Sequoia National Park Annual Volunteer Trip

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Film Edited by Erns Valdez

Drawing Inspiration from the ParksJoin Scott Creley and me for our annual trip to Sequoia National Park. You will immerse yourself in art, science, and writing classes during a week long visit. The artwork that you produce may be used by National Park Service. Find out when sign ups begin in the future by joining our mailing list. When you get the email saying that applications are live, go to volunteer.gov and type in Sequoia to apply.

We watch bears, hike to see marmots and the world’s largest tree, help with park maintenance and meadow restoration, and reflect on our explorations in painting and writing. The work you produce may be used in media published by the national parks, and constitutes the bulk of your volunteerism. John Brantingham’s writing and poetry was featured the summer 2018  Visitor Guide that you get when you enter Sequoia or King’s Canyon!

 

One of the most exciting aspects of the trip is that we get to stay in the Wolverton volunteer campground, which operated as a boyscout camp from approximately 1939 until 1975. Camp Wolverton’s history goes back much farther than that though. In fact, there is a grinding mortar from the Native Americans who used the area in the campground. Beginning in 1939, Wolverton was used as a summer camp for the Civilian Conservation Corps, a New Deal program that helped pull the U.S. out of the Great Depression. From 1942-1945, during World War II, Wolverton and other CCC camps housed soldiers for summer training, rest, and recuperation. Conscientious objectors, primarily Mennonites, may have used Wolverton as a base for National Park construction and maintenance projects as well. For further reading, campwolverton.com has an exceptional history of Camp Wolverton.

Sequoia Volunteers 2019

John on SEKI Visitor Guide