Loma Mar, CA… Seven students from Bret Harte High School participated recently in the 2022 Santa Cruz Forestry Challenge, one group of a total of 117 high school students from 18 schools from the coastal and central valley regions of California. The event was October 12 to 15 at Redwood Glen Camp, in Loma Mar, CA.

One of the highlights for the students this year was the opportunity to conduct a forest inventory and post-treatment evaluation on the Camp Butano Forest Health Project, a 44 acre project designed to enhance and restore a forest system challenged by lack of fire and changing climates with many homes in close proximity to camp borders. Students used the data they collected to evaluate the effectiveness of the treatment and predict stand conditions into the future. During the Challenge, teams of students also completed a field test to assess their technical forestry knowledge and data collecting skills.

“We had a great time and learned hands on skills,” said Bret Harte teacher Matt Castro. Makenna Robertson, a senior at Bret Harte, summed it up as follows: “A memorable experience that taught us about the environment and how to make a career with it.”

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The Forestry Challenge is part of California Climate Investments, a statewide program that puts billions of Cap-and-Trade dollars to work reducing GHG emissions, strengthening the economy, and improving public health and the environment – particularly in disadvantaged communities. The Cap-and-Trade program also creates a financial incentive for industries to invest in clean technologies and develop innovative ways to reduce pollution. California

Climate Investments projects include affordable housing, renewable energy, public transportation, zero-emission vehicles, environmental restoration, more sustainable agriculture, recycling, and much more. At least 35 percent of these investments are located within and benefiting residents of disadvantaged communities, low-income communities, and low-income households across California. For more information, visit the California Climate

Investments website at: www.caclimateinvestments.ca.gov/.

Funding for this project provided by The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection’s Business and

Workforce Development Grants and a grant from the US Forest Service.

Group Photo Caption: Bret Harte High School students conducted a post-treatment evaluation of a completed fuel reduction project at Camp Butano

as part of the 2022 Santa Cruz Forestry Challenge. Front row, left to right: Owen Gayle, Brody Burita, Angel Ibarra, Dakota Stephens. Back row left to right: Makenna Robertson, Megan Scott, Kenna Williams, Matt Castro (advisor).

Action Photo Caption: Bret Harte High School students Dakota Stephens uses a Clinometer to determine the height of a tree, one of the many skills learned at the 2022 Santa Cruz Forestry Challenge near Loma Mar.

Group Photo Caption: Bret Harte High School students conducted a post-treatment evaluation of a completed fuel reduction project at Camp Butano

as part of the 2022 Santa Cruz Forestry Challenge. Front row, left to right: Owen Gayle, Brody Burita, Angel Ibarra, Dakota Stephens. Back row left to right: Makenna Robertson, Megan Scott, Kenna Williams, Matt Castro (advisor).

Action Photo Caption: Bret Harte High School students Dakota Stephens uses a Clinometer to determine the height of a tree, one of the many skills learned at the 2022 Santa Cruz Forestry Challenge near Loma Mar.