Mending nature and relationships: Saguaro National Park extends olive branch to tribal communities

The Friends of Saguaro National Park (FOSNP) are not only preserving precious land; they are also creating opportunities for Southern Arizona's tribal communities to connect with nature, while trying to mend a complicated relationship.

FOSNP executive director Fred Stula said he particularly wants to invest in programsthat will connect young Native people with what have been their ancestral homelands.
"It's not something that's always easy," Stula said. "There's a lot of stigmatism around coming back to the park and what the park has done to the tribal communities over the years."

The park has made some strides, Stula said, through its Next Generation Ranger Corps (Next Gen) program that leaders and FOSNP first started nearly 10 years ago.

Raeshaun Ramon is one of four Native rangers on the park's staff, and he is the first full-time Tohono O'odham park ranger stationed in Saguaro National Park. Before Ramon, tribal members only ever received part-time jobs on the land.

“I kind of spent my youth growing up in the desert," Ramon said. "I always thought that my backyard was a national park. As I got older, I learned about these different career paths that I could take, and one of them was being the National Park Service.”

Ramon said before he took on this responsibility, he remembered stories of how Native families and leaders felt excluded in the process to care for the land. “I did hear a little bit about Saguaro National Park just from elders within my community and how they talked about they didn't feel welcome. I kind of carried that with me.”

Now, Ramon said he's proud to wear his green-gray uniform and serve as a bridge between his community and the federal government. "(For) the elders or even the youth as well, to see somebody like them, can actually work in a space like this," he said.

Stula says one of FOSNP's latest priorities was also to recruit a tribal board member to their ranks. This past summer, Dr. Jacelle Ramon-Sauberan became the first Tohono O'odham FOSNP board member. Ramon-Sauberan said she, too, wanted to be that bridge between her tribe and the park.

“I made that suggestion because I wanted to have a voice on the board," she said. “I still have family that lives really close by. Growing up, I was always told that if you're able to help, then you do so."

Stula said FOSNP will continue to work create a better future for the park, and connect with the next generation of leaders looking either for jobs or ways to meaningfully contribute. “We really can't move forward until we understand what happened in the past," he said.