Our Mission

The Whiskeytown Environmental School is an institution that:

• Engages children, adults, students, teachers, mentors, families, rangers, and scientists;

• Sustains and builds upon the rich history of environmental and science learning at the site;

• Provides hands-on, minds-on environmental science education that supports California standards;

• Models learner-centered, co-created, field-based science education and scholarship based on current research of how people learn;

• Believes all young people deserve consistent opportunities to build meaningful connections to their natural and cultural heritage by spending time in wild and historic places within their own communities;

• Preserves the secluded sense of sanctuary and safety optimal for distraction-free, immersive, transformative experiences;

• Creates future leaders and life-long stewards;

• Develops and maintains facilities capable of meeting the diverse and evolving needs of community learning;

• Serves as a model of fiscal, social and environmental sustainability; and

• Supports the mutual goals of the four partner organizations–Shasta County Office of Education, National Park Service, Friends of Whiskeytown, and Whiskeytown Environmental School Community.