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MORE KIDS TO VISIT REDWOOD FORESTS IN 2014-15
Download the full Press Release PDF
SAN FRANCISCO, CA (October 13, 2014) — More students will visit California’s redwoods this year thanks to San Francisco-based Save the Redwoods League’s annual educational grant program.
The League has awarded over $106,000 to 24 schools, parks and educational organizations to help students get outdoors for enriching and educational experiences among the redwoods. Grant winners are located throughout Northern California, from Oakland’s Chabot Space and Science Center serving low-income youth, to Santa Cruz’s Every Child Outdoors Science School and Mendocino Area Parks Association’s field trip program.
“The League’s educational grants program makes it possible for young people from all over Northern California to experience and connect with the redwood forest,” says Sam Hodder, president and chief enthusiast for the outdoors (CEO) of Save the Redwoods League. “Even though they live relatively close to the forest, many of these kids have never had the opportunity to visit. We want to give them this life-changing experience.”
Since 2000, Save the Redwoods League has awarded 383 grants totaling more than $1.3 million to schools, park associations and environmental educational organizations across California. The League’s education program has reached more than 460,000 people.
Founded in 1918, Save the Redwoods League is the only nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting and restoring redwood forests throughout their natural range. The League has completed the purchase of nearly 200,000 acres of redwood forest and associated land.
A complete list of the 2014 grants organized by county follows:
| RECIPIENT | PROJECT SUMMARY | AMOUNT AWARDED |
|---|---|---|
| Alameda County | ||
| Chabot Space and Science Center | Supports a year-long after school program for underserved youth to expose them to redwood forests and education. | $5,000 |
| Cleveland Elementary School | Supports 60 third grade students to visit Muir Woods as part of a unit on ecosystems, habitats and environmental stewardship. | $1,500 |
| Contra Costa County | ||
| Outward Bound | Provides low-income youth from Richmond an immersion experience in the coast redwood forest. | $5,000 |
| Humboldt County | ||
| CA Environmental Technology Education Network | Seventh graders from Trinidad Union School will create web application maps and/or story maps of the redwood trails at Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park. | $5,000 |
| Redwood National & State Parks | Supports an internship program providing students with experience in various facets of Vegetation Management in the redwood ecosystem. | $5,000 |
| Ink People | Supports a program with Loleta School to engage the 5th & 6th grade students in a week long program to explore life in the redwood forest. | $5,000 |
| Miranda Junior High | This project transforms Stephens Grove into an outdoor classroom for students at Miranda Junior High as they participate in a year-long redwood education program. | $5,000 |
| Marin County | ||
| Muir Woods National Monument (GGNPC) | Funds transportation costs for the Into the Redwood Forest program, an interpretive program for Bay Area elementary school students. | $10,000 |
| Salmon Protection and Watershed Network | Allows at least 300 elementary school students firsthand experiences of creekside redwood groves, redwood forest ecology, propagation and restoration. | $5,000 |
| WildCare | Supports Nature Discovery field trips, Family Adventures, week-long Nature Camps, and Nature Van presentations. | $1,500 |
| YMCA Point Bonita | Funds a field trip for low-income students to Muir Woods National Monument as part of the camp’s larger K-8 environmental education partnership with local schools. | $1,500 |
| Mendocino County | ||
| Mendocino Area Parks Association | To provide school field trip programs at Standish-Hickey State Recreation Area. | $5,000 |
| Monterey County | ||
| Ventana Wilderness Alliance | Salinas Valley youth visit state and national redwood parks to learn about redwoods and perform stewardship projects. | $5,000 |
| Sacramento County | ||
| Yav Pem Suab Academy | Supports a Coast Redwoods education course for 4th grade students in the Sacramento area. | $1,500 |
| San Francisco County | ||
| San Francisco Botanical Garden Society | Implements a standards-based field trip program for kindergarten students in the Garden’s redwood grove. | $4,000 |
| Wilderness Arts and Literacy Collaborative | Supports redwood-focused educational program for Balboa and Downtown high school students, including both in-class lessons and field trips to California parks; multidisciplinary approach includes science, art, poetry. | $5,000 |
| San Mateo County | ||
| Vida Verde Nature Education | Funding for 3-day, overnight camping experiences in the redwoods for Bay Area inner-city, minority, and low-income youth. | $5,000 |
| Santa Cruz County | ||
| Every Child Outdoors | Allows fifth grade students to attend a 4 day/3 night redwood program at the Santa Cruz County Outdoor Science School. | $5,000 |
| Shasta County | ||
| Burney Elementary School | Supports fifty 6th graders to attend a week long nature camp at Mendocino Outdoor Science School (MOSS). | $5,000 |
| Sonoma County | ||
| LandPaths | Third and 6th grade students conduct environmental stewardship and education focused on redwood ecology. Includes four redwood forest visits. | $5,000 |
| Pepperwood Foundation | Teens participate in a 4-week summer internship that contributes data to the League’s citizen science program, Redwood Watch. | $5,000 |
| Stewards of the Coast and Redwoods | This program incorporates citizen science with a multiple overnight adventure for youth at one of our redwood campgrounds in the State Parks’ Russian River District. | $5,000 |
| Stanislaus County | ||
| Empire Elementary School | Low-income students learn about the redwood forest in the classroom, participate in field trips to redwood parks, and collect data for Redwood Watch using trees located at school. | $1,500 |
| Yolo County | ||
| Gibson Elementary School | Supports sixth grade students to attend a week long outdoor nature camp in Sonoma County. This gives students a firsthand experience in a redwood forest during a unit on redwood ecosystems. | $5,000 |
About Save the Redwoods League
Walk through a redwood forest — home of the tallest, largest, and some of the oldest living beings on Earth—and you can’t help but feel an overwhelming sense of awe and peace among these magnificent giants. Since 1918, Save the Redwoods League has led the effort to protect the coast redwoods and giant sequoias for all to experience and enjoy. To date the League has completed the purchase of more than 190,000 acres of redwood forest and associated land. For more information, please visit SaveTheRedwoods.org, or sign up for monthly email updates at SaveTheRedwoods.org/signup.
Tags: 2014, Press Release
