Education

Save the Redwoods partners with schools, education organizations, and parks to create programs that help young people feel welcome in the redwoods and encourage access, comfort in nature, and a lasting sense of belonging.

Our vision for youth education

• Help young people discover the redwoods and understand why they matter
• Provide lessons in redwoods ecology that are welcoming and accessible through learning and storytelling
• Create inclusive, joyful experiences that help kids feel comfortable and confident in nature
• Support young people in forming their own meaningful connections and sense of belonging in wild places

Discover our K-12 redwood education programs:

Explore Your Watershed

This elementary school program gives students the opportunity to explore the relationship between water and forests through learning about their local watershed. Students participate in two field trips, one to their local redwood forest and second, to the San Francisco Bay. Classroom curriculum introduces students to the concept of a watershed and they learn about the habitats they see first-hand on their field trips. Field activities include plant identification, creating a nature watershed, journaling and scientific observation, and a beach cleanup. This program teaches the importance of a clean and healthy watershed and the role each student can play in making sure the plants and animals that depend on that watershed are healthy.

North Coast Redwood Program

Save the Redwoods is working in partnership with the Humboldt County Office of Education to bring comprehensive redwood curriculum and field trip opportunities to students throughout the county. This program provides no-cost, inquiry-based lessons and field trips to K-12 schools, grounded in locally relevant science and aligned with State Science Standards. We use the charismatic redwood forest as a learning laboratory to engage students in science topics such as watersheds, ecosystems, biodiversity, and climate change.

FREE curriculum for this program

Redwoods & Climate Change High School Program

This program invites high school students into redwood forests to explore these places in ways that feel welcoming, hands-on, and relevant to their lives. Through guided field experiences, students move through the forest like scientists, collecting data on trees and ferns, documenting biodiversity, and investigating how drought and climate change affect forest health.

Back in the classroom, teachers use locally focused, hands-on lessons that build on these experiences, from calculating biomass and carbon to learning redwood ecology and analyzing climate data from our Redwoods and Climate Change Initiative. Together, these experiences help students feel more comfortable in nature, deepen their connection to the redwoods, and see themselves reflected in science and the outdoors.