Teens on Trails

TIME CHANGE: Teens on Trails Month is rescheduled from January to February 2023 due to hazardous weather conditions. Our hearts are with all those affected by recent storms in the Santa Cruz Mountains and beyond.

We look forward to welcoming middle and high school students at youth-oriented trails events throughout the entirety of February 2023.

Throughout February, our team will host youth-only trail work events across the county to get kids outside and involved in the magic of trail stewardship.

Students will learn about native species and ecological functions, get involved in trail maintenance activities, and connect 1:1 with our professional team to learn about career opportunities in the outdoors. Plus, they'll have fun and win some sweet prizes.

These events are free to attend, and signups are available now. Check out the list of events below, then sign up your student to attend!

We are also available for FREE private trail work events for school groups or youth organizations. Please email [email protected] if you would like to book a special event for your students.

• Saturday, 2/4 at Wilder Ranch State Park

• Saturday, 2/11 at University Connector Trail

• Saturday, 2/25 at DeLaveaga Park

  • Sign up here

In this pilot program, we're partnering with youth groups in underserved communities to host events that introduce their students to the outdoors and foster important connections to our environment.

Each event will:

• Teach students about native species and ecological functions

• Get them involved in trail maintenance activities

• Give them time to connect 1:1 with our professional team to learn about career opportunities in the outdoors

These first twelve events will be hosted alongside Watsonville Environmental Science Workshop, Community Bike Collective, Watsonville Wetlands Watch, and Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History’s Earth Stewards.

• Makes the outdoors more accessible to more children

• Inspires youth to care for open spaces

• Introduces potential careers in the outdoor industry

• Educates youth about local ecology and land stewardship

• Builds self-confidence and self-awareness amongst participants

Teens on Trails is a pilot program–meaning that there’s lots of flexibility in how this program will be run in the future. We created a framework that we think will best support local youth, however, we plan to collect feedback from these first twelve events and use it to improve the program so it creates the most value it possibly can.

Support our Timeless Trails fundraising campaign to bring this program beyond the pilot phase.