Learning Together

Central to JMLT’s mission is promoting environmental awareness among residents of the East Bay. We publish newsletters, booklets, and brochures that help everyone appreciate the profound relationship between close-to-home nature and human health and well-being. Have a look at 30 Years Ahead: A Brief History Of The Future, our reflection on the remarkable citizen-led effort to conserve land in the East Bay that started generations ago and continues today through the efforts of the JMLT community and many other organizations and agencies. It is easy to take for granted the natural paradise that surrounds us, but this landscape is the direct result of ordinary, yet farsighted people who imagined the future place that we now inhabit. It is our turn to carry that vision forward. We are fortunate to live at a time when the social, legal, scientific, and technological resources exist for individuals to make a lasting difference on the East Bay landscape that future residents will inherit. JMLT is committed to educating young nature lovers and encouraging budding conservationists.

STEM Education

With generous funding from the Tesoro Foundation and in partnership with the Contra Costa County Office of Education and Vizzit, Inc., JMLT launched POINTing to Success, an educational program that gets middle and high school students out of the classroom and into the field. At properties such as Fernandez Ranch and Mt. Wanda, POINTing to Success provides real-life context to STEM concepts using innovative technology that they understand. Students design apps for smartphones and use them to learn how human activity impacts air and water, and why open space is so important to a healthy environment.

The Power Of Place

Education is central to the goals of Family Harvest Farm, an urban farm where emancipated foster youth thrive in a nurturing place to gain work skills, find community, and make the transition to adult life. JMLT's events provide exercise and education for outdoor enthusiasts of all ages. One of our most popular annual gatherings — Twilight At Fernandez Ranch — offers fun nights on the land where families enjoy stargazing, encounters with wildlife, and activities that teach about the wondrous wild world around us. We are conducting a campaign to restore and open Pacheco Marsh to the public. Our vision for this extraordinary salt marsh is a place where busloads of school children will learn about the Bay ecosystem, how diligent care can restore harmed places, and about the effects of climate change.

We want people to know more about the expanding list of academic studies that quantify the significant return on investment the public receives from money spent to protect natural open spaces. JMLT sponsors campaigns to educate the voting public and support pro-conservation ballot measures to create essential funding for land acquisition, for programs that provide access to nature, and for the protection of clean drinking water. It all adds up in so many more ways than one.