Video: Oakland students explore fascinating link between redwoods and the bay

Education partnership enables kids to explore East Bay watershed and have fun at the same time

Imagine you are a fourth grader, heading out on a field trip to the redwoods for the first time. You might wonder, are there bears or snakes where I am going? But once you get off the bus and stand below the towering trees with your classmates, those fears fade away. You create animal homes in the dirt with sticks, needles, and cones. Your friend gets dressed up like a tree and you learn the different layers of a redwood, and you get blindfolded and walk around with a classmate feeling trees and listening to the laughter of your peers.

This is a Save the Redwoods League Explore Your Watershed Program field trip. And that only describes half of it. During this free elementary school program, students learn about and explore their local watershed with two field trips, one to the redwood forest in the fall—the top of the watershed—and one to the San Francisco Bay in the spring—the bottom of the watershed. 

During the bay field trip, there are endless, “Oh my gosh, look at this,” and “This is so cool,” “This is the best field trip ever!” Students put on hip waders and head into the bay with a net to catch fish, they slosh through the mud flats looking for creatures, and they hold crabs in their hands as the crab’s feet tickle the students. 

The goals of this program are to elicit a sense of comfort, excitement, and curiosity of the natural areas in the same city where these students live. We hope they will see themselves as scientists, develop a greater connection to these parks and continue to explore them with their families. 

Learn more about our Education Programs.