OUTDOOR PROGRAMS

A major part of TWC/FUNdKIDS's mission is to provide children with positive outdoor experiences and environmental education. This combination promotes understanding and respect for ourselves, others and the natural surroundings. 

TWC has established partnerships that enable us to provide education and experience to thousands of children every year. Among our programs and partners are the following:

LOS ANGELES COUNTY

Camp Bluff Lake

TWC recently purchased one of the West's premier wild lands camps, which has been showcased in movies like the original version of "Parent Trap." Located at 7,600 feet, the 120-acre camp includes a 25-acre lake and is surrounded by San Bernardino National Forest. The camp also has one of Southern California's best intact mountain marsh and meadow complexes with about a dozen native grasses and the endangered Big Bear Checkerbloom and Yellow Owl's Clover. Mature forests of Lodgepole Pine, Jeffrey Pine and White Fir surround the meadow. Facilities include 12 cabins, a lodge, a large dining hall, and a swimming pool. TWC uses the property for its environmental programs for children. Over 2,500 disadvantaged children will visit Camp Bluff Lake this year.

Los Angeles County Outdoor Science Schools

Unique new sights, sounds, smells, and emotions immediately bombard the senses of students who get off a school bus in the San Gabriel and San Bernardino Mountains for a week-long educational adventure. This is a brand new experience that they will never forget. Students from Los Angeles sometimes catch a glimpse of the local mountains through the haze, but now they are going to spend a week living there - learning important concepts of science education through direct experience. Together with their classroom teachers, students will observe, describe, compare, organize information, and make connections between experiences that lead to conceptual understanding of some of the most important science concepts they can ever learn. The experience binds students and teaches together in a way that perhaps no other experience can.

Through a generous grant from The Wildlands Conservancy, tens of thousands of students are able to explore the real world of science, right in nature's classroom -- an opportunity that they otherwise would almost certainly never have. The Wildlands Conservancy pays for full tuition and transportation so that students from the most poverty-impacted areas of Los Angeles can participate in the Los Angeles County Outdoor Science School. At three sites in the Angeles and San Bernardino National Forests, students are able to get away from the concrete and asphalt covers most of their world, and learn about nature hands-on. The experience changes students, and their teachers, in ways that impact school and personal success. This is important. This makes a difference. This is exciting.

ORANGE COUNTY

Outdoor Science School and Inside the Outdoors Programs

Despite the relative proximity of the mountains, the desert and the ocean, many children from low-income homes in highly urbanized neighborhoods have never visited the natural areas in and around Los Angeles. To introduce them to the beauty and peace that are close at hand, The Wildlands Conservancy embarked upon a cooperative effort with the Orange County Department of Education's Inside the Outdoors Program.

The Wildlands Conservancy pays for the full tuition and transportation for a day long science-based field trip for children from schools serving low-income populations. From tide pools to mountain canyons, fourth and fifth graders learn about and experience nature's wonders. They are usually enthralled the moment they step off the bus. Children often declare, "This was the best day of my life."

Another arm of the Orange County Outdoor Education Program is the Outdoor Science School. Through this program children stay at one of the six sites in the nearby San Bernardino Mountains for five days of instruction in a natural setting. Accompanied by their teachers and visited by their principal, they enjoy the traditional activities of hiking, stargazing and campfires. The curriculum is structured according to the State Science Framework.

For over four years, 119,000 children from San Bernardino, Riverside and Orange counties have enjoyed these two programs.

SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY

Oak Glen Preserve - Outdoor Discovery Program

The Outdoor Discovery Program (ODP) at Oak Glen Preserve is a full 5-1/2 hour field trip experience so that each child will have a chance to learn, explore and gain a new respect for nature while having fun.  The program is open to all third, fourth, fifth, and sixth grade classes in Riverside and San Bernardino County schools.

The Wildlands Conservancy built a two-mile trail at Los Rios Rancho for the use of children attending the ODP.  For many children, this is their first experience in nature using this trail as an outdoor classroom.  The trail meanders through an evergreen forest, past ponds that have migrating ducks in winter, and under the canopy of a deciduous black oak forest that opens onto a boardwalk that has many butterflies when the wetlands are in bloom.  This type of atmosphere accelerates the learning process through the use of all the senses and inspires children to want to learn more about their environment and the preservation of it.

Depending on the grade level, students may experience micro habitats, constellations and legends, plant and animal adaptations, pond explorations and assessments, food pyramids, rock cycle, making rock and mineral boards, water cycle, water quality, use of divining rods to locate water, and crafts related towards the activities.  All grade levels include a Conservation and Appreciation component with topics and activities about saving landscapes and enjoying nature's beauty wherever one may be.

KERN COUNTY

Wind Wolves Preserve

Through its spectacular scenic beauty and rich diversity of life, Wind Wolves Preserve has the power to inspire people to preserve their natural and cultural heritage.  The preserve offers a free environmental education program.  Educators have a choice of programs focusing on Native American lifeways, local history, and ecology programs for each grade level, which complement the State's science curriculum.  In addition, The Wildlands Conservancy/FUNdKIDS pays the cost of busing for students from low-income districts who otherwise would not have the opportunity to go on a nature field trip.  During the 2000-2001 school year, Wind Wolves hosted approximately 15,000 to 20,000 students at the preserve.

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