It started as a cool and foggy morning at Land’s End Visitor Center when we gathered in front of the Sutro Baths in San Francisco—a place that once was transformed from a sand-covered outcropping into lush gardens and opened to the public by Adolph Sutro in the late 1800s—for a special kind of outing.
Greenbelt Alliance partnered with Life Frames’ A Living Library to host an outing for over 50 students working through their summer internship program. In San Francisco, Life Frames works with nearly 800 children and youth yearly at six schools funded by the Department of Children, Youth, and Their Families. The organization provides hands-on and interdisciplinary master planning, greening, and conservation education programs for people of all ages in the OMI/Excelsior and Bernal Heights districts.
“We want to break concrete and put in green spaces. A Living Library is everything, it’s the world, people, insects, soil, air, and how we all interact. We are connecting youth to the world,” said José “JD”, A Living Library’s Director of Interns. “The outing was beautiful, Ken is amazing, he is so knowledgeable. The youth is learning something about the natural world and it is sparking their interest in the environmental field. Getting them outside of their everyday routine and connecting them to nature is a great part of our mission.”
Youth in Nature
For many students, it was their first time exploring nature at Land’s End, which is part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. We headed north on the Coastal Trail, roughly following an old steam train road, where the gorgeous views of the vast Pacific Ocean were enveloped by fog. On our way, we encountered many different species of plants and animals, such as the coyote bush, lupine, and even a western fence lizard resting on a branch.
“The hike today was totally awesome. Ken was more than a guide, he had a ton of interesting information and fun facts for us that even as a long-time resident of San Francisco I had no clue about,” shared attendee, Mike McCoy. “I really liked learning about the medicinal properties of the plants around here, like using yarrow leaves to contain bleeding or chewing willow bark for headaches,” Mike explained.
Antonio Moreno, Director of Gardens at Life Frames’ A Living Library, joined in to share the important perspectives of indigenous traditional ecological knowledge, local native histories, and native plant uses of plants and trees we saw on the way, such as the willow tree, with it’s bark, branches and shoots for baskets and construction of homes, shades, granaries, and more.
Moreno also acknowledged the Ramaytush people as the original inhabitants of the land before colonization. “I feel that it is imperative to inform the public, and especially youth, that the contributions shared with the modern-world by native cultures and practitioners, needs to be known in order to give the minimal credit, where it is due. This acknowledgement can bring some visibility back to many native tribes and communities which have historically been omitted systematically into non-existence and invisibility, and I am grateful for this opportunity to acknowledge the contributions and histories so frequently ignored or unknown,” said Antonio.
Outings Program
Greenbelt Alliance provides free, guided walks and hikes throughout all nine counties as a unique and engaging way to share the natural benefits of the Bay Area. “There is so much to learn from the surrounding nature, including in an urban setting like San Francisco,” said Ken Lavin, Greenbelt Alliance’s outing coordinator. “It’s so important to foster that connection at all ages, and hopefully inspire in them a will to protect open spaces for their natural beauty, climate benefits, and overall well-being.”
Our team of expert outing leaders includes urban planners, docents, and naturalists all knowledgeable in the region’s policy landscape, land-use issues, ecology, and history.
Through our free outing program, which has been active for almost 30 years, we foster a deeper connection to our natural lands, driving the will to protect and steward these places for generations to come. Check out our schedule of upcoming outings and sign up!
