Urban Wilds

Celeste Gasperik lives and works in the green spaces where she grew up—the hills of northeast Los Angeles, where she hiked as a child through the lush mountains of Altadena. Since graduating from Lewis & Clark, she has dedicated her career to helping people bridge connections with the natural world, particularly those who are underrepresented in outdoor experiences. She is now the director of programs and training at Community Nature Connection, a nonprofit that provides a range of outdoor programs to neighborhoods across Los Angeles County.

After growing up in Los Angeles, what attracted you to Lewis & Clark?

I was enchanted by the campus, and there was the opportunity to play soccer and to travel overseas. I wasn’t totally sure what I wanted to study when I arrived as a 17-year-old, but it was a vibes-based decision. I spent the night at the school as a prospective student, and I thought, “This is the place for me.” Studying sociology and anthropology gave me the framework to think about the experiences I had had in my life—the socioeconomic and racial dynamics in Los Angeles, for instance. I found it fascinating and eye-opening, and it launched me into my career.

In your career, you’ve often worked at the intersection of environmental issues and social justice. Why is that connection so important?

There is so much research now about the importance of connections to nature and time spent outdoors, but just a decade ago, that was nearly nonexistent in the U.S. For me, the approach starts from a place of comfort and belonging. There are a ton of barriers that need to be broken down in order for people to feel a sense of ownership over their public lands—from a lack of transportation, to working several jobs and not having enough time, to the feeling that a person hasn’t been “invited.” There can be the sense that these aren’t safe or welcoming spaces.

How is Community Nature Connection working to break down these barriers?

We are a local organization working in northeast Los Angeles and the Westlake community. These are places that have really felt the impact of ICE’s presence and government surveillance. It’s been a huge pressure on the organization. And then there were the wildfires in 2025, which devastated some of these neighborhoods. Los Angeles has been through a lot. Our mission is to help make outdoor areas feel like safe spaces. We do lots of work with high schoolers, and our hope is to give them the tools and practices to build a long-term relationship with nature.

What do some of these programs look like in action?

One of our programs is at the Akuutet Learning Nursery in Elyria Canyon Park. Groups of students learn how to grow and propagate plants, tending to their own plots over time, which then enables them to pursue restoration projects throughout their communities. It’s an amazing outdoor classroom, and we’ve had several cohorts go through the program already. It has a ton of potential.

We also did a program called “Girls Outside” at Vista Hermosa Natural Park last spring. It focused on building wellness practices in nature. This involved choosing initiatives that the girls felt would benefit their communities and doing art projects to help them learn about native plants at their local parks. The girls in the cohort focused on the California rose and created drawings that became self-portraits. I could see them flower in that moment.