Kern Audubon Society-Tehachapi meeting, Aug. 27

Rodnney L. Brock.

Please join us on Tuesday, Aug. 27, from 7 to 9 p.m., for our next quarterly meeting. Our speaker will be Erin Gates, with Miranda Hernandez assisting, from the César E. Chávez National Monument. We meet at the Golden Hills Elementary school cafeteria, 20215 Park Rd. Raffle and refreshments are an added bonus.

About Erin Gates

Gates serves as the superintendent of César E. Chávez National Monument in Keene, California. In her most recent role at Redwood National and State Parks, where she served as deputy superintendent, she brought about key park initiatives and partnerships that deepened relationships with Tribal partners, connected new communities to parks and built a culture of understanding and action around principles of justice, equity, diversity, accessibility and inclusion.

Gates, a Los Angeles native, says she is keenly aware of the obstacles that many people face when accessing parks. She has spent her entire career identifying and working to overcome barriers to access, so parks can be the welcoming spaces that they should be to all people. She continues to foster and build opportunities for connection in her volunteer work and is currently serving a second term as a board member for the National Association for Interpretation.

Gates comes to the National Park Service (NPS) after serving in several leadership roles with California State Parks. She brings innovation and energy to managing campgrounds, providing public education programming, connecting visitors and students to parks via digital education tools and leading statewide efforts to establish relationships with multiple County Offices of Education with the goal of increasing K-12 access to their parks throughout California.

Gates graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in natural resources planning and interpretation from California State Polytechnic University in Humboldt, California.

About Miranda Hernandez

Miranda Hernandez has been a Park Ranger with the National Park Service for eight years across the country. She has had the honor of serving at César E. Chávez National Monument in Keene, California for the past 4 years. Her focus is on Education for schools and the public. Some of her favorite hobbies include hiking and gardening. She is excited to learn and help teach others about the world of birding!