October 2022 - Parks & Recreation - 27

A group decorates a park trailhead with
marigolds and rangoli art for a Diwali
celebration as part of a community
stewardship program.
or mother tongue is shared out
loud, there's an immediate connection
to a place and people, and a
sense of comfort and home. A welcome
table at the entrance was decorated
with books and artwork by
authors, poets and artists from the
community. Henna cones placed in
a bowl invited participants to engage
in art inspired by local flora
and fauna. We gathered in a circle,
and respectfully engaged our multicultural
and
inter-generational
group in an interpretive talk on the
environmental spirit of Islam. We
invited our participants to reflect,
observe and listen along with us.
In an age of so many competing
demands from life, our participants
had chosen to give their time to
nurture the park site. We picked up
our tools and started our habitat
restoration work while participants
shared their stories of nature connections.
At break time, a bowl of
sweet sheer khurma was enjoyed by
all. A young Muslim girl in a hijab
offered to draw a monarch butterfly
with the henna cone on the hand of
a new park friend.
My inspiration to try this approach
- connecting ecology,
conservation, restoration and discussions
about climate change to
culture and spirituality - is inspired
by
observing
Indigenous
people
in India, Nepal and now
here in the United States. In my
home state of Maharashtra, India,
I was introduced to the Warli
tribe's symbiotic and mutually beneficial
relationship with all beings
through art. Their paintings depict
a collective way of living, centering
the nonhuman world in everything
they do. For this to happen, it
takes a lifelong practice of thinking
about our everyday actions and activities
- in our work, our homes,
our community gathering spaces
and our relationships - and how
they are intrinsically connected to
the nonhuman life we cohabitate
with. Can parks become the points
of entry for the beginning of these
lifelong practices? As we grapple
with everyday challenges due to climate
change and social inequities,
can park programs become spaces
for communities to come together,
and find hope and inspiration to
confront these challenges?
A joyful and welcoming illustration as part
of a park kiosk invites visitors to experience,
enjoy and explore nature in unique ways.
At dawn and dusk every day, I
go back to the invitation - What
kind of an ancestor do I want to be?
I want to be an ancestor who creates
park programs such as these,
where love, compassion and joy
grow and become the tools we can
use to embrace the challenges that
are still to come.
Yakuta Poonawalla is the Associate Director for the
Community Stewardship and Engagement Program at the
Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy (ypoonawalla@
parksconservancy.org).
PARK S ANDRECRE AT ION . OR G | O CTOBER 2 0 22 | Parks & Recreation
27
ILLUSTRATION COURTESY OF JEAN WEI
PHOTO COURTESY OF GOLDEN GATE NATIONAL PARKS CONSERVANCY
October 2022 - Parks & Recreation

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