GIFFORD PINCHOT NATIONAL FOREST — Nine-year-old Chikauak Briseño plowed ahead through the forest Saturday morning in search of his prize, a Christmas tree that would meet his exacting standards, as his group bushwhacked behind.
Of course, his sister Citalli Briseño said, her little brother would take them to the farthest corner of the Douglas fir stand they were exploring before making a choice.
“I like it because it’s a bit chubby,” he said before crawling under the boughs to help cut it down. That way, he said, it’ll hold more decorations.
The Briseños joined roughly 20 others Saturday for a trip to the Gifford Pinchot National Forest to get Christmas trees the old-fashioned way.
The Forest Service hosted members of the Portland-Vancouver Chapter of iUrban Teen — a youth group aimed at providing science, technical and mathematics education-related opportunities to underrepresented teens — and residents of a Pacific Northwest domestic-violence shelter — for the trip, and provided the $5 tree permits for free.
Citalli Briseño, who participated through iUrban Teen, said her family had never picked out a tree this way, but being out in nature connects to what she’s interested in academically.
She recently graduated from Hudson’s Bay High School in Vancouver and plans on going to Clark College to finish some general education requirements before pursuing a degree in marine biology.
“It’s something, being out here, I think I’ve always wanted to do,” she said.
She volunteered with the Forest Service over the summer, where she mostly helped with passes, event organizing and data entry.
Sonja McKenzie, the program director at iUrban Teen, said the program tries to find ways to expose young people to careers in scientific or technical fields through events or hands-on opportunities such as Saturday’s outing with forest staff.
Many of the young people the program works with are never exposed to the outdoors, which is why the outing and similar events are so valuable, she said.
When the children and families gathered at the Wind River Training Center at the start of the trip, only four or so people raised their hands to say they had ever been to a national forest before.
“A lot urban teens are not coming up here,” she said. “It’s a novelty to them. It’s a great experience. It overcomes the fear of being in the outdoors, the unknown, knowing that they’re welcome here, too.”
Goals of partnerships
Saturday was the second time iUrban Teen and the Forest Service paired up to get trees. McKenzie hopes the group can continue to bring more people along.
Gala Miller, a community engagement specialist for the forest, said the partnerships with the youth group and the shelter relate to the goals of the Forest Service and other public land managers to increase engagement with public lands among underserved populations.
Outdoor groups and both the National Park Service and Forest Service have decried a disproportionate level of engagement with public lands among minority populations and young people.
“From the chief forester all the way down to regional forester we’re being told that youth engagement is mission critical if we’re going to stay relevant and have a future,” Miller said.
Miller said iUrban Teen and the forest connected through the Intertwine Alliance, a coalition of private and nonprofit groups focused around the outdoors. The domestic-violence shelter that participated joined the Christmas Tree search after a Forest Service employee got in touch with the shelter’s director.
Serra Perino, lead advocate with the shelter program, said shelter users over the past two years have enjoyed the opportunity.
Not only is it fun, she said, but it also provides shelter participants a sense of normalcy.
“They love it because you’re coming into the shelter and you’re leaving some sort of situation that was pretty tragic,” she said. “There’s always that stress of being a parent, and now a lot of these gals are single parents, and trying to provide Christmas for them is going to be difficult. … Being able to come out here and being able to get a tree for free — that takes a lot of the weight off the stress of the holiday for everybody.”
Christina, who has been staying at the shelter for the past several months, was cutting down a tree while her 12-year-old daughter, Chloie, held on and her 4-year-old son, Jace, bounced around the tree stand.
Christina said she had never picked up a tree this way, but it was easy to say yes to a free Christmas tree.
She cut a small tree for the living space she has at the shelter with four of her six children, and a taller one for Chloie and her other daughter, who are staying elsewhere.
Decorating Christmas trees is probably one of her kids’ favorite parts of the season, Christina said, adding that actually finding a tree is a lot more fun this way.
“Good family time,” she called it.
“We should do this more often,” Chloie added.
