Market Potential & Opportunity for Outdoor Ed Campus
The Opportunities are Endless
Joshua Tree National Park has primarily provided day-use programs to schools from four school districts in the Morongo Basin and Coachella Valley regions. Additionally, limited education programming has been offered to schools in the Banning and Beaumont areas, as well as to schools in the Apple Valley and Victor Valley areas.
There are many communities in the Inland Empire area that currently cannot be served due to prohibitive transportation costs, challenging operational logistics, and staffing limitations. These communities are no more than a 90-minute drive from the park. Moreover, there are huge untapped school markets in Los Angeles, Orange, and San Diego counties. These communities, due to their distance from the park have been unable to consistently visit the park through the present day-use education operation. However, a residential education program in Joshua Tree National Park would potentially provide a viable and affordable option for outlying schools to experience the park through a multi-day curriculum-based experience.
Further, many schools in southern California offer a multi-day trip to a “science camp” as part of a culminating education experience. Regional, non-profit science camps exist at Idylwild, Lake Arrowhead, and in the San Gabriel Mountains. There is presently no sizeable youth-oriented outdoor education camp operation anywhere in the 20-plus million acre California desert region. There have been smaller intermittent programs operated by the Boojum Institute, Naturalists at Large, and few others.
The park’s current day-use education program has been centered almost exclusively on public schools, charter schools, and some home schools. Very little has been done with private schools, especially those from outside the local area, or even out-of-state. Residential education programs at Yellowstone, Yosemite and the Grand Teton National Parks have historically been able to attract schools from considerable distances including Florida, New York, and California. Without a residential campus, Joshua Tree National Park has been unable to attract out-of-state education audiences.
Finally, other potential markets for a the Joshuua Tree Residential Education Experience program includes colleges. Each year college and university groups engaged in field studies visit Joshua Tree and many other national parks. Many of these groups camp, however, they generally do not provide multi-day programs.
Benefits of an Outdoor Education Campus in Joshua Tree National Park
The JTREE multi-day campus at Joshua Tree National Park will serve various audiences from middle school students to scouts to college level students. While the proposed residential education experience will target 6th-12th grade students during the traditional school week in the spring and fall semesters, there is potential for other groups to utilize the campus during down times as well.
In addition to being a multi-purpose campus, the Joshua Tree Residential Education Experience will provide an abundance of benefits to youth and educators. Educators are challenged to provide outdoor learning experiences for students. JTREE proposes not only a multi-day outdoor learning experience, but one with an education curriculum that aligns with the State of California Blueprint for Environmental Literacy, and Next Generation Science Standards.
Recent studies have revealed the following benefits of getting kids into nature:
- It gets kids moving.
- It promotes creative, imaginative thinking.
- It teaches responsibility.
- It builds self-confidence.
- It reduces stress and fatigue.
Would you like to join us? Contact JTREE today to see what opportunities you may be interested in.
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Joshua Tree National Park
Teaching Today's Youth Through Nature
I hear and I forget…I see and I remember… I do and I understand.” a CHINESE PROVERB