Conservancy gets grant for program

The San Dieguito River Valley Conservancy has received a $25,000 grant from The San Diego Foundation to expand the Conservancy’s nature education program, the Watershed Explorers Program.

Launched in February, the outdoor-education program focuses on different aspects of the watershed and enables students to visit different areas in the San Dieguito River Park, see wildlife, learn about diverse habitat types from forests to wetlands and learn about the importance of the cultural and natural resources of the watershed.

“Instructors help students recognize the role they play in keeping the natural community a thriving ecosystem, and new training resources made possible by this grant will help volunteers and docents enhance the quality of the outdoor experiences,” SDRVC Executive Director Trish Boaz said in a release.

The grant comes as part of The San Diego Foundation’s Opening the Outdoors Program, which was established in 2012 after it commissioned a report that found that while San Diego County’s has vast areas of green space, many low-income, ethnically diverse communities have limited access to parks and open spaces.

The Outdoors Program is supported by a collaboration that includes The San Diego Foundation, Satterberg Foundation (in partnership with San Diego Grantmakers), Hattie Ettinger Conservation Fund at The San Diego Foundation, Willis and Jane Fletcher Family Fund 1 at The San Diego Foundation and other generous Foundation donors.

Thanks to donors like The San Diego Foundation, which also gave $53,500 to the Conservancy last year for a passenger van, and a $61,000 grant sponsored by County Supervisor Dianne Jacob for a second van, the Watershed Explorers Program has reached over 80 youth, including the Solana Beach Boys and Girls club through a grant from the city of Solana Beach.

— Submitted press release