Internship to Increase Accessibility of Nature Preserves

My name is Mailey Geiger. I am a sophomore geography major at SUNY Geneseo from Grand Island, where I enjoy spending time with my grandparents and visiting a State park with my little brothers.

In 2021, I took a semester off from college to complete a program called the Excelsior Conservation Corps. For more than two months, my team and I constructed a wheelchair-accessible trail to meet American Disability Act standards at a State park.

Thanks to the opportunity to expand upon my experiences, I am working as a Trail Accessibility Information Intern at the Conservancy. I am helping Genesee Valley Conservancy reach its goal of increasing accessibility information regarding their nature preserves.

The first step of my internship was to collect data and organize methods to best describe trails to the public through research and site visits (like trail surface type, width, grade).

The Conservancy will display this information on their website, maps, and signage at preserves.

Accessibility information surrounding outdoor spaces is essential because it allows those with different abilities or access challenges to decide whether a specific preserve is suitable for them or if a trail will fulfill their desires and expectations.

By creating a memo and sharing the critical points with the Conservancy’s stewardship committee, I have enhanced my research and presentation skills.

I am also looking forward to hiking all five of the Conservancy’s nature preserves, some I have never visited before, to take notes on their infrastructure and characteristics for this project.

To be successful in this project I placed myself in the shoes of and surveyed those with various disabilities. This has increased my universal access awareness and gives me more to think about when my grandparents take specific steps to avoid falling or when my little brothers walk around the mud at the park.