CALIFORNIA—The Forest Service believes that our employees must reflect the diversity of our nation. As one part of the effort to increase diversity, the agency recognizes that outreach efforts need to show the public greater diversity in leadership positions. Three Asian American leaders in the Pacific Southwest Region continue to do their part to educate people about their journeys, professions and Forest Service careers.  

Hilda Kwan is a hydrologist on the Mendocino National Forest’s Upper Lake and Covelo Ranger District, where her job is “to keep the water clean coming off Forest Service lands.” She was born and raised in San Francisco and both of her parents emigrated from Hong Kong.

“Doing outreach events is important, for people to see Asian Americans in the Forest Service and educate them about natural resources careers, as well as the use of our public lands,” Kwan said. “The knowledge isn’t there and I’ve been trying to be more proactive on reaching out. People sometimes follow up after an outreach event and I tell them what kind of studies they should consider and types of career paths. During public events I can sometimes use my Cantonese to talk to Chinese Americans who are curious about what I do and how the Forest Service benefits society.”

Today, many rural areas in the western United States still don’t have anywhere near the Asian American representation of the late 1800s. Chinese immigrants made up 28.5% of the Idaho territory in 1870 after the western gold rush and construction of the transcontinental railroad. That changed when anti-Chinese legislation pushed most of them back to China or into U.S. cities’ Chinatowns. To this day, Asian American populations in rural areas haven’t approached the demographics of 150 years ago.

Kwan has worked on the Asian Pacific American Heritage Project to teach people about this history and outreaches to Asian Pacific American communities to encourage visitation to these heritage sites on National Forest System lands. She also helped form the Asian Pacific American Heritage Collaborative, which created ExploreAPAHeritage.com to centralize historic information and help the APA community connect with their public lands.

Kwan works in a rural area in Upper Lake, California, and often gets asked, “How did I end up with the Forest Service and how did I end up out here? I had to explain to my own parents why I wanted to be a hydrologist instead of a nurse, doctor or architect.”

Jason Ko is the Shared Stewardship coordinator for the regional office and strategizes how to work with partners in an integrated way to make decisions and take actions on the landscape. He believes that educating Asian Americans about recreation opportunities on public lands is also a key. “I grew up outdoors, joined the Boy Scouts, and my family went camping a lot growing up. My parents grew up camping also, which was unusual.” Reaching out to Asian American and Pacific Islander communities about recreation opportunities like camping on national forests could pay huge dividends and lead to more career aspirants. “I think that the reason there aren’t as many Asian Americans in the Forest Service or in natural resources is because culturally, going outdoors isn’t something that many minority groups do, so that early exposure isn't there to be cultivated into a career. I see a lot of current generations of Asian Americans getting outdoors today, though, especially in California, so I hope this is all changing and maybe we will see more in the future.”

Like Kwan, Ko is familiar with the legislation known as the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. “I am fifth generation American on one side and third or fourth generation on the other. My great-grandmother even went to college in the 1800s, and my great-grandfather had to carry around residence certificates as a child in San Francisco wherever he went to prove that he was legal and born there. I grew up in Sacramento around many other Asian Americans who were first or second generation immigrants. I didn’t have the strong cultural ties they had, but most people, even other Asian Americans, would assume that I did, so I was constantly explaining my family's history.”

Another key to increasing our employment outreach to underserved communities is that job seekers see diversity in our leadership positions. Liz Berger is one of those leaders as deputy regional forester in Region 5.  Although Berger does not consider herself a trailblazer, she realizes the importance of serving in this role. “It is important for people to see others who look like them in different positions at all levels in the agency.  For me, this was seeing Asian Pacific American employees and women.  If you see someone who looks like you in a certain position, you think you can be in one of those jobs, too.”

Berger’s mother is from the Philippines and her father is Caucasian and was born in the U.S. Her parents met when her father served in the U.S. Air Force and was on assignment there. As a military child she grew up in Okinawa, Japan, and regularly visited the Philippines. “I was raised with all the culture and traditions of my Filipino family and truly appreciate the value of this,” Berger said. She lives in Sacramento now and has an extended Filipino family nearby.

Berger agrees with Kwan and Ko on the importance of outreach to the Asian Pacific American communities. She has been involved in these types of efforts throughout her career and has worked with Kwan at some of these events in recent years. Sharing information on career opportunities, recreation and access, the Forest Service mission, and even the ties to Asian American history have been important in helping make connections to these communities. When people can see their community members and other Asian Pacific Americans working for the Forest Service doing this outreach, it can be especially valuable in delivering the message.

When our audiences look at the Forest Service, they will have the likes of Liz Berger, Hilda Kwan and Jason Ko to look up to and follow.