Here at TreePeople, back-to-school has us celebrating the start of our favorite season—Eco-tour season!

For over thirty years, thousands of Los Angeles area children have experienced a TreePeople Eco-tour as a high point of their school year. For some inner city students, their field trip to TreePeople’s 45-acre natural park and learning campus in the center of Los Angeles is their very first connection with nature.

As students rotate through a series of interactive educational stations, TreePeople educators use creative and engaging activities to help them see, hear, feel and understand the natural cycles of a forest. They learn how those cycles have been disrupted in our city, and what they can do to help grow the city forest, including caring for trees and soil, as well as conserving energy, water and waste. And they almost always come back talking about the “Dirt Doctor!”

Early learning about the natural environment can set values and behaviors for a lifetime. The ultimate impact of Eco-tours is a new generation of environmentally-literate Americans, who understand and appreciate nature and are prepared to take part in solving our urgent environmental challenges.

The Eco-tour Program serves 10,000 kindergarten through 12th grade students in Los Angeles County each year. To learn more and sign-up your classroom or youth program, click here.