Please visit our Webinar Archive page to view recordings of past webinars hosted by PNTS.
Mark your calendar
Join us for our webinar series aimed at providing relevant information and best practices as they pertain to the work of non-profit and Federal agency partners in sustaining the National Trails System (NTS).
No upcoming webinars have been scheduled at this time.
August 2024
Climate Cardinals: Empowering Youth through Intergenerational Partnerships
August 13, 2024 1:00–2:00 PM ET
Overview: Join PNTS on Tuesday, August 13 to learn about how Climate Cardinals has elevated language accessibility and climate education, built intergenerational partnerships and empowered youth to be climate leaders in their own communities.
During this webinar, staff and volunteers with Climate Cardinals will share about:
- How Climate Cardinals started with a small group of high school students identifying a gap in climate accessibility and education, and have grown to over 16,000 volunteers and translated climate information into over 105 languages
- How Climate Cardinals empowers young people to educate and mobilize communities for climate action
- How their youth platform can serve as a model and empower diverse decision makers
- How to engage in intergenerational partnerships and what equitable partnerships with youth look like
Learn more about Climate Cardinals here.
Speakers:
- Hikaru Hayakawa, Vice President and a founding director, Climate Cardinals
- Jennifer Evans, Chief Operating Officer, Climate Cardinals
- Anabal Roza, North America Regional President and Member of Fundraising Taskforce, Climate Cardinals
Hikaru Hayakawa
Vice President and a founding director, Climate Cardinals
Hikaru Wakeel Hayakawa is a twenty-two year-old Caribbean and Japanese American climate justice activist, Indigenous Studies researcher, and social entrepreneur.
Hayakawa is the Vice President and a founding director of Climate Cardinals, the world’s largest youth-led climate advocacy organization with 16,000 volunteers in 82 countries and 100 chapters in 33 countries. Hayakawa established Climate Cardinals’ signature translation program in partnership with Translators Without Borders and Google Cloud. As a full-time student, he expanded Climate Cardinals’ translation capacity to a million words per year, handled translation requests for over two million words of climate information, and fundraised for a six-figure budget, with Climate Cardinals becoming one of the first-ever youth-led organizations to be funded by Google’s philanthropic branch.
Hayakawa also represents Climate Cardinals as part of UNESCO’s Youth Climate Action Network Steering Committee, a network of networks that represents over 10 million youth climate activists. Hayakawa has spoken about his work for the Smithsonian, the UN Development Programme, the Italian Ministry of the Environment, the March On Foundation, Williams College, and the U.S. Interagency Group on Climate Literacy. His work has also been featured in Axios, the Guardian, Forbes, and Teen Vogue.
Jennifer Evans
Chief Operating Officer, Climate Cardinals
Jennifer serves as the Climate Cardinals’ first ever Chief Operating Officer, combining her passions of climate action, language access, youth leadership, and international affairs. Jennifer received a B.A in Environmental Studies and Sociology from St. Lawrence University with minors in Spanish and Caribbean Latin American Studies. In 2022, she graduated in the inaugural class of Columbia University’s Climate School, receiving a Master of Arts in Climate and Society. During her graduate studies she helped to develop and lead the “Climate Justice in New York City” workshop, which focused on the impacts of climate change on extremely at-risk communities in New York City.
Jennifer’s most recent roles include Research Assistant with the Center for Climate Systems Research at Columbia University and NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies as well as Climate Equity Fellow with the USDA Northeast Climate Hub. As a fellow, Jennifer led the development of GradCAMP, a cohort of graduate students passionate about incorporating justice and equity into their climate research and created a Climate Equity Toolkit. Her career has focused on researching the impacts of climate change on vulnerable communities, adaptation solutions, resilience-building, as well as climate justice and equity.
Outside of her passion for climate action, Jennifer can be found skiing, coaching alpine racing with the Jackson Hole Ski Club, hiking, and biking in the Tetons in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
Anabal Roza
North America Regional President and Member of Fundraising Taskforce, Climate Cardinals
Anabel Roza is one of many dedicated volunteers working for Climate Cardinals: the world’s largest youth-led climate advocacy organization. Anabel works with the Climate Cardinals fundraising strategy taskforce to find grants and opportunities for growth to support the organization, and she will soon be taking over as the Regional President of North America for the Chapters Program. She received her B.S in Business Economics with a minor in Environmental Studies from University of Wisconsin, with her studies focusing on the intersection of sustainability business practices and renewable energy markets. Anabel joined the Navy as an Officer upon graduating from college, and spent time living and working in San Diego, CA and Yokosuka, Japan. She currently works in the Naval Engineering and Environmental Department in Everett, Washington. She is transitioning out of the Navy this fall, and hoping to continue to use her leadership and communication skills, and passion for sustainability and the environment in her efforts towards policy change, climate advocacy, and in her future career.
Anabel spends her free time exploring the Salish Sea and the Cascade Mountains in Washington state, running, and playing with her dog, Grizzly.
Climate Cardinals is an international youth-led nonprofit working to make the climate movement more accessible to those who don’t speak English. They aim to educate and empower a diverse coalition of people to tackle the climate crisis. They have over 14,000 volunteers who are translating and sourcing climate information into over 100 different languages with partners like the United Nations. This international movement has reached millions of people across 40+ countries. They have leveraged the power of Artificial Intelligence to translate over two million words of climate information to date in partnership with Google.
April 2024
Southeast Conservation Blueprint for Ecosystem Resilience
April 23, 2024 3:00–4:00 PM ET
Overview: Hear from Hilary Morris with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service about the Southeast Conservation Adaptation Strategy (SECAS) partnership, a regional conservation initiative working to design and achieve a connected network of lands and waters across the Southeast and Caribbean. Hilary will provide an overview of the Southeast Conservation Blueprint, a living, spatial plan that identifies priority areas for shared conservation action across the region. The Blueprint is based on a suite of terrestrial, freshwater, and marine indicators, as well as a connectivity analysis. You will also see examples of how the Blueprint is being used to strengthen grant proposals and inform decisions by more than 350 people from over 140 organizations. So far, the Blueprint has helped bring in more than $100 million in conservation funding to protect and restore over 200,000 acres.
Speaker: Hilary Morris
Young Adult Engagement at Historic Sites
April 9, 2024 3:00–4:00 PM ET
Overview: Learn about how you can help young adults connect with historic sites. Katie Rispoli Keaotamai, the Executive Director of the We Are The Next, will share techniques that you can use to engage youth before, during, and after visits to sites to help them build a connection and feel valued, while also providing feedback to sites that will help them improve their programming and interpretation. She will also present the Youth Heritage Summit Program as an example of engaging youth at historic sites, and lead a discussion on how to connect historic places to environmental stewardship to help young people connect with historic sites.
Speaker: Katie Rispoli Keaotamai
March 2024
Agents of Discovery: Increase Visitor Engagement on your Trail using 3D Learning Platforms
March 19, 2024 1:00–2:00 PM ET
Overview: Join PNTS to learn how you can increase awareness and visitor engagement on your trail, public lands, sites, preserve, museum or nature center with Agents of Discovery‘s 3D learning platform that uses augmented reality to engage players with their environment.
Speakers:
Anna Scheck, Sales Team Lead, Agents of Discovery
My name is Anna and I am the Partnerships Team Lead for Agents of Discovery. I have been on the team for 2 years and have been involved in bringing on many notable partners. I hold a BSc in General Science from the University of British Columbia. Originally from California, I enjoy hiking and skiing. I love to see Agents of Discovery partners turn screen time into green time, getting people of all ages out exploring parks, trails, and more. It’s great to see the different ways that the Agents of Discovery platform is used in natural areas, open spaces, trails, and more!
Alice Sambatti, Partnerships Specialist, Agents of Discovery
My name is Alice and I hold a BA in Economics from the University of British Columbia. I first started at Agents of Discovery in 2021 as a sales intern, and am now one of the senior partnerships team members. During my time here, I have brought in a diverse portfolio of clients, ranging from small organizations all the way to state agencies, all of whom use Agents in a myriad of ways due to the platform’s versatility and customizability. It’s great to see your customers not only join the network but have them continue as clients for many years. That definitely brings a smile to my face!
The Role of Mega Trails in Nature Conservation
March 6, 2024 3:00–4:00 PM ET
Overview: Join PNTS to learn about Ernesto Viveiros de Castro’s PhD research that evaluates the contribution of mega trails to nature conservation. The research tests three arguments frequently used in favor of trails:
1) trails generate a sense of place, connection to nature and pro-environmental behavior in users;
2) Trails generate opportunities, benefits and wealth in gateway communities; and,
3) trails can serve as ecological corridors.
Based on extensive surveys and more than 600 interviews along the Appalachian, Pacific Crest, and Continental Divide trails, the study combines different approaches and also discusses the special scale of these potential benefits of mega trails. There will be time for Q&A.
You can read the full report here: A Path to Nature Conservation: The Role of Mega Trails in Connecting Hikers, Communities, and Landscapes
Speaker:
Ernesto Viveiros de Castro
Ernesto Viveiros de Castro is a biologist and national park manager from Brazil. He got his PhD in Interdisciplinary Ecology at University of Florida in 2023 studying the US national scenic trails. He has been working in the Brazilian federal agency for protected areas (ICMBio) for 21 years and presently he is the superintendent of Serra dos Órgãos National Park, the third oldest NP in Brazil. Ernesto is also a member of the World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA-IUCN), the IUCN Tourism Specialists Group (TAPAS-IUCN), and the World Trails Network Trails & Conservation Task Team.
December 2023
Trail Operations Forum presentation: Communication Tools for Remote Crews & Emergency Response
December 12, 2023 3:00–4:30 PM Eastern
Overview: Join us on Tuesday, December 12th at 3:00 PM ET for a virtual discussion with both trail nonprofit and agency professionals about communication tools for remote trail crews and emergency response. The purpose is for attendees to learn about what is being done in other places, discuss challenges, and explore solutions together. This is a free event.
*This discussion is part of the PNTS Trail Operations Forum. Please visit the PNTS website to learn more about our forums and working groups.
September 2023
Native Lands National Trails Project
September 20, 2023 2:00–3:30 PM ET
Overview: Join Partnership for the National Trails System on September 20 at 2:00 PM ET for a co-hosted webinar with the Indigenous Mapping Collective. Webinar partners include Native-Land Digital, Mapbox, and Esri. You will learn how to integrate NLNT Data Into Your Own Maps.
Native Lands, National Trails is an Indigenous mapping and research project of the Partnership for the National Trails System. This project provides a suite of resources designed to advance the National Trails System’s knowledge of Indigenous ancestral Lands through partnership and collaboration with Indigenous communities along National Scenic and Historic Trails across the United States.
Learning Objectives
- Learn about what the Native Lands, National Trails project is, how
and why it was created, and how to utilize the map and resources. - Gain an understanding of how to use the Native Lands,
National Trails data within your own maps. - Gain an understanding of how Esri and Mapbox hosted tilesets
were used in the creation of the map.
Speakers:
- Kiana Etsate-Gashytewa, Individual Placements Coordinator, Ancestral Lands Conservation Corps
- Racquel Banaszak, Digital Communications & Content Creator, Native Land Digital
-
Ariana Kim, Nonprofits Account Executive, Esri
- Marena Brinkhurst Smith, Customer Marketing & Social Impact, Mapbox
Kiana Etsate-Gashytewa
Individual Placements Coordinator, Ancestral Lands Conservation Corps
Kiana Etsate-Gashytewa (she/her) is from the Pueblo of Zuni and Hopi tribes. Her clans are Mula bitchi:kwe (Parrot) and child of Dona:kwe (Turkey).
Kiana was raised by her grandparents and family in Zuni. She draws and holds a profound value to the traditional Zuni cultural values and ecological knowledge of the land. Etsate-Gashytewa holds two Bachelor of Science degrees from Northern Arizona University in Applied Indigenous Studies and Political Science. Kiana’s previous experience varies working with youth of diverse backgrounds with the Zuni Youth Enrichment Project, NAU’s Office of Inclusion Multicultural LGBTQIA Student Services and NAU’s Upward Bound Math/Science.
Kiana is also an AmeriCorp alumna serving two terms in 2022 with ALCC’s Individual placement program. She served as the project coordinator on the Native Lands, National Trails project under the Partnership for the National Trails System. This project sought to bring awareness and to inspire meaningful engagement between Indigenous communities and various national trail organizations.
Etsate-Gashytewa now joins the ALCC Individual Placements team as a coordinator, where she is eager to provide support. Catch Kiana lifting heavy weights, cooking a good meal or spending time outside with the rez pups–Emmett Sweetie and Marlo.
Racquel Banaszak
Digital Communications & Content Creator, Native Land Digital
Racquel Banaszak is an Anishinaabekwe from the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe and the Bois Forte Band of Ojibwe. She is the Digital Communications & Content Creator for Native Land Digital, a global Indigenous mapping organization. She is a visual artist and public historian based in Bde Ota Othunwe/Gaakaabikaang (Minneapolis, MN). She is passionate about the ways in which Indigenous people are holding on to and reclaiming their territories, rights, and lifeways.
She is currently pursuing her Masters degree in Heritage Studies & Public History from the University of Minnesota. She earned her graduate certificate in Native American Studies from Montana State University (2018) and a Bachelor of Science in Visualization from the Minneapolis College of Art & Design (2012). She also studied Indigenous Visual Culture at the Ontario College of Art & Design University in Toronto, Canada.
Ariana Kim
Nonprofits Account Executive, Esri
Ari Kim (she/her) is an account executive with Esri’s Nonprofit Program where she brainstorms and develops geospatial solutions with a plethora of nonprofit organizations. She is an advocate for using GIS to create equitable and inclusive environments. Outside of work, Ari helps lead a birding group in the Twin Cities called the Urban Bird Collective, whose mission is to create safe and inclusive outdoor spaces for BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ individuals. She also enjoys playing volleyball, climbing, flag football, and going on adventures with her wife and dog
Marena Brinkhurst Smith
Customer Marketing & Social Impact, Mapbox
Marena leads Social Impact and Customer Marketing at Mapbox, where she champions Mapbox customers and the stories of what they build. Everyday, Marena explores how digital mapping and navigation technologies can support positive impact for businesses, organizations, and communities. Marena grew up in Nova Scotia and studied environmental sciences and land management before working with Indigenous communities on land use planning and land protection initiatives in Canada, Africa, and Asia. She joined Mapbox to further her exploration of geospatial tools and to support more organizations to use maps for positive impact. Marena is based in Kailua-Kona, Hawai’i.
July 2023
Upcoming Grant Opportunities with National Park Trust
July 12, 2023 3:00–4:00 PM ET
Overview: Join us to learn about upcoming grant opportunities that may benefit your trail organization. During this webinar, Ivan Levin, the Director of Strategic Partnerships & Communications with the National Park Trust, will give an overview of the relevant funding opportunities, including the NPS Challenge Cost Share Program, Hydro Flask Park For All grants program, Every Kid Outdoors Small Grants Program, and the Kids to Parks Day School Grants Program.
Ivan will discuss:
- The purpose and criteria for each grant program
- Who can apply
- How to apply
- Example projects and how the programs may benefit your organization
There will be time for Q&A with Ivan about the grant programs discussed.
Ivan Levin, Director of Strategic Partnerships & Communications, National Park Trust
Ivan is a lifetime outdoor and park enthusiast, strongly believing in the importance of connecting current and future generations to outdoor places and experiences. Growing up in southeast Virginia, Ivan spent his childhood playing in the Chesapeake Bay and exploring local parks and swamps. Now as a dad of two, Ivan and his family make a point to spend as much time outside as possible and to visit national parks throughout the year – the family’s favorite being Rocky Mountain National Park.
As the Park Trust’s Director of Strategic Partnerships & Communications, Ivan looks for new partnership opportunities, deepens relationships with current partners, oversees communications, runs external grants and funding opportunities, and identifies ways to innovate programming and expand reach.
Before joining the Park Trust, Ivan was the Deputy Director of the Outdoor Foundation, overseeing all of the Foundation’s grantmaking, engagement and activation programs, research, and many strategic partnerships. He is a frequent speaker on how to engage young adults in outdoor activities and connect them to green spaces and public lands. Ivan is also an adjunct faculty member at George Mason University in Fairfax, VA with the School of Recreation, Health, and Tourism and is an alumnus of the Salzburg Global Seminar’s session on Parks for the Planet. Ivan holds a BS in Recreation, Parks, and Tourism with a concentration in outdoor recreation from Radford University and a Masters in Recreation Resource Management from Frostburg State University.
May 2023
Preserving the Stories of the North Country National Scenic Trail
May 16, 2023 1:00–2:00 PM ET
Overview: Join us on Tuesday, May 16 to learn about how the North Country Trail Association has elevated interpretation, engagement, and promotion along the North Country National Scenic Trail by preserving the stories and experiences along the trail.
During this webinar, Kate Lemon, the Marketing and Communications Coordinator at the North Country Trail Association (NCTA), will give an overview of how NCTA worked with StoryCorps to record oral stories on the North Country Scenic Trail.
StoryCorps is a nonprofit organization that works with people and organizations to record a diverse array of stories across the country. StoryCorps’ mission is to preserve and share humanity’s stories in order to build connections between people and create a more just and compassionate world.
The session will also cover:
- How the project on the North Country Trail started
- NCTA’s experience working with StoryCorps
- What has gone into completing the project
- How the project will benefit the trail and how it may provide similar benefits to other trail organizations
There will be time for Q&A with Kate about their StoryCorps project
Kate Lemon, Marketing and Communications Coordinator, North Country Trail Association
Kate Lemon has been the Marketing and Communications Coordinator for the North Country Trail Association (NCTA) since May 2018. She manages the NCTA website, social media channels, and targeted email communications. She is also the editor of the North Star membership magazine, and is responsible for marketing materials, branding information, and media inquiries. Prior to her work for the NCTA, Kate worked in a research grant proposal office at Penn State University. She also worked with environmental nonprofits and state government in Colorado, and served as an AmeriCorps VISTA. You can usually find her somewhere outside with her husband Jake and their two sons, Gus and Theo.
April 2023
Trail Operations Forum presentation: 2023 USDA Forest Service Saw Program Updates
April 4, 2023 2:00–3:00 PM ET
Overview: Hear from from Pete Duncan, the National Saw Program Manager with the Forest Service about the most recent updates to the Forest Service Saw Program. This is a free event.
*This presentation is part of the PNTS Trail Operations Forum. Please visit the PNTS website to learn more about our forums and working groups.
March 2023
Trail Operations Forum presentation: Interagency Visitor Use Management Council Overview & Guidance
March 8, 2023 2:00–3:00 PM ET
Overview: Hear from Maureen Finnerty, the Visitor Use Management Project Manager with the National Park Service, about the Interagency Visitor Use Management (VUM) Council. The council VUM framework and related guidance will be discussed. This is a free event.
Interagency Visitor Use Management Council Overview provided on https://visitorusemanagement.nps.gov: Six federal agencies—the Bureau of Land Management, Forest Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Park Service, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service—collaborate on the Interagency Visitor Use Management Council. Council collaboration is designed to increase awareness of and commitment to proactive, professional, and science-based visitor use management on federally-managed lands and waters.
*This presentation is part of the PNTS Trail Operations Forum. Please visit the PNTS website to learn more about our forums and working groups.
Using a Traveling Map Exhibit for Engagement and Promotion on the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail
March 14, 2023 3:00–4:00 PM ET
Overview: Join us on Tuesday, March 14 to learn about how the Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation traveling map exhibit, Reimagining America: The Maps of Lewis and Clark, has elevated interpretation, engagement, and promotion along the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail.
The traveling exhibit is available to libraries, museums, and visitor centers. It uses large-scale reproductions of historic maps, photos, and explanatory text to show how America looked before the journey of Lewis and Clark, and what it looked like after.
During this session presenters will give an overview of how the traveling exhibit project has benefited the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail and help attendees explore how a similar project could benefit other trail organizations.The session will also cover::
- How the project started and the importance of research and partnerships
- How the project was funded
- The process for implementing and managing the project
- How similar projects on other trails could be created
There will be time for Q&A with presenters about the traveling exhibit project.
Carolyn Gilman, curator of Lewis and Clark: The National Bicentennial Exhibition, Author of Lewis and Clark: Across the Divide
Carolyn Gilman is author of seven books on aspects of Native American and western history, including Lewis and Clark: Across the Divide and The Way to Independence. She has worked as a museum exhibit developer at the Minnesota Historical Society, the Missouri History Museum, and the National Museum of the American Indian (Smithsonian Institution). Currently, she works as a museum consultant in Washington, DC. She has been a guest lecturer at the Library of Congress, Harvard University, and Monticello, and has been interviewed on All Things Considered, Talk of the Nation, History Detectives, the History Channel, and countless local television and radio shows. Her history books have won the Missouri Governor’s Humanities Award, the Missouri Conference on History Best Book Award, the Northeastern Minnesota Book Award, the Outstanding Academic Book of the Year award from Choice magazine, and the Award of Merit from the American Association for State and Local History
Sarah Cawley, Executive Director, Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation
Sarah is the Executive Director of LCTHF. She joined the team in 2020 after working for the Sawtooth Interpretive and Historical Association (SIHA) as their director. Sarah has a Bachelor’s of Science from the State University of New York, College for Environmental Science and Forestry, in Environmental Education and Interpretation, and a minor in Recreational and Visitor Management. She graduated in 2016 and immediately knew that she had to move out west. Although Sarah’s background is in education, she managed the Stanley Museum in Stanley, ID with SIHA. This is where her passion for history molded with her passion for education. When the opportunity came up to work for LCTHF, there was no way she could turn it down. The Lewis and Clark story is such an incredible part of US history, and helping tell it to folks around the world is an opportunity of a lifetime.