Take a Field Trip with AFC!

Thanks to generous grant support from the Helen and Will Webster Family Foundation, our Conservation Through Education Program provides FREE field trips to our preserves for K-12 schools across Los Angeles County. Spending time outdoors is critical to well-being; these excursions provide students with meaningful and memorable educational experiences where they can connect to the animals, plants, and landscapes of our region at one of our nature preserves. Field trips are available Wednesday through Friday during the school year. To schedule a field trip, please click the button to submit a request form.

• Our curricula is compliant with the STEM Education Act. Trained docents lead students through our preserves, teaching them about wildlife and wildlife corridors, native plants and ecology, geology, watersheds, Traditional Ecological Knowledge, Indigenous culture and history, and land stewardship. Take a look at applicable Next Generation Science Standards here.
• Field Trips take place at our Rosemont Preserve in La Crescenta. While being lead through the preserve, students are immersed in the scents and sounds of our foothills. While catching glimpses of elusive wildlife, they learn about restoration and stewardship practices, and remote wildlife tracking and photography.
• If you’re interested in a service activity, participating in AFC programs meets educational and community service requirements while inspiring students to explore environmental studies and become future land stewards.

If you have not received a response to your request or have any questions, please contact AFC’s Program Coordinator, Kyle Cavazos, for more information:
[email protected]

AFC’s Field Trip Programs

Student Learning Outcomes:
Educational programs offer an interdisciplinary approach by including concepts of life and Earth science, math, geology, history, ethnobotany, ecology, and land-use planning into an integrated curriculum.

Grade Levels Served:
AFC’s field trip programs can be modified for grade levels K-12.

Teachers and Students:
Educational field trip programs at the Preserve are intended to correlate with teachers’ in-class curriculum. Incorporating field trip programs with existing school curriculum provides students with an opportunity for experiential learning. We use our sites and available resources to create meaningful and memorable learning experiences for students in a real-world situation. There is no substitute for real world learning where students can touch, smell and hear what they are studying.

Native Plants, Local History:
AFC’s native plant curriculum focuses on the types of plant adaptations that allow plants to survive and thrive in our Mediterranean climate now plagued with drought. It also teaches about native plant use by the first people to inhabit our area, the Tongva, who lived in balance with their environment.

Geology:
AFC’s geology curriculum teaches about plate tectonics, geology, rock types, watersheds and stormwater runoff. AFC Preserves lend physical features to reference when teaching the concepts of what defines a watershed or drainage basin.

Avifauna:
AFC’s San Gabriel Foothills Avifauna Curriculum introduces students to local and migratory birds of the San Gabriel Foothills using binoculars to magnify the wonders of bird watching. Discover the fascinating connections between our feathered friends and their vibrant ecosystems, all while exploring our own relationships with birds and nature.

Service Activity:
Students can enjoy a hands-on experience of pulling invasive species and restoring habitat. They will learn about the importance of native plants and the threat invasive species can have to an ecosystem. Students can also help with repairing and maintaining our trails.