RCD Welcomes New AmeriCorps Members
Bo Kimball is one of two members of the AmeriCorps Watershed Stewards Project (WSP) assigned to the District for 2009, and we're excited about the experience, energy and enthusiasm she brings to her work. Bo recently retired as a middle school teacher in San Francisco and figured she was done with classroom teaching. It turned out this opportunity to focus on bringing fun environmental education activities to Trinity County kids through WSP was too irresistible.
Born and raised in Pittsburgh, PA , Bo has a history of helping and teaching others. She moved to Berkeley with her two daughters in 1970 just as civil rights and women’s rights movements were progressing. "I joined a women's center, an African dance class and a cooperative child care center. I also joined a food conspiracy where all members help to obtain healthy, inexpensive foods, and distribute it among members."
Bo played keyboard with other women musicians and one invited her and her daughters to move to Bridgeville in Humboldt to live on some land there. "We spent that summer living in an A-frame, sometimes sleeping out in the meadow under a sky so starry I couldn’t believe my good fortune," Bo recounted. "Then some of us moved to Eureka to enroll our children in school, rented a big Victorian and lived the communal life. My girls flourished in Humboldt County and I worked with my housemates to create and run the Humboldt Shelter for Battered Women. We made presentations, raised awareness and sought financial support. We spent nights on-call for the 24-hour crisis line and provided child care and advocacy for sheltered women during their stay."
"My love of nature and desire to do service work brought me here, through AmeriCorps and the Watershed Stewards Project, to the Trinity County Resource Conservation District. In the schools, I meet young people with open faces and minds, curious to know and eager to share what they already know. I deeply enjoy the slower pace and simpler, more essential daily routine of Weaverville and Trinity County. I especially enjoy the welcoming warmth of the people here."
Danny McKnight grew up and went to school in southern California, graduating in December with a Bachelors of Science in Environmental Science from Cal Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks.
Knowing he wanted to do service of some sort, Danny began researching various AmeriCorps programs and came across the Watershed Stewards Project. Being one of the oldest and most respected AmeriCorps programs and one of the few that focus on environmental issues, it seemed the perfect fit.
Danny's education helped to shape his ideals and goals, giving him a sense of drive and focus to be an instrument of change in the world. Danny believes his interest in nature and environmentalism started at a young age. Childhood vacations to places like Yosemite, Lake Tahoe, The Colorado River, and countless camping trips to lakes in California inspired in him a love of the natural world. Danny's time in college opened his eyes to ways humans are coming into conflict with nature and this instilled in him a desire to work towards stewardship of our natural resources.
In Danny's spare time he enjoys snowboarding, hiking, cycling, and gardening, and so far Danny feels right at home here in beautiful Trinity County. He choose to serve with the TCRCD because of the opportunity to spend a significant portion of his service year educating youth about the natural world and ways to protect it. Danny is hoping that throughout his time here in Trinity County he can have a positive impact and learn as much as possible in the process.
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