In the spirit of public education and borne of hardworking and dedicated individuals, Northern California SAF annually sponsors a couple immensely popular conservation education programs. Both seek to educate urban youths and adults on how California's Forests are managed by professionals via hands-on presentations and exhibits. The two programs, Forest Conservation Days (FCD) and the Forest Institute for Teachers (FIT) are gaining popularity among academic circles. This is directly a result of the time, money, and experience donated by professionals in various aspects of the Natural Resources fields.
Forest Conservation Days (Click for more information)
Located in Saratoga, this program provides urban 5th grade students with an opportunity to experience first-hand how our forests are managed. This award-winning program runs for approximately two weeks and seeks multiple day commitments from Foresters, Archaeologists, Geologists, Wildlife Biologists, Fire Management Professionals, Soil Scientists, and other natural resource professionals to assist in varied activities such as hiking in the woods, active interpretations at exhibits, and crowd management. Overnight accommodations (at no cost) are available for volunteers at the American Youth Hostel located on site at Sanborn Park. Interested? Email or contact the coordinator Thomas Catchpole at 559-855-2194 or email treecookies@netptc.net.
Aimed toward[s] educating the educators, this program provides K-12 teachers with the knowledge, tools, and skills to effectively teach their students about forest ecology and forest resource management practices. Three, one-week long sessions of this award-winning program are being offered, one at Camp Latieze (Shasta County), one in Arcata (Humboldt County) and one near Quincy (Plumas County). Public and private forest resource specialists and other natural resource managers, environmentalists, and environmental education specialists serve as the educators and facilitators at these workshops. FIT participants will develop a curriculum, design student projects, and become adequately endowed with the tools necessary to increase student understanding and appreciation of our dynamic forest ecosystems and the complex issues faced by land managers. Interested participants are strongly suggested to apply ASAP for the workshop of their choice as there is a limited amount of space available. For application procedures or volunteer opportunities, email Gary Nakamura or call
him at (530) 224-4902. If you prefer, you may follow this link to on-line registration.
