Ventana Wildlife Society program content creation is guided by best practices in Environmental and Outdoor Education (EOE), and our Instructors are talented at adjusting as needed to be culturally sensitive and relevant for our participants.

The Natural Area Trips incorporated two EDUCATIONAL GOALs 1) Foster stewardship of the environment using curriculum pursuant to Public Resources Code, Division 34, Part 4: Statewide Environmental Education (Sections 71300-71305) and 2) Curriculum that is aligned to the content standards for California public schools adopted by the State Board of Education, including, but not limited to, the Next Generation Science standards, or the California History-Social Science Standards. Activities often include wildlife viewing, species monitoring (i.e. California condors), water quality or soil testing, fresh-water macroinvertebrate surveys, tide-pooling, plankton studies, insect surveys, watershed mapping, hiking, and camping. Local vendors are enlisted for whale-watching tours and kayak outings. Additional activities are chosen that engage participants in the joyful and inquisitive exploration of the outdoors. Journals and “sit spots” are recurring components of our programming as they provide a way for participants to reflect on and internalize their experiences. These are quiet moments when everyone finds their own spot to write or draw, and practice awareness skills to better observe and connect with nature. Select topics/themes often include species recovery, stewardship of our planet, connection to nature, and management of the planet and its resources.

Through Instructor modeling and student practicing, youth are motivated to “think globally by acting locally” and to improve the environmental value of their nearby surroundings. What’s more, Ventana Wildlife Society provides education to participants about the numerous benefits of spending time being active in nature. This includes experiencing first-hand how nature can positively impact mental health, physical well-being, stress reduction, and overall quality of life. Our instructors also incorporate behavioral change strategies to encourage participants to incorporate nature-based activities into their daily routines.

All VWS curriculum is guided by best practices in Environmental & Outdoor Education, which includes connecting to NGSS and State Standards, socio-emotional learning, and being culturally sensitive to and relevant for participants. Programs included educational activities that foster environmental stewardship, with older students involved in helping to plan and lead trips. Activities included responsible bird and wildlife observation; water testing; tide pooling; and recycled art. Camp menus included nutritious options, and outdoor activities such as hiking, walking and kicking a soccer ball encouraged physical activity, modeling a healthy lifestyle. Activities engage participants in joyful and inquisitive exploration of the outdoors. Journals and “sit spots” provide a way for participants to reflect on and internalize their experiences. These are quiet moments when everyone finds their own spot to write or draw, and practice awareness skills to better observe and connect with nature. 

We consider Dr. Pedro Moreno, Family Physician a co-founder of our nature prescription program due to his integral role in assisting with the pilot programs that have developed into our current project in East Alisal. He continues to referral families to our programs and connect us to other healthcare providers in the community. Dr. Moreno has been an excellent advisor and we have learned that we cannot solely lean on him, so we have branched out to other healthcare partners including assisting to launch a county-wide ParkRx coalition that is inclusive of various health care representatives and nonprofit organizations.

Women, Infants & Children, Family Nutrition Program (WIC) is our Community Home Base, which operates complimentary programs. We are very pleased that this was the selected community home base, as it enables us to reach many youth and families in a centralized, trusted location. In fact, we have leaned into what we are calling the Community-based Hub Model for Wellness Through Nature. Inspired by this Outdoor Equity grant, the model truly allows us to deliver a deep breadth of immersive programming for a key target community.

Everyone’s Harvest, Community Farmer's Market and Fresh Rx, Family Nutrition in Collaboration with Doctors act as our outreach and education partner during weekly markets. They are a complimentary program whose participants overlap ours. We continue to attend the weekly Farmer’s Market and share cross-referrals with Fresh Rx. It is a strong method for reaching youth and families.

Doctors and health professionals are encouraged to combine referrals with other prescriptions such as for fresh fruits and vegetables from the farmer’s market and targeted exercise by fitness professionals for a whole-family approach to care.

State Parks and the State Coastal Conservancy are partnering with us to provide facilities for overnight camping. To better implement the overnight components of our programming, we are working with State Parks and the State Coastal Conservancy to improve the facilities at Andrew Molera State Park to be known as S’MORE – Space for Meaningful Outdoor Recreation and Education.

The S’MORE site improvements establish an ideal location for programming with easy beach access and include Areas for Tents | ADA Parking | Drop-off Welcoming Area | Picnic Shelter With Rustic Kitchen + Picnic Tables | Outdoor Grill | North & South Fire Rings | Native Turf Play Area | Wayfinding and Interpretive Signage | Chemical Toilets | River Trail.

WIC provides use of their spaceand their staff have joined our programs and are able to share first-hand experiences to encourage new families to attend. Sherwood and Los Padres Elementary Schools assist with recruitment. We attend their table events and are participating in virtual presentations for families in the school district. The Alisal Health Clinic provides us with access to doctors so we can discuss with them prescribing nature to their patients. Dr. Moreno, at the clinic, is one of our biggest advocates, recently stating “I am inspired by your work in the multiple programs that you have developed in the recent years. Congratulations - you are making a difference in the farm working families we both serve.” We attend Everyone’s Harvest Farmer’s Market and share cross-referrals with Fresh Rx. We are also a founder of ParkRx Monterey County, and recently joined United Way’s Smart Referral Network which allows 704 users to make “closed loop” referrals to each others programs.

Ventana Wildlife Society’s activities include a wide range of opportunities that develop youths’ connection to and sense of responsibility towards their local environment, all the while improving health and wellness. Our strategies help students gain a greater sense of where they live and the natural community of which they are part. Through participation in meaningful activities together, youth and families increase their knowledge about nearby parks and how to access them. Through recurring experiences, they grow their comfort level in visiting nature on their own, begin to make the outdoors a regular part of a healthy lifestyle, and ultimately have increased feelings of wellness.

Some of the many ways we have broken barriers include:

• Incorporating our fleet of 15-passenger vans. We pick participants up at partner locations and transport them to a natural area. In this way, participation can take place while parents work or at no transportation expense for the family.
• Maintaining passionate Instructors that are bilingual and trained not only in best practices in environmental education but, just as importantly, in socio-emotional learning, trauma-informed learning, and cultural competencies.
• Making certain partner schools do not incur any expense; including transportation expenses. This financial assistance, coupled with the quality programming aligned with school schedules, makes launching and sustaining partnerships possible.
• Allowing for flexibility that is important for both enjoyment and retention of concepts. While the carefully curated curriculum is ready to implement, if needed, youth’s emergent interests can become the topic or activity of the day.
• And, regularly evaluating for any other barriers that may present or persist and works with participants and partners to overcome them. It is so exciting to see youth sharing their experiences with their communities and their elders. For years we have served solely youth, and now that we are expanding our programs to include families, it is becoming very clear how connecting individuals to nature can create a chain reaction within the community. We are looking forward to continuing to explore how we can interlace our youth and family programs, as well as foster more mentorship opportunities and community involvement.
• We are also working toward better promoting the difference we make for youth and families. Specifically, we’ll be creating a Youth Voices page upon our website and highlight “Where they are now” to celebrate their future pursuits.

This past year we have really seen first-hand how important it is to build trust with the community we are working with, and how our monthly community club has really made a difference in that respect. The quotes below show how families that were not comfortable sending youth to our programs, and adults who were not interested or comfortable with attending programs themselves, began to change their minds. The community of East Salinas has required more patience and relationship building than any of our other program locations, and we are excited to see engagement slowly but steadily building. In addition, participation in school resource fairs has opened up new opportunities for community connection.

Evaluation is important, and we collect pre/post surveys, however we also use informal techniques, like questions and counting ‘show of hands’. This is an easy way to collect information as surveys can sometimes be viewed as a “test” by participants or staff may forget to administer them.