I’ll Go If You Go

Welcome to Season 4! This season, we’re exploring the different kinds of jobs you can do in the redwood and redwoods parks. In this first episode, producer and host of season 1, Leslie Parra,  interviews the current host Emily Harwitz. They talk about Emily’s love for nature, what she does for work when she’s not hosting I’ll Go If You Go, and how she’s approached her career in science and environmental storytelling.

In Episode 6, the final episode of Season 3, host Emily Harwitz talks to Agnes Vianzon (she/they), the founder and Executive Director of Eastern Sierra Conservation Corps (ESCC) and a first-generation, queer filipinx. They founded ESCC in 2017, starting with an initial all-women crew, and the organization has served over 100 alumni and counting. ESCC is changing the demographics of outdoor stewardship and parks employment and visit...

In episode 5, host Emily Harwitz chats with Michelle Warren, the Vice President and Co-founder of Black Girls Trekkin Inc. (BGT). BGT is a Los Angeles based 501c3 nonprofit for Black women who choose to opt outside. BGT seeks to inspire and empower Black women to spend time outdoors, appreciate nature, and protect it. BGT is building a community that will show the world that Black women are a strong and present force in the outdoor...

Episode 4’s guest is Max Sovine (they/them). Max works at Queer LifeSpace, a San Francisco-based non-profit providing mental health services for the queer community, where they just launched the new project Outlandish! which will bring queer youth out into awesome parks and recreational areas in the Bay Area. Max has a master’s degree in Ecology, Spirituality, and Religion from the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS). D...

Episode 3’s guest is Kathryn Luna who builds community and partnerships at the outdoors retailer Mountain Hardwear. She’s also on the Board of Directors at GirlVentures, a non-profit that inspires girls to lead through outdoor adventure, inner discovery, and collective action. Host Emily Harwitz talks to Kathryn about her relationship to the outdoors, including: starting young, the safety of exploring in community, and passing that...

In episode 2, Host Emily Harwitz chats with Monica Binetti and Erin Closmore about how they started the hiking community Bay Area Galventures, beginning with Monica overcoming her fear of the outdoors and her dear friend Erin moving back to the Bay Area. Amongst the redwood trees, Monica has discovered that she is more than her corporate job, 2 kids, and busy city life—she is connected to herself and Mother Nature, and believes tha...

In the season 3 premiere, host Emily Harwitz (she/her) chats with Alanna Smith (she/her) about Alanna’s evolution as a conservationist and finding her niche within the conservation movement. Alanna is the Parks Program Associate at Save the Redwoods League, where she focuses on facilitating equitable public access to redwood parks. Passionate about building community in the outdoors, she co-leads the newly formed Northern Californi...

We’ve explored many ways to play in the redwoods this season. What resonates most, beyond any single activity, is the relationships formed and fortified—with one another, with the outdoors, and with one another in the outdoors. In this season’s finale, beneath the redwoods in Oakland, Grace Anderson (she/her) and Mo Asebiomo (they/she) embody Black joy (spontaneous laughter alert!), the expansive meaning of playing outside (cloud w...

In the northern reaches of the California coast, Yurok Country is home to the state’s largest federally recognized tribal nation. On a brisk morning here in Redwood National Park, Yurok Tribe member Josh Norris invited us to paddle down the Klamath River in ‘ohl-we’-yoch, a traditional Yurok canoe carved from a fallen redwood trunk. He shares about the anatomy of “the boat of the people,” how the river has transformed over generati...

Skateboarding in the redwoods might seem unconventional, but it’s a thing. The nonprofit Skate Like a Girl (SLAG) hosts a sleepaway skate camp for women, trans, and nonbinary skaters—in the middle of Sequoia National Forest. We skated with SLAG in Santa Cruz and from the skate park ventured into the Forest of Nisene Marks with squad members Sam Mercado, Jai Ledesma, and Kim Woozy to talk skateboarding, nature, and building inclusiv...

Oakland’s Lake Merritt may be a few miles from the nearest redwood forest, but this tidal slough is not only a bustling community space for locals, unhoused neighbors, artists, musicians, and roller skaters — it’s also a whole wildlife refuge abundant with native and migratory birds. For would-be birders, it’s a gateway. We went birding (aka birdwatching) right here with naturalist and artist Clay Anderson. Turns out he p...

What is forest bathing, really? Originating as a mindfulness practice in Japan called shinrin-yoku, it involves activities that help heighten your senses to experience nature on another level and improve overall well being. It's a vibe. Certified forest bathing guide Juan Lazo Bautista takes us into the redwoods and explains this immersive nature experience, including a meditation, tools, and practices to help guide you on your jou...

In the season 2 premiere, Leslie Parra passes the mic to new host Emily Harwitz as they venture into Wilder Ranch State Park to go mushroom foraging with Arthur Lee of Mazu Mushrooms. In the middle of a redwood fairy ring, they explore the fantastic world of fungi — from mushrooms’ animal-like qualities to the way they can restore lands and waterways through a process called myco-remediation to which ones can literally kill you. Li...

In the final episode of season 1, the podcast team tells stories from the redwood forest and about what the phrase “I’ll go if you go” really means—from psychedelic banana slugs to a ladybug bonanza to heartfelt tales about immigration and queerness. Featuring Dana Poblete, Marcos Castineiras, and Caleb Castle in conversation with Leslie Parra, the episode closes with a big reveal in time for Pride Month, followed by a riveting lig...

In the face of violence against Asian and Pacific Islander people over the last year, Rebecca Au was galvanized to work with her colleagues at the National Park Service to develop upstander training. Also known as bystander intervention, it teaches people how to practice allyship and intervene when others are being harassed, whether in parks and public lands or in everyday life. In this episode, Rebecca was courageous to share her ...

While going through a divorce, Karla Amador discovered a new passion: hiking for mental, physical, and spiritual well-being. She was inspired to start a movement called the 52-Hike Challenge to encourage others to reclaim their sense of self through connecting with nature. Join Karla and her community on a journey for love and healing, from the giant sequoia groves of the John Muir Trail in the Sierra Nevada to the coast red...

Farrahn Hawkins (she/her) is a self-described “community and economic development enthusiast” who loves helping people achieve their life goals through education and the lens of nature. A former park ranger at Yosemite National Park and now based in Baltimore, Maryland, she volunteers to help youth and young adults root themselves in community and place. 

Leslie Parra caught up with Farrahn to discuss what it means to develop ...

For our first episode, Save the Redwoods League Outreach Program Manager Leslie Parra rings in the new year with Miguel Marquez (he/him)—Oakland born, and raised by the local redwoods. He talks about the role that his Mexican-American heritage and family time in redwood parks played in developing his love for nature and ultimately his career path as a ranger who has worked for the National Park Service and the US Fish and Wildlife ...