The following highlights were submitted by the Old Spanish Trail Association for events that occurred on the Old Spanish National Historic Trail during the 2021 calendar year:
Strengthening Organizations and Partnerships
Old Spanish NHT Intern Ramona Malczynski listening to history of the Pueblo of Abiquiú, presented by Virgil Trujillo. NPS photo.
During summer 2021, the National Park Service, National Trails office (NTIR) hosted an intern named Ramona Malczynski under the Latino Heritage Internship Program (LHIP). This program is designed to provide internship opportunities to young Latinx in diverse professional fields. NTIR’s project involved outreach to certified partners along the Old Spanish NHT (OLSP). Malczynski worked with the Old Spanish Trail Association (OSTA), co-trail administrator the Bureau of Land Management, and certified partners to identify needs for technical assistance from NTIR, update site information on NTIR websites and for the new NPS app, and to identify new potential certified partners.
Malczynski met with OSTA’s manager and visited potential certified partners. At the Pueblo of Abiquiú, she learned about the community’s strong social and cultural ties to their Genízaro heritage and identity, and at Los Luceros Historic Site, she explored the structures and cultivated fields that have been home to generations of people for over six hundred years.
The internship set up NTIR staff for success by revitalizing partnerships across OLSP and by identifying opportunities for additional ways in which we can all work together to promote the national historic trails.
