Fall 2024 FIT-Focus
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FIT-Focus sessions are 3-day continued professional learning events that allows California educators to deep-dive into special topics in forestry and natural resource management over the course of a weekend (Friday-Sunday). Whether leveraging the foundational learning of FIT’s core week-long summer sessions, or engaging with FIT for the first time, FIT-Focus offers all California educators a chance to connect with the FIT community and further their forestry learning.
Plumas FIT-Focus | September 27-29, 2024
Focus: Tools of the Trade This session is hosted in Plumas County in the Sierra Nevada mixed conifer forest. Get familiar with the tools, techniques and metrics that foresters employ to assess forest conditions and make informed stewardship decisions. Learn how to collect foundational forestry data using a range of tools, techniques and sampling methods, then work together to analyze and interpret the results. Make DIY forestry tools on a shoe-string budget for use with students and gain insight into forestry career paths.
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Mendocino FIT-Focus | October 25-27, 2024
Focus: Disturbance in the Forest This session is hosted in Mendocino County's oak woodlands and rangeland communities. Explore the disturbance ecology and current issues facing these critically important ecosystems, and what land managers are doing to conserve them. Learn how natural resource professionals work to support watershed health and resilience, through field observation and data collection techniques related to fire, insects, disease and other disturbances. Make DIY forestry tools on a shoe-string budget for use with students and gain insight into forestry career paths.
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"...conversations between participants and staff/ landowners allowed me to gain a more accurate understanding of contemporary questions that foresters are grappling with. These sorts of questions become the juicy questions that I can open a lesson with or ask students to reason through." - 2023 FIT-Focus Participant
2025 FIT - Applications Open November!
Celebrating 30+ years of Learning
in California's Forest Classroom! Forestry Institute for Teachers (FIT) is an immersive week-long Professional Learning Program providing interdisciplinary, hands-on experiences for California Educators. Each year, FIT brings together formal and nonformal educators from across California to learn about current forestry issues and how they influence our everyday lives. FIT provides forest-based training in environmental literacy with award-winning environmental education curriculum that support and enhance the Next Generation Science Standards, Common Core State Standards, Career and Technical Education Standards, and STEAM-based instruction. Program graduates:
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2025 Summer Session Dates
Early Bird Application* Period Opens November 2024 El Dorado County | June 15-21, 2025
Blodgett Forest Research Station, Georgetown Tuolumne County | June 22-28, 2025 Sierra Outdoor School, Sonora Shasta County | June 29-July 5, 2025 Camp McCumber, Shingletown Humboldt County | July 13-19, 2025 Cal Poly Humboldt, Arcata *2025 application fee info coming soon |
Introducing FIT's Newest Session in El Dorado County!
In 2023 FIT introduced a new session in El Dorado County hosted at UC Berkeley's Blodgett Forest Research Station. Each FIT session provides an immersive learning experience tailored to local forested landscapes, stakeholders and issues.
Blodgett's role as a working forest and hub for forestry demonstration, research and outreach that informs land management best practices and forest policy made for an amazing week-long learning experience.
"I loved being in the field and learning. I loved hearing similar things from different people in different words and different spaces...I appreciated the willingness of all facilitators to take and thoughtfully respond to questions" - 2023 Participant
In 2023 FIT introduced a new session in El Dorado County hosted at UC Berkeley's Blodgett Forest Research Station. Each FIT session provides an immersive learning experience tailored to local forested landscapes, stakeholders and issues.
Blodgett's role as a working forest and hub for forestry demonstration, research and outreach that informs land management best practices and forest policy made for an amazing week-long learning experience.
"I loved being in the field and learning. I loved hearing similar things from different people in different words and different spaces...I appreciated the willingness of all facilitators to take and thoughtfully respond to questions" - 2023 Participant
USDA Nondiscrimination Statement : The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in all its programs and activities on the basis of race, color, national origin, gender, religion, age, disability, political beliefs, sexual orientation, and marital or family status. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs.) Persons with disabilities who require alternative means for communication of program information (Braille, large print, audio tape, etc.) should contact USDA's TARGET Center at 202-720-2600 (voice and TDD).
To file a complaint of discrimination, write USDA, Director, Office of Civil Rights, Room 326-W, Whitten Building, 14th and Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20250-9410 or call (202) 720-5964 (voice or TDD). USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.
To file a complaint of discrimination, write USDA, Director, Office of Civil Rights, Room 326-W, Whitten Building, 14th and Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20250-9410 or call (202) 720-5964 (voice or TDD). USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.