P.O. Box 577
Yosemite, CA 95389
www.nps.gov/yose/news

209 372-0529 phone
209 372-0371 fax

August 28, 2003
For Immediate Release

Yosemite National Park Ranger Attends State Assembly Meeting Where Resolution to Recognize Buffalo Soldiers is Passed

Yosemite National Park Interpretive Ranger Shelton Johnson attended the California State Assembly today where a resolution in recognition of the Buffalo Soldier’s role in protecting California’s national parks at the turn of the 20th century was passed.

This year marks the centennial of the arrival of the Cavalry troops who patrolled the national parks and the Sierra Nevada starting in 1903.

According to the resolution submitted by the Honorable Jerome E. Horton, the Buffalo Soldiers contributed “to a model of park management that would eventually form the foundation of the first national park system on earth.”

The State Assembly invited Johnson to be there while the resolution was passed because of the role he has played in bringing the Buffalo Soldiers’ part in California’s history to light.

Johnson provides a living history program in Yosemite that re-enacts the life of a Buffalo Soldier responsible for protecting the park from activities such as poaching and logging before the creation of the National Park Service. He has also developed a website, http://shadowsoldier.wilderness.net/, to further share this fascinating history of Yosemite, Sequoia and General Grant (Kings Canyon) National Parks.

Johnson has done considerable outreach through various media outlets, schools, and other groups to help make the life of the Buffalo Soldier in the national parks an accepted and well-known segment of the parks’ rich history.

“I am tremendously honored to be here for the passage of this resolution,” Johnson said. “It is most meaningful to see the Buffalo Soldiers receive recognition from the state of California as well as in the national parks. Any way that the tale of the Buffalo Soldier can be shared with park visitors, Californians, and Americans furthers their understanding and appreciation of what makes our parks and California so special.”

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