By Andrea Estrada

Kids in Nature, an innovative children’s education program at UCSB, is one of two recipients of the prestigious Governor’s Environmental and Economic Leadership Award in the category of “Children’s Environmental Education.” The award was presented to program co-founder Jennifer Thorsch and Chancellor Henry Yang at a formal ceremony in Sacramento late last month.

California’s highest environmental honor, the governor’s award recognizes individuals, organizations, and businesses that have demonstrated exceptional leadership in voluntary efforts to conserve California’s resources, protect and enhance the environment, and build relationships between public and private entities.

A highly regarded program of UCSB’s Cheadle Center for Biodiversity and Ecological Restoration and the Sedgwick Reserve, KIN is designed to enrich the learning experiences of underrepresented and underserved youth in the community. Beginning its seventh year, the program provides fifth-grade students with a year-long learning experience that combines hands-on classroom activities, interactive custom-designed computer simulations, and field trips to the Cheadle Center, Bren Hall, Sedgwick Reserve, and Arroyo Hondo Preserve. Activities focus on environmental science, botany, ecology, and habitat restoration.

“I am delighted that the Kids in Nature program has received the 2007 governor’s award,” said Thorsch, director of the Cheadle Center. She hopes that the award will also attract donors’ attention. She created the program in 2001 with Michael Williams who, at the time, was director of the Sedgwick Reserve, a part of the UC Natural Reserve System. He is now a faculty member in the botany department at Butte College.

“This honor is a milestone in the evolution of the Kids in Nature program,” she added. “Our approach of providing hands-on science education has increased student interest in science, improved student test scores, and provided role models for young girls and boys.”

At the Sedgwick Reserve each small group of students works in its own 25-meter plot along Figueroa Creek. The creek is an intact but badly eroded watershed that spills off of Figueroa Mountain just above the reserve. Selecting plants for their restoration site from a native plant nursery created by former KIN classes, the students learn first-hand how their efforts will help stabilize the banks and prevent further bank erosion.

At UCSB and Arroyo Hondo, students learn about watersheds and environmental benefits, such as pollution reduction and habitat enhancement.

For more information on the award and this year’s recipients, visit <www.calepa.ca.gov/Awards/GEELA>.