From backyard to the backcountry: A Ranger School professor’s journey to Wanakena

Vanessa Rojas embraces role as trailblazer in environmental field

By David Escobar

The tranquil forest that envelops the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF) Ranger School campus in Wanakena feels worlds away from Flint, Michigan. Yet, for Vanessa Rojas, the two are deeply connected.

When Rojas received a small tent from her grandparents as a child, the backyard of her Rust Belt home transformed into her first campsite.

“That was kind of a game changer,” said Rojas, 42, now a faculty member at the SUNY-ESF Ranger School. “I just loved sleeping outside.”

Despite her working-class upbringing and the challenge of affording expensive gear, Rojas fell in love with the outdoors.

So her father — who is the son of Chilean immigrants and worked on the assembly line at the General Motors factory in Flint — nurtured her passion, taking Rojas and her brother car camping during his factory’s two-week break in July.

As she grew older, the family camping trips moved further off the grid. By age 11, Rojas experienced her first primitive site in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

“It was the most fun I ever had camping,” she said.

Winding up in Wanakena

Rojas’ love for camping shaped her career in wildlife research, where she has bounced between urban universities and remote wildernesses. Before moving to the Adirondacks, she spent over a decade studying bat populations in the Smoky Mountains as a doctoral student.

When it came time to apply for teaching positions in 2018, the Ranger School’s location was a key factor in her decision.

“This was my top choice,” she said. “I wanted to be where there were mountains.”

On the school’s 2,800-acre campus, Rojas teaches wildlife conservation and GIS mapping courses to students in the college’s associate degree program for applied sciences.

Few colleges are as remote and specialized as the Ranger School, which serves about 50 students and employs just eight faculty members. Rojas said the close-knit community has been a source of support as she adjusts to life in Wanakena, a town of only 60 year-round residents. But as a Latina, and one of the few women to have taught at the college, there are challenges.

“It’s mostly been white men that have taught here,” she said. “There were probably some people that thought I wouldn’t fit in.”

Class portraits lining the school’s hallways show a similar story — graduates overwhelmingly made up of white men. Across SUNY-ESF campuses statewide, nearly 80% of the undergraduate population in 2022 was white.

Paving the way for emerging environmentalists

The lack of diversity at SUNY-ESF mirrors broader trends in conservation and forestry. In 2022, white people comprised 81.7% of professional environmental scientists nationwide.

Rojas said this lack of representation, both in academia and outdoor spaces, has sometimes led to feelings of self-doubt.

“Even going into something new, I feel like I have to show up and be awesome at it because I hold the ground for all [Latinas],” she said. “It’s not true, but in my mind, it feels true.”

While not all Ranger School students share Rojas’ working-class, urban upbringing, she said she believes her perspective helps her connect with many of their challenges.

“Maybe the students don’t have money for winter clothes. Maybe they can’t get good boots,” she said, talking about the challenges students face in affording quality outdoor gear. “A lot of these things … have these socioeconomic barriers with them.”

RELATED READING: How Tamara Jolly found solace at Wanakena’s ranger school during the pandemic

Beyond teaching, Rojas hopes her presence at the Ranger School shows students of color that they can belong, even in rural, predominantly white places like the Adirondacks.

“I hope that me being here can help convince students to want to come here and feel comfortable being in this remote place where there’s a lack of diversity,” she said. “That it’s not just for their one year of school, but it was such a great experience that they want to come live here.”

Besides filling much-needed conservation roles in the park, Rojas said younger, more diverse people can bring new perspectives to the Adirondacks to tackle complex conservation issues like accessible trail design or invasive species control. Without fresh perspectives, she fears the region could stagnate.

“If you’re getting this general perspective over and over, you’re not changing anything,” she said.

Over the past six years, Rojas has embraced her new Adirondack life. Between backpacking trips across the park’s high peaks, she has also picked up skiing and ice climbing.

Her journey in environmental science and conservation started with the gift of a tent. Now, she hopes her work and mentorship at the Ranger School will inspire her students to embrace the outdoors in that same way.

Photo at top: SUNY-ESF Ranger School professor Vanessa Rojas, 42, has been teaching at the college since August 2018. Photo by David Escobar.

David Escobar is a Report For America Corps Member. He reports on diversity issues in the Adirondacks through a partnership between North Country Public Radio and Adirondack Explorer.