At the recent International Leadership Summit for the Children & Nature Network in California, I was fortunate to attend a session about green schoolyards.
Leading the group was Jaime Zaplatosch, formerly of Openlands, an accredited land trust based in Chicago. In this room with activists, educators, school staff and landscape architects were representatives of many other land trusts from across the nation. It was an inspiring gathering with the singular focus on connecting children to nature.
The benefits of access to nature and outdoor experiences has been well documented by the Children & Nature Network.
Every land trust has the opportunity to support their own goal of conserving lands that matter while also supporting children in their community. Whether compelled by a desire to support student learning, physical, psychological or emotional health, social development, or concern for the environment, improving access to nature is a proven solution.
Consider how the Trust for Public Land's initiative to conserve open spaces within a 10-minute walk of every U.S. child's home parallels the Feather River Land Trust's own Learning Landscapes model of conserving open spaces within a 10-minute walk of every local school. This focus on proximity supports accessibility for all and increases the likelihood of repeat visits. Creating these outdoor connections near homes and schools encourages weekly — even daily — interactions. And that's good both for people and for land conservation.
The Children & Nature Network's Green Schoolyards Initiative seeks to optimize the quality of every school campus in the country. This is an ambitious goal that will require strategic partnering. Your land trust could be one such partner, and frankly, our schools cannot do this without our help.
The Land Trust Alliance's K-12 Environmental Educators' Community of Practice was created to help you connect with others to do this successfully. (To access the materials, log in to the online conversations and choose Land Trust K-12 Educators. Join the conversation to see what all the excitement is about!
