![]() | This article contains content that is written like an advertisement .(December 2011) |
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Established | 1971 |
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Purpose | Environmental education |
Headquarters | Sausalito, California, United States |
Area served | |
President and CEO | Phillip Kilbridge [1] |
Website | https://www.naturebridge.org/ |
NatureBridge, formerly Yosemite Institute and later Yosemite National Institutes, is an American nonprofit organization founded in 1971 that provides environmental education through field studies. It has programs for elementary, middle, and high school students in four national park locations: Yosemite National Park, Golden Gate National Recreation Area, Olympic National Park, and Prince William Forest Park. [2]
The organization is estimated to serve 30,000 students each year. [3] [4] Its lessons include hiking, laboratory-style experiments, and excursions in the backcountry. [5]
The organization was founded in Yosemite National Park in 1971, under the name Yosemite Institute. [6] Its founding was inspired by a student trip to Yosemite led by high school teacher Don Rees in the same year. He consequently became the organization's first Executive Director. [2] Its first board chair was Jack H. Walston, [6] [2] who also served as vice president and director of the Los Angeles-based company Walston and Co. Initial funding was provided by Curry Co. and Yosemite Park itself. [6]
In 1973 Yosemite Institute acquired a special use permit for a blister rust facility in Crane Flat, which it used for longer than was envisioned. [7] : 264 This aging facility was replaced with a new building in Henness Ridge in 2002. [7] : 41 To reflect its growth beyond Yosemite, the organization changed its name to Yosemite National Institutes in 1984. [2]
NatureBridge partnered with Stanford University, the S.D. Betchel Jr. Foundation, and the Pisces Foundation in 2010 to form the ChangeScale initiative, intended to improve environmental education. [3] In 2012, it merged with the Headlands and Olympic Park Institutes. [4] In August 2020, the organization was forced to terminate 21 already-furloughed employees and shut down its Seattle office due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In an attempt to counter these losses, it subsequently established an online learning program and has since resumed normal programs. [8]
The NatureBridge on the coast of Lake Crescent, near the Lake Crescent Lodge, has a variety of activities depending on the school. Some activities range from canoeing, walking in the forest, and maybe even climbing Mt. Stormking.
On Outside magazine's list of best employers for 2011, NatureBridge was ranked at #30. [9]
The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a voluntary government work relief program that ran from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men ages 18–25 and eventually expanded to ages 17–28. The CCC was a major part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal that supplied manual labor jobs related to the conservation and development of natural resources in rural lands owned by federal, state, and local governments. The CCC was designed to supply jobs for young men and to relieve families who had difficulty finding jobs during the Great Depression in the United States. There was eventually a smaller counterpart program for unemployed women called the She-She-She Camps, which were championed by Eleanor Roosevelt.
The conservation movement, also known as nature conservation, is a political, environmental, and social movement that seeks to manage and protect natural resources, including animal, fungus, and plant species as well as their habitat for the future. Conservationists are concerned with leaving the environment in a better state than the condition they found it in. Evidence-based conservation seeks to use high quality scientific evidence to make conservation efforts more effective.
The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government, within the U.S. Department of the Interior. The service manages all national parks; most national monuments; and other natural, historical, and recreational properties, with various title designations. The United States Congress created the agency on August 25, 1916, through the National Park Service Organic Act. Its headquarters are in Washington, D.C., within the main headquarters of the Department of the Interior.
John Muir, also known as "John of the Mountains" and "Father of the National Parks", was a Scottish-born American naturalist, author, environmental philosopher, botanist, zoologist, glaciologist, and early advocate for the preservation of wilderness in the United States.
The University of Colorado Boulder is a public research university in Boulder, Colorado, United States. Founded in 1876, five months before Colorado became a state, it is the flagship university of the University of Colorado system. CU Boulder is a member of the Association of American Universities and is classified among R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity.
Sheffield Hallam University (SHU) is a public research university in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The university is based on two sites; the City Campus is located in the city centre near Sheffield railway station, while the Collegiate Crescent Campus is about two miles away in the Broomhall Estate off Ecclesall Road in south-west Sheffield. A third campus at Brent Cross Town in the London Borough of Barnet is expected to open for the 2025–26 academic year.
State parks are parks or other protected areas managed at the sub-national level within those nations which use "state" as a political subdivision. State parks are typically established by a state to preserve a location on account of its natural beauty, historic interest, or recreational potential. There are state parks under the administration of the government of each U.S. state, some of the Mexican states, and in Brazil. The term is also used in the Australian states of Victoria and New South Wales. The equivalent term used in Canada, Argentina, South Africa, and Belgium, is provincial park. Similar systems of local government maintained parks exist in other countries, but the terminology varies.
The University of California, Merced is a public land-grant research university in Merced, California. It is one of the ten campuses in the University of California (UC) system. Established in 2005, UC Merced is the newest campus within the UC system. The primary campus is located around five miles north of Merced and sits adjacent to Lake Yosemite. The main campus is around 1,026 acres in size, and total land owned by the university amounts to around 8,195 acres including large areas of preserve land. Large swaths of almond orchards and natural grasslands surround the university.
The State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF) is a public research university in Syracuse, New York focused on the environment and natural resources. It is part of the State University of New York (SUNY) system. ESF is immediately adjacent to Syracuse University, within which it was founded, and with which it maintains a special relationship. It is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity".
The Adirondack Park is a park in northeastern New York protecting the Adirondack Mountains. The park was established in 1892 for "the free use of all the people for their health and pleasure", and for watershed protection. At 6.1 million acres, it is the largest park in the contiguous United States.
The University of Houston–Clear Lake (UHCL) is a public university in Pasadena and Houston, Texas, with branch campuses in Pearland and Texas Medical Center. It is part of the University of Houston System. Founded in 1971, UHCL had an enrollment of more than 9,000 students for fall 2019.
Outdoor education is organized learning that takes place in the outdoors, typically during school camping trips. Outdoor education programs sometimes involve residential or journey wilderness-based experiences in which students participate in a variety of adventurous challenges and outdoor activities such as hiking, climbing, canoeing, ropes courses and group games. Outdoor education draws upon the philosophy, theory, and practices of experiential education and environmental education.
Environmental education (EE) refers to organized efforts to teach how natural environments function, and particularly, how human beings can manage behavior and ecosystems to live sustainably. It is a multi-disciplinary field integrating disciplines such as biology, chemistry, physics, ecology, earth science, atmospheric science, mathematics, and geography.
Antioch University New England is a private graduate school located in Keene, New Hampshire, United States. It is part of the Antioch University system, a private, non-profit, 501(c)(3) institution that includes campuses in Seattle, Washington; Los Angeles, California; and Santa Barbara, California. It is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. The most well-known campus was Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio, which is now independent of the Antioch University system.
Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel, or SPNI, is an Israeli non-profit environmental organization working to preserve plants, animals, and natural environments that represent bio-diversity, by protecting the lands and waters needed for their survival, and is Israel's oldest and largest conservation organization.
Chinquapin is a former settlement in Mariposa County, California. It was located 8.5 miles (14 km) north-northwest of Wawona. It is located within Yosemite National Park, adjacent to the community of Yosemite West. Chinquapin is the midway point between Yosemite Valley and Wawona, a community inside the park.
The Conservation Fund is a U.S. nonprofit organization with a dual charter to pursue environmental preservation and economic development. From 2008–2018, it has placed more than 500,000 acres under conservation management through a program whose goal is to purchase and permanently protect working forests. Since its founding in 1985, the organization has protected land and water in all 50 states, including parks, historic battlefields, and wild areas. The Fund works with community and government leaders, businesses, landowners, conservation nonprofits and other partners to integrate economic and environmental objectives.
The Nature and Wildlife Discovery Center is a multi-campus nature preserve and educational center in Pueblo County, Colorado, United States. The NWDC is a 501 (c)(3) tax-exempt corporation which includes a 611 acres (247 ha) mountain park, lodge, gift shop, and museum in Beulah, a small museum and educational center as well as an open-space park on the Arkansas River in Pueblo, and an adjacent raptor education and rehabilitation facility.
The Cayuga Nature Center (CNC) is an educational institution addressing nature and environmental issues. It is located on the west side of Cayuga Lake in Tompkins County, New York.
In this episode, [Lynn Riddick] talks with Phillip Kilbridge, president and CEO of NatureBridge.