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Helping kids and teens experience Yosemite’s wonders and create lasting connections with nature.

Yosemite’s future depends on its future champions. Your support can fund programs that inspire the next generation of park-lovers and public lands leaders by helping kids, teens and young adults get outside, explore and learn about the natural world, and participate in stewardship projects.

Current Projects

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WildLink
Expand access and opportunity on public lands for local, gateway community high school students through wilderness expeditions, stewardship projects, leadership trainings, family weekends, and park-focused career exploration. 
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Expanding Horizons
Connect 200+ fourth grade students from Yosemite’s gateway communities with the park’s natural wonders through a multi-faceted educational experience that includes an in-person, full-day excursion in Yosemite.
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Teaching Yosemite: A Toolkit for Educators
Inspire the future stewards of Yosemite by supporting the park’s Education team in creating a series of educational videos for fourth through sixth graders and offering a virtual toolkit for educators to teach students about the National Park Service.
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Junior Rangers
Engage with Yosemite’s youngest visitors through year-round Junior Ranger programming, including ranger-led walks and talks, free workbooks in English and Spanish, an adaptive learning guide, and the expansion of creative, bilingual programs.
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Yosemite Leadership Program
Educate and inspire new environmental leaders through UC Merced–affiliated programs: an on-campus Wilderness Education Center, a two-year academic program, and summer internships in Yosemite.
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Through donor-supported youth programs, tens of thousands of children have earned their Junior Ranger badges, middle- and high-school students have immersed in the Yosemite Wilderness on camping and backpacking trips, undergraduates have learned about environmental leadership and completed prestigious internships with park professionals, and young adults have honed trail restoration skills in the ultimate outdoor classroom.

The impact of those programs doesn’t end when a hike, summer course or semester wraps up — many youth-program alumni have gone on to careers in public lands, including in Yosemite.

Areas of Focus

Thanks to supporters, we’ve provided over $152 million to Yosemite for more than 800 completed projects. Donor gifts help improve trails, restore habitat, protect wildlife, inspire the next generation of nature-lovers and more. Explore our funding areas to see current and past projects.