Education
Understanding leads to better action
Education connects the choices people make with the health of animals, wildlife, land, water, soil, and communities. Our programs are designed to teach why stewardship matters, not only what to do.
Learning through stewardship
Habitat & native plants
Learn how vegetation, food webs, shelter, and connected landscapes sustain wildlife.
Water & soil
Understand watersheds, erosion, healthy soil, runoff, and the work required to restore them.
Youth & families
Build supervised, age-appropriate ways for young people and families to practice responsible stewardship.
Citizen science
Prepare people to observe and record ecological conditions without overstating unverified scientific outcomes.
Responsible coexistence
Reduce conflict by understanding the needs and behavior of people, domestic animals, and wildlife.
Animal safety
Teach safe, legal help for domestic animals, wildlife, exotic species, and marine life.
Animal-help safety rules
Distance first
Observation almost never hurts an animal. Approach almost always can.
Don't feed
The wrong food or forced water can kill an injured or dehydrated animal.
Contain your pets
Leashed dogs and indoor cats prevent most secondary injuries.
Document precisely
Exact location, time, behavior and a distant photo are worth more than a rescue attempt.
Know the class
Domestic, wildlife, exotic and marine animals have different laws and different responders.
Escalate honestly
Bites, aggression and public safety situations go to 911 and animal control — first.
Myths worth unlearning
Myth: A baby bird on the ground has been abandoned.
Most fledglings spend days on the ground while parents feed them. Unless it's injured or in immediate danger, watching from a distance is the right call.
Myth: Touching a baby animal makes the mother reject it.
This is largely a myth for mammals and birds. The real problem is that human handling stresses the animal and often removes it from a parent who was coming back.
Myth: A coyote seen in daylight must be sick.
Daytime activity alone isn't a sign of illness in coyotes. Disorientation, stumbling, or a total lack of fear are the concerning signs — and reasons to report, not approach.
Myth: You can nurse wildlife back to health at home.
Improper diet and stress kill more rescued wildlife than the original injury. In California, keeping native wildlife without a permit is also illegal.
Myth: A stranded seal pup needs to be put back in the water.
Hauling out on the beach is normal, and pushing a pup into the water can kill it. Stay 50 yards away and report it.
Myth: Relocating a nuisance animal is a kind solution.
Relocated animals usually die, spread disease, or return. Exclusion and removing food sources actually work — and relocation is often illegal.
Programs
Community workshops
Coexistence, bite prevention and what to do before help arrives.
Junior Rescuers
Youth and family education about safe, respectful animal help.
Responder training
Structured training pathways for volunteers moving toward field work.