Children’s Forest of C.O., Discover Your Forest get field trip grant

The Deschutes National Forest is one of 186 federal sites selected to receive a 2015 field trip grant from the National Park Foundation, the official charity of America’s national parks. Funds from this grant will connect Central Oregon 4th graders to Volcanoes, Lava Caves, and Winter Ecology on the Deschutes National Forest.

This $9,000 grant, part of the Foundation’s Open OutDoors for Kids program, supports the White House youth initiative Every Kid in a Park.

“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.”

Fourth=graders will be accessing public lands through two seasonal field trip programs. Project SNOW (Studying Nature Outdoors in Winter) takes place at Mt Bachelor and its activities encapsulate an important theme of the interconnectedness between snowpack, watershed systems, and human consumption of water.

Together, these activities create a powerful learning experience that solidifies the connection between nature, science, and the students’ own lives.

The Lava Lands Discovery tours offer students a unique opportunity to study volcanoes and their effect upon the physical, biological, and cultural aspects of our world. Lava Lands Discovery Tours occur in Newberry National Monument and help to create a connection between students and the natural world by bringing them into contact with the dramatic evidence of Central Oregon’s volcanic legacy.

“We are extremely grateful for this grant. These 4 th graders are our next generation of environmental stewards and this helps us to reach them early and often,” said Rika Nelson, Executive Director of Discover Your Forest. Katie Chipko, Executive Director of the Children’s Forest of Central Oregon added “These funds will go a long way to helping us meet our goal of providing all Central Oregon students the opportunity to learn and explore outdoors through meaningful education programs.”

For the full list of grantees, and their projects, visit www.nationalparks.org/everykidinapark.

ABOUT THE NATIONAL PARK FOUNDATION

The National Park Foundation is the official charity of America’s national parks and nonprofit partner to the National Park Service. Chartered by Congress in 1967, the National Park Foundation raises private funds to help PROTECT more than 84 million acres of national parks through critical conservation and preservation efforts, CONNECT all Americans with their incomparable natural landscapes, vibrant culture and rich history, and INSPIRE the next generation of park stewards. Find out more and become a part of the national park community at www.nationalparks.org.