Future Generation, Present Generation

“I want to do that,” Gabe Brown told his mother after reading our blog article last summer about a high school student who accompanied us on our biology day at the National Elk Refuge in Jackson, Wyoming.

Meeting Gabe

We had met Gabe and his family a few years before while working as naturalists on the viewing deck of the Jackson Hole and Greater Yellowstone Visitor Center with our collection of snakes and skulls. Gabe, who at the time had just finished sixth grade, approached Chuck to see the snakes. After an hour of questions and sharing information with Chuck, Gabe came over to the skull table to learn more about their adaptations. Sometime later, the family took our email address, extended their thanks, and left the deck.

“That kid knows a lot about reptiles and snakes in particular,” Chuck later told me. “It was like we were speaking on an equal level!”

Keeping in Contact

Gabe kept in contact with us periodically over the next few years, at one point telling us that he would like to present reptile programs similar to ours. We sent him the outline to our program and he tweaked it to suit the needs of his presentation. He then approached his former teachers and offered to present it to the younger students. For the next several years, Gabe successfully presented these programs to kindergartners through fifth graders, as well as scout groups and others.

But when we received word from him that he wanted to join us on the Refuge, at first we balked. The young man we had written about in the previous summer’s blog article was the grandson of one of our volunteers. Gabe, after all, had no connection to the Refuge System. And knowing that our Visitor Services Manager/Volunteer Coordinator, Natalie Fath, was already burdened with a heavy workload, we hesitated to approach her with another project.

However, Natalie is also a woman with foresight enough to offer the future generation the oppotunity for experience and success. “I want to continue engaging with youth, no matter what ‘work’ is involved,” she says.

Exchanging Emails

Over the winter we exchanged emails with Natalie regarding a volunteer experience for Gabe during the coming summer. When she asked us if we would be willing to mentor the young man, we emailed, “Absolutely!” But while we looked forward to this opportunity, we also wondered what we were getting into. After all, we’d only met Gabe and his family once for a short while. How would this adventure unfold?

Natalie requested Gabe’s resume which he promptly supplied. “It’s quite a resume for one so young,” she later told us. A phone interview followed, and Gabe was “hired” to volunteer for two weeks at the end of July at the National Elk Refuge.

As it turned out, we needn’t have worried, as Gabe fit in like an old pro when he joined us for interpretation on the deck of the Jackson Hole and Greater Yellowstone Visitor Center.

Coming to the Refuge

Because Gabe was not yet 16 years old, his father accompanied him to the Refuge, remaining on the sidelines while Gabe spent two weeks volunteering and interacting with Refuge staff, as well as Park Rangers, Forest Service personnel, other volunteers, and anyone we felt might add insight into future career paths. To assure that Gabe had some ownership in this undertaking, his parents required him to earn half of the cost of the trip.

“Natalie didn’t have to add this to her workload,” we told Gabe. “Remember this when you’ve made it and a younger person is seeking experience and guidance.”

But we needn’t have mentioned this, as Gabe was already grateful for this opportunity. “I’ll do anything and everything you ask,” he declared on his first day of work as he helped us carry biofacts and a cooler of snakes into the building.

Volunteering

During the two weeks that Gabe volunteered for the National Elk Refuge with us, he tirelessly greeted visitors, young and old, answered their questions and dispensed his knowledge in an engaging and understandable way. He presented a program on trumpeter swans to Refuge staff and volunteers, and he interacted with Park Rangers, Forest Service employees, and others who encouraged his passions. He also spent a day feeding fish, cleaning raceways, and otherwise helping out at the Jackson National Fish Hatchery. At the Hatchery, Gabe worked with biologist Mike Conlin during the day and received a tour of the facility from Manager Liz Sunshine. The whole staff was very supportive in showing Gabe another aspect of wildlife management. “I used a few muscles I’ve never used before!” he told us the next day.

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And he accompanied us twice on our biology rounds on the National Elk Refuge, climbing a butte to record swan activity, thrashing through chin-high grasses and stumbling over hidden logs to monitor swan numbers in a riparian area, chasing down water levels in Flat Creek, and tracking wolves in several locations.

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“We’ll see swans and pronghorn and maybe a coyote or two,” we told Gabe before we embarked on biology day, “but we probably won’t see wolves and very likely won’t see any moose.”

In reality, Gabe assisted in locating all swan pairs with cygnets, counted pronghorn along our route, and spotted one coyote trotting along Miller Butte. But, to our surprise, we also encountered two wolves along our route, one at a great distance, another sighting closer to our location. And when we left the truck to walk a distance to remote ponds, we came across not one, but four large bull moose directly in our path. We waited for them to amble away. “This is so awesome!” Gabe exclaimed.

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Future Generation

During his two weeks, Gabe worked hard and learned much. He was punctual and reliable, knowledgeable and enthusiastic. He impressed us with his unending willingness to perform any task, to meet with others who might guide him in his quest for a suitable career in wildlife, and to maintain a positive and cheerful attitude regardless of fatigue. He, along with others like him, is our future and should be encouraged and supported.

Present Generation

But while we anticipate this future generation with gusto, we cherish our present generation, represented by Natalie Fath and others we have worked with over the years.  She, along with the others like her, should be treasured and respected for their efforts today working to ensure the future of wildlife and its habitat, as well as inspiring youth who will one day shoulder these responsibilities.