The local nonprofit land conservation organization Lassen Land and Trails Trust has received $9,000 in grant funding from the National Park Foundation, the official charity of America’s national parks. These grants are part of the Foundation’s Open OutDoors for Kids program, which supports the White House youth initiative Every Kid in a Park.
“This grant money will help us bring students throughout the region to our publicly-owned lands,” said Jessie Diermier, Lassen County Environmental Education Collaborative coordinator. “We’re especially grateful to our partners at Lassen National Forest and the Bureau of Land Management, who worked with us to secure this funding.”
In mid-April, the Collaborative will partner with Lassen National Forest to bring fourth-grade students from 10 school districts and five charter schools to the Forest. Students will learn how to use a dichotomous key to identify trees at the Roxie Peconom Campground, receive a lesson on the region’s Native American history from a representative of Susanville Indian Rancheria, and receive additional instruction from Lassen National Forest archeology, safety, and forestry staff.
The BLM and the Collaborative will partner to bring students to “Lassen County Day in the Desert” a field tour where multiple learning stations focus on cultural resources, archaeology, the Native American perspective on natural resources, noxious weeds, wildlife, botany and noxious weeds.
“It is inspiring to see the National Park Foundation and many other partners step up to support our goal of getting fourth graders and their families into parks, public lands and waters that belong to all Americans,” said U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell. “These generous grants will ensure children across the country have an opportunity to experience the great outdoors in their community while developing a lifelong connection to our nation’s land, water and wildlife.”
National Park Foundation grants have made it possible for more than 400,000 students (including this year’s grantees) to visit national parks and other public lands and waters.
“We want to help people everywhere, from all backgrounds, discover how national parks, forests, wildlife refuges, and other public lands and waters are relevant to their lives, and the best way to do that is to give people the opportunity to experience them first-hand,” said Will Shafroth, president of the National Park Foundation. “Through our grants that provide funding for transportation and in-park learning, we are able to connect youth and their families to these special places and inspire people across the country to find their park which, in turn, can foster a lifelong connection to all that public lands and waters have to offer.”
