Iliana Espinoza | ’14 B.A. Environmental Science & Resource Management
Alumna finds career calling in National Parks
By Marya BarlowBefore she took a course called “The National Park” during her junior year at CSUCI, Iliana Espinoza had never been to a national park.
“I’m always going to be grateful to Professor Don Rodriguez,” she said. “Prior to taking that course with him, I didn’t know about the National Park Service. Because of his encouragement, I’ve made it my career.”
Today, Espinoza works in the Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks. These are side-by-side national parks that attract nearly 2 million visitors annually to see the world’s largest trees as well as the parks’ majestic mountains, caverns, and foothills.
As property management specialist for the two parks, Espinoza is responsible for managing more than 2,500 personal property items, including the site’s lost and found, employee badges and keys, contractors, and volunteers.
“Here at Sequoia, you get people that come from all over the world for vacation,” she said. “Even though I’m in the office and not always interacting with them, I love seeing how excited they are to be in the park. It makes me feel like I’m making a difference.”
Growing up in Inglewood, Espinoza loved hiking in local parks and envisioned one day working in the environmental science field. A field trip while attending Lennox Math Science and Technology Academy high school, she was able to visit various California colleges that brought her to CSUCI.
“I just fell in love with CSUCI,” she said. “I loved that it was in the mountains and close to home, so I could see my family.”
As a student in CSUCI’s Environmental Science & Resource Management program, Espinoza found small classes and dedicated professors who nurtured her growth through field research and hands-on learning experiences.
With CSUCI professors, she traveled to Hawaii to conduct conservation research on humpback whales, perform ecological research through service learning in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, and visit Yosemite National Park, Channel Islands National Park, and the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area.
During her senior year, Espinoza joined Rodriguez’s research team which was studying the question of how to make national parks more relevant to 18-to-25-year-old minority students. After presenting her research to the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, Espinoza was invited to apply for a job.
In the 12 years since, she has held positions as a park guide and supply technician at the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area and as a fleet management specialist at Yosemite National Park. In 2022, she became a property management specialist at Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks.
“I definitely want to stay in the National Park Service,” Espinoza said. “I love working somewhere where the mission is to protect and preserve public land.”