Staff Profile: Brianna Charbonnel, connecting community with nature
Tacoma Nature Center
The education program coordinator at Tacoma Nature Center blends a passion for wildlife with a curiosity about people, whether mushroom-hunting, salmon-spotting or huckleberry-grazing.
Tacoma, WA: It’s a classic educator moment: We’re walking the trails at the Parks Tacoma Tacoma Nature Center with Brianna Charbonnel, talking intently about how she came to be their offsite education program coordinator. As we’re getting into the weeds of college degrees and career paths, our fellow hiker stops abruptly.
“Hey – aren’t they oyster mushrooms? They’re huge!”
Without missing a beat, Charbonnel follows the pointing finger to find the plump fungi sprouting high up a tree trunk.
Brianna Charbonnel on a Swan Creek Park walk.
“I think you’re right!” she exclaims. “Those are gorgeous. It sounds like you’ve done some mushroom foraging?”
In one deft sentence, Charbonnel has done some nature education, yes – but she’s done so much more. She’s inspired curiosity, connected with her audience and shown a passion for nature that turns a cold winter walk into an adventure.
Which is exactly what her job as education program coordinator at Tacoma Nature Center is all about.
“I love connecting people to the natural world,” says Charbonnel, as we keep hiking. “It’s one of my favorite things – getting people excited about plants, insects and animals, and getting them to see that we are a part of the natural world.”
Outdoors and Overseas
It’s a philosophy that Charbonnel, who has worked as an educator at Parks Tacoma since 2005, picked up early in life. She spent a lot of time outdoors as a kid with a mother who had the scientific curiosity of a nurse and a passion for the natural world.
“We did a lot of mushroom hunting trips!” she remembers.
Brianna Charbonnel preps for Salmon Saturday at Swan Creek Park.
Her father, a pediatrician who had emigrated from Japan as a child, encouraged hard work and practicality, as well as giving Charbonnel a love for her Japanese heritage. After graduating in environmental science and international studies from the University of Denver, Charbonnel spent three years teaching English in Japan, and found that instead of the career in international resource management she’d envisaged, she really loved being an educator.
Returning to the Northwest, she volunteered for a summer with Parks Tacoma – and was hooked.
“I loved teaching and making those connections in the community,” says Charbonnel, who was hired first part-time and then full-time as an educator. She’s been working her current job since 2010, taking nature education out of Tacoma Nature Center and into the community via family nature walks in parks, co-teaching outdoor lessons in the Wildlife Champions program at Lister Elementary, leading tidepool walks at beaches and special community programs like an upcoming Frank Tobey Jones University class.
She occasionally assists her onsite education team with Tacoma Nature Center camps or preschool programs, and brings the education booth to events like the Tacoma Sustainability Expo or the Parks Tacoma Swan Creek Salmon Challenge, on now through Dec. 11.
“My job is different day to day and season to season,” Charbonnel smiles. “I work across the whole district, in every natural area.”
Connecting people with nature
Clearly, being a trained scientist and educator has helped Charbonnel carve this career path. But with more urbanized folks losing touch with the natural world, at the very same time we desperately need to protect that world to survive, how exactly do you connect people with nature?
“It’s a lot of things,” explains Charbonnel, leading us over the bridge at the far end of Snake Lake amid hushed, wintry-bare branches. “Obviously I’ve gained a lot of natural history knowledge and have trained as a wildlife interpreter. And I’m passionate about it – but I try not to just throw out a ton of information. You have to make it relevant to people’s lives, to what interests them, and meet them where they are. That’s one of the skills of being a flexible educator. For instance, kids have more of an interest in touching, using their senses to explore, while adults often appreciate more facts.”
Brianna Charbonnel at a Salmon Saturday event at Swan Creek Park.
We are lucky to have Brianna forging connections between people and nature within our community,” says Michele Cardinaux, Tacoma Nature Center supervisor. “I have enjoyed supporting Brianna as she continues to expand the programs we offer and finds new audiences along the way.”
With so much passion and skill for nature education, you’d assume that Charbonnel’s family life involves a lot of fun time outdoors – and you’d be right. Camping, hiking and traveling are among her favorite things, with mountaineering and rock-climbing giving space to huckleberry grazing and slug-watching with her 5- and 8-year-old boys and husband. Balancing work and family life is one of the challenges of a job that often involves after-school and weekend time, as well as balancing personal and work goals.
But ask Charbonnel to pick a favorite place in the Pacific Northwest, and you’ll see the passion for nature that drives all those goals sparkling in her eyes.
“Backpacking through the Goat Rocks wilderness with my husband – seeing all the wildflowers, the mountains,” she says. “And I’ve been lucky enough to do the Enchantment Lakes as a through-hike, from Aasgard Pass down to Snow Lake. It’s so beautiful; the scenery is so amazing. That’s been one of the highlights of my life.”
MEET BRIANNA: Meet Brianna Charbonnel this Saturday Dec. 10 from 12-2pm at lower Swan Creek Park (2820 Pioneer Way entrance), where she’ll be leading Salmon Saturday, an event full of salmon learning and exploration that’s part of the Parks Tacoma Salmon Challenge. Learn more here: metroparkstacoma.org/salmon-saturdays-at-swan-creek-park/
NATURE WALKS & MORE: Discover Family Nature Walks and other ways to connect with nature through the Tacoma Nature Center, 1919 S Tyler St, Tacoma. Learn more here: metroparkstacoma.org/tacoma-nature-center/
