Creating a Schoolyard Forest Pilot

Room: 106
Time: 11:30am – 12:30pm

This presentation will discuss schoolyard forests as nature-based solutions to protect students from extreme heat, and improve learning, health, and wellbeing—while engaging students in the design, stewardship, and planting of their forest. Traditional schoolyard design choices—which led to asphalt-covered, sterile environments—have a negative impact on students’ mental and physical health. Schoolyard forests can help mitigate these challenges, offering opportunities for climate resilience, learning, creativity, and community cohesion.

We will then review two in-progress schoolyard forest pilot projects at California public schools that seek to put this concept to practice, focusing on one project in Los Angeles. We will share the process, our experiences, lessons learned, challenges, and opportunities: from selecting the school, to creating a small-scale, nature-based forest design that reflects the community and centers students. We hope sharing these “point in time” details will be useful to others seeking to add trees and shade to their schools.

Learning Objectives:

• How schoolyard forests are a scalable solution to protect students from the impact of climate change while improving health, learning, and environmental and community resilience.
• Our process so far in planning and designing a small schoolyard forest pilot project, in collaboration with the school community, a large school district, and a design team.
• The challenges and opportunities that have come up as we implement this schoolyard forest pilot project.
• Recommendations based on our experience with this pilot project, as well as resources available to schools and districts who are interested in planning, designing, implementing and caring for a schoolyard forest.

Speakers:

Lauren McKenna, Senior Program Manager, Green Schoolyards America
Jessie Salazar, President, SLA

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