Climate Resilient Communities (CRC) organized a field trip to San Vicente Redwoods for nearly fifty high school students from the San Jose Latino College Prep Academy. The purpose of this field trip was to introduce the topics of climate change and sustainability through the lens of fire ecology, and what better place to carry out this important conversation than San Vicente Redwoods!

The trails meander through a variety of areas of regrowth within the burn scar, moving through areas of low, medium, and high intensity fire. We were able to highlight watersheds, wildlife, plants, and fire adapted landscapes by seeing the landscape firsthand.

Being from East San Jose, the kids all remembered watching the 2020 August Lightning Complex smoke collum grow in the Santa Cruz Mountains, the unhealthy air quality days shut inside, and the infamous orange day where the sun never rose. The students made the connection that climate change is not just happening at the ice caps or in far-off rainforests but is happening in our communities and is already impacting our air quality, watersheds, and wildlife.

Due to years of COVID, many of these highschoolers had never been on a field trip and were able to be outside the classroom and in nature. I was reminded of how fortunate I am to spend most of my days stewarding the trails and working in the forest. The burn scar is full of lessons to learn, and I am grateful for the privilege to share this space with visitors.

Funded by a grant from the Santa Clara County Health Department, this was an opportunity to get students from front-line communities into a climate impacted space to build on their classroom learning with a more hands-on, feet-on-the-ground experience. CRC will also be working with the Youth Climate Program on piloting a summer program for students to provide them with the knowledge, skills, resources, and experiences (like this SVR field trip) to become effective climate leaders.

The Land Trust is extremely proud and honored to be able to support these efforts and collaborate with local organizations working to bring diverse communities and organizations together to preserve the lands for generations to come!

Thank you to our partners at Peninsula Open Space Trust, Sempervirens Fund, and Save the Redwoods League for making this possible.