This October, about 80 students from five elementary and middle schools visited our properties over the course of one week.
This season marked the start of our new fall camps in partnership with the CARES program. We’re continuing to expand the educational programs that we offer for surrounding communities.
We started by offering summer field trips, and we’re excited to now be offering fall field trips for the Mount Diablo Unified School District’s CARES program as well.
Giving Back to Nature
Photo by Emily Sherwood
These incredible kids enthusiastically pitched in on many environmental service projects at our Curry Canyon Ranch property and at our Mangini Ranch Educational Preserve.
For example, they helped us remove populations of invasive plants, particularly stinkwort, that were growing on our properties.
Group photo after a morning of work! Photo by Emily Sherwood
Good stewardship is hands-on and active, requiring us to monitor and remove invasive plants from our land before they overtake native plant populations.
By doing this work, these kids made a real and significant impact on Mount Diablo as they forged a deeper connection with nature. We’re extremely grateful for their hard work and dedication!
Enjoying the Mountain
In the afternoons, our visiting students had ample time to explore and savor their time outside on Mount Diablo.
They looked to the sky with binoculars, spotting raptors soaring through the sky, and they got to try their hand at plein air painting with watercolors.
Outdoor Education on Mount Diablo
A key part of Save Mount Diablo’s mission is to connect the next generations with nature.
In a time when many people are more disconnected from the natural world than ever before, this work is essential—we want future generations to understand and care about the environment.
Photo by Emily Sherwood
By bringing students outside, we’re enabling them to learn firsthand about the preciousness of our local wild lands, as they enjoy a day of fun and learning outside.
This year is the first time that we’ve hosted this series of fall camps, in addition to the similar camps in summer we’ve hosted since 2021.
We look forward to continuing these fall experiences and to deepening the next generation’s connection to Mount Diablo even more in the years to come.
We’ll continue to bring kids outside on our land. Photo by Emily Sherwood
