August 2019 - Parks & Recreation - 43

ational roles for my profession.
What really drives me, and what
I'm excited about applying to
NRPA, is the ability to both set a
vision and to be strategic, and to
couple that with a practical 'how
do we translate this into action?
How do we translate this into
how we operate as an organization?' That's something that I'm
excited about, too.
P&R: In looking into your
background, I noticed that a
lot of your work has been in
environment and justice in the
health and wellness area. What
brought you to these passions?
How did you figure out that this
was where your passion lies?
Stratton: That's such an interesting question. I've thought a lot
about that, and it goes back to my
childhood. I grew up in a small paper mill town in central-northern
Maine. My mom worked in the
mill, my dad worked for the local
water company and also was a mechanic. I grew up in a household
that was very rooted in a strong
work ethic and very rooted in the
idea that the work doesn't stop just
because you're punching a clock 9
to 5. My mom was on the school
board, volunteered, was involved
in the Girl Scouts, and my dad
worked constantly. I was trained to
be work-identified and to be of service to others. That was a message
I got from my parents very early on.
What drove my passion for the
environment and public health
is growing up in that mill town.
Our house was maybe 500 feet
from the mill gate and was across
the street from a stream. But, we
could not swim in that stream and
were actually afraid to retrieve
balls that accidentally fell in because there was so much effluent

discharge from that mill that you
could not use the water. The fish
were not safe to catch, and it was
not safe to paddle in it. So, it was
this beautiful resource that was
untouchable, really. Not only that,
but because of a lack of proper air pollution controls, every
morning we'd have soot on our
cars - just a layer of it. And yet,
I would leave that town and go to
my local state park, which is this
gorgeous place called Baxter State
Park - 210,000 acres of pristine
wilderness - and escape into this
beautiful, soul-filling natural environment. It was not lost on me this
disconnect between this wonderful natural resource and the fact
that both of my parents were asthmatics, and Maine has a disproportionately high rate of asthma.
I felt very early on that there's
this false choice between economic viability and health. My
parents, my family and my community did not have to suffer in
order to support and operate that
mill, which has since closed. They

Wherever she goes, Stratton loves to
explore parks. Here, she embraces the
winds at California's Sugarloaf Ridge
State Park.

didn't have to sacrifice their health
in order to make a living is my
point. So, that idea of who's burdened and who's benefiting from
the structures we've created was
an idea that surfaced for me early
on. Then, going to school and, ultimately, going back to school for
my master's program and delving
deeply into the environmental justice movement, historically disproportionate burdens on low-income
and communities of color, and
how dramatically the systems that
we've created either support those
historically inequitable systems
or confront them, has driven certainly my focus and my personal
passion for the past 15 to 20 years.
P&R: You've commented that this
is your dream job. In what way?
Stratton: Well, at the heart of it,

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August 2019 - Parks & Recreation

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