WildPlaces is a community based non-profit organization located in Springville, California in the foothills of the Southern Sierra Nevada Mountains. Our mission is to preserve, support, and protect California’s natural and rural places and the people of these landscapes through volunteer-driven habitat restoration, natural and cultural education, and career development.

What we do

WildPlaces’ efforts create and support communities that are active stewards of the land through education, youth service learning, community organizing, and hands-on restoration projects. Our projects include:

Immersed in the Wild

Immersed in the Wild provides single and multi-day outdoor programs that engage under-served youth of diverse ages, backgrounds, and communities throughout California in land stewardship. Expert youth facilitators and activists guide our youth in safe and effective education sessions

Río Limpio

Tule River Outreach and Cleanup is a watershed-wide community effort to keep the Tule River safe, clean and open for all to use. Volunteers clear garbage and remove graffiti from the river while reaching out to and educating river users on the importance of good stewardship practices. WildPlaces has recently partnered with the U.S. Forest Service, Community Services Employment Training (CSET), Sierra Nevada Conservancy and others to gather resources for a long term watershed wide management program.

Sequoia Forest Days

Throughout the planting season volunteers plant Giant Sequoia seedlings on the Trail of 100 Giants and other areas of the Giant Sequoia National Monument. The seedlings were propagated in the Springville nursery and the Cal Native Plant Nursery in Porterville from seeds collected from the Trail of 100 Giants.

Service Learning

Service Learning is a holistic approach to education that combines classroom-based learning with hands-on service projects in the students’ own communities. WildPlaces organizes place-based service learning projects throughout the southern Sierra Nevada that engage youth from local high schools in Tulare and Kern Counties in issues that are relevant to their communities with an emphasis on environmental stewardship.

Outdoor Educator Trainings

Outdoor Educator Trainings prepare local and regional community members, educators, activists, land owners, scientists, and others to be leaders and facilitators for WildPlaces’ outdoor education programs. Both experienced and new leaders emerge from the training more connected as a team, more prepared for the field conditions, and inspired by nature to work strongly together on upcoming youth events.

Springville Nursery

WildPlaces and the U.S. Forest Service work in cooperation at a joint nursery to propagate native species for restoration and education purposes. We grow native oaks to increase awareness about the status of oak woodlands in California and educate private landowners on the benefits of using native drought tolerant plants in a region that is prone to prolonged drought. We also grow Giant Sequoia seedlings and native willows that will be re-planted in the Giant Sequoia National Monument at volunteer restoration and education events with the Forest Service.