Inspiring the Next Generation of Stewards

More than 160,000 students have walked these trails — and the land has something to offer every one of them. At the Oak Glen Preserve, nestled on the edge of the San Bernardino Mountains, students move through an evergreen forest, crouch beside winter ponds alive with migratory ducks, hike beneath a canopy of black oaks, and emerge onto an open chaparral hillside buzzing with life. The return follows a willow-shaded stream onto a boardwalk where butterflies drift through wetlands in bloom. In just two miles, students move through an entire world.

Our free, naturalist-led Outdoor Discovery Program is a five-hour field trip for grades 2–9, built around exploration, hands-on group activities, and the kind of encounters with nature that don’t happen in a classroom. Every child leaves having seen, touched, and discovered something new.

More than 200,000 students have stepped onto Wind Wolves Preserve since 1998 and every year, hundreds more arrive to discover what it means to truly be in nature. One of Kern County’s premier environmental education facilities, Wind Wolves is a place where wonder is not manufactured but found: in the soil, in the sky, in the living systems that have shaped this land long before any of us arrived.

Our Outdoor Discovery Program connects youth to the natural world and its processes through hands-on, joyful learning rooted in the landscape itself. Field trips run 3.5–4 hours, beginning at 9:30 am, with a half-hour lunch break. Explore our program themes below.