson first suggested a national park trip, she was discouraged by community leaders. They warned that the woods could be dangerous for Black Americans, who carry the weight of generational trauma from lynching and other acts of racial violence.

As a recent immigrant, Nicholson had never considered that perspective on the outdoors. It clashed with her vision of the American dream—one of freedom and exploration.

Now settled in the Rochester area, Nicholson has worked to help people in Black and Brown communities engage with the outdoors. Many people in Rochester’s communities of color remain unfamiliar with the Adirondack region. That disconnect, she believes, is critical to address.

“You cannot protect what you don’t love. You can’t love what you can’t see or feel,” she said.

From the forests of Newcomb to the shores of Westport, Nicholson led first-time visitors on trips to the Adirondacks through her nonprofit, Inclusive Woods and Us, until it dissolved after five years due to lack of funding. She has since collaborated with the Adirondack Diversity Initiative’s Cultivating Community Leadership program, which introduces leaders of color from across New York to the solitude of the Adirondacks. She also contributes to diversity efforts at the Open Space Institute.

As Adirondack leaders seek ways to engage new visitors, Nicholson urges them to listen to and support leaders like herself—people who already have deep relationships within these communities. When trusted individuals guide people into unfamiliar spaces, she said, the results can be transformative.

“No matter the apprehension, the suspicion, the reticence, they always leave the trail saying, ‘I want to do that again.’” 

David Escobar is a Report For America Corps Member. He reports on diversity issues in the Adirondacks through a partnership between North Country Public Radio and Adirondack Explorer.