Statewide Partners
Acorn Naturalists
Acorn Naturalists offers school supplies, science and nature activity kits, and hands-on educational resources for parents, teachers, naturalists, camp leaders, outdoor educators, homeschoolers, preschool and afterschool educators. Acorn Naturalists is the exclusive merchandise distributor for UC California Naturalists and Climate Stewards.
Alliance of Natural Resource Outreach and Service Programs
The Alliance of Natural Resource Outreach and Service Programs (ANROSP) is a national network of natural resource education and service programs which provides leadership, information, and resources to support the establishment and expansion of its member programs. The California Naturalist program is an active member of the ANROSP network and our Director, Greg Ira, is currently serving as co-president of the ANROSP board.
Bay Area Community Resources
Bay Area Community Resources (BACR) delivers a wide range of services to schools and other community settings throughout the greater San Francisco Bay Area. Services are clustered in program areas that include expanded learning, behavioral and mental health, fiscal sponsorship, healthy communities, national service, and youth workforce and re-entry. BACR manages the training of California Climate Action Corps fellows, part of which is becoming a certified Climate Steward.
Bay Nature
Bay Nature is an independent nonprofit publication and website that connects the people of the San Francisco Bay Area to our natural world and motivates people to solve problems with nature in mind. Bay Nature and the California Naturalist program collaborate to enhance natural history content provided to California Naturalists.
California Association of Environmental and Outdoor Education
The Association for Environmental and Outdoor Education (AEOE) is a nonprofit organization that was established to provide a space for educators to connect, establish a supportive community, and share best practices for teaching about the outdoors and the environment. As an institutional member of California AEOE, the California Naturalist program was a sponsor of the 2017 California AEOE Conference and recognizes the vital role this organization plays in advancing the field of environmental education in the non-formal sector.
California Climate Action Corps
The California Climate Action Corps (CCAC) Fellowship is the country’s first state-level, climate service corps to empower all Californians to take meaningful action to safeguard the climate. CCAC fellows become certified Climate Stewards as a part of their training managed by Bay Area Community Resources.
California Conservation Corps
The California Conservation Corps (CCC) is the oldest and largest conservation corps in the country and provides young adults a year of paid service to the State of California. During their year of service, Corpsmembers work on environmental projects and respond to natural and man-made disasters. Through the Youth Community Access Grant Program, the California Naturalist program and the CCC seeks to increase access to the state’s cultural and natural resources through a weeklong outdoor education immersion program for active Corps Members from underserved and low-income communities to some of the state’s most unique natural and cultural resources.
California Environmental Education Interagency Network
The California Environmental Education Interagency Network (CEEIN) is a state government consortium of environmental educators representing departments, boards, and commissions of the California Department of Education, California Environmental Protection Agency, The Resources Agency of California, UC Agriculture and Natural Resources, and the California Department of Food and Agriculture. The California Naturalist program together with California Project Learning Tree represent UC ANR as an official voting member of CEEIN.
California Firewood Task Force
The California Firewood Task Force develops and shares information and outreach materials to help reduce the spread of insects and diseases that can move on firewood. In 2016, the California Naturalist program included outreach messages to the participants of the California Naturalist Conference in Running Springs. Naturalists around the state serve as knowledgeable ambassadors of critical outreach messages related to protecting our environment and engaging people in stewardship of our natural resources.
California Project Learning Tree
Project Learning Tree is an award-winning environmental education program designed for teachers and other educators, parents, and community leaders working with youth from preschool through grade 12. The California Naturalist program has worked closely with California Project Learning Tree (PLT) to promote naturalist training for educators involved in PLT and to encourage California Naturalists to become trained in and use PLT in their volunteer efforts related to environmental education.
California State Parks
California State Parks provide for the health, inspiration and education of the people of California by helping to preserve the state's extraordinary biological diversity, protecting its most valued natural and cultural resources, and creating opportunities for high-quality outdoor recreation. The California Naturalist program is both a professional development opportunity for park staff as well as an opportunity to build the volunteer capacity of local state park associations. Through collaboration with state parks and park associations, the California Naturalist program seeks to help connect people to these natural treasures. Several California Naturalist and Climate Stewards program patterns operate in California State Parks across the state.
Foundation for California Community Colleges
The Foundation for California Community Colleges (Foundation CCC) is built to benefit, support, and enhance the missions of the California Community College system through support from a wide range of partner organizations and individual donations. Foundation CCC, with support through the Good Jobs Challenge, will partner with the the California Naturalist program to offer California Naturalist certification within the trainings offered by the California Conservation Corps, Forestry Corps, and Lake Tahoe Community College Forestry degree and certificate programs as well as expanding course integration to other community colleges throughout the Sierra Nevada and Cascade regions of northeastern California.
iNaturalist
iNaturalist is one of the world’s most popular nature apps that helps people identify plants and animals across the globe. The California Naturalist program is a long-time supporter of iNaturalist. Every CalNat partner organization establishes an iNaturalist project and all California Naturalists register and add at least one observation to iNaturalist. Many California Naturalists also play roles as curators and project administrators for iNaturalist.
National Forest Foundation
The National Forest Foundation (NFF) is the leading organization inspiring personal and meaningful connections to our National Forests, the centerpiece of America’s public lands. Working on behalf of the American public, NFF leads forest conservation efforts and promotes responsible recreation. The National Forest Foundation is offering the California Naturalist certification course in conjunction with young adult leadership development programs in the Angeles National Forest, San Gabriel Mountains National Monument, and Cleveland National Forest.
Project WET
Project WET: Water Education Today is a nationally recognized environmental education curriculum dedicated to solving critical environmental challenges by teaching the world about water. They do this by providing hands-on, science-based water education resources to formal and non-formal educators around the world. Project WET offered an interactive workshop during the 2022 California Naturalist Conference.
Project WILD
Project WILD is an interdisciplinary conservation and environmental education program that focuses on wildlife and habitat. The goal of Project WILD is to develop awareness, knowledge, skills, and commitment resulting in informed decisions, responsible behavior, and constructive actions concerning wildlife and the environment. Project WILD offered a K-12 environmental education curriculum certification workshop during the 2022 California Naturalist Conference.
SEI
SEI is an environmental nonprofit that builds leaders to drive sustainability solutions. SEI will provide Climate Stewards certification to their Climate Corps fellows. SEI will also provide Climate Stewards certification to Climate Corps AmeriCorps fellows, in collaboration with Bay Area Community Resources (BACR). SEI provides additional content on career and industry-related topics as a part of BACR’s California Climate Action Corps Fellowship training.