Top 5 Things We Learned About Protecting California State Parks from Jay Chamberlin

Everyone – from sustainability experts to casual visitors – can practice caring for our natural spaces to ensure California State Parks continue to thrive! 

California Natural Resources Chief Jay Chamberlin shared this invaluable piece of wisdom during a recent chat with our President and CEO Kindley Walsh Lawlor.  

They talked about California’s extraordinary natural resources – from redwood forests to deserts, beaches, mountains and the largest alpine lake in North America – and how each one of us, no matter who we are or where we live, can contribute to preserving our parks, keeping them healthy so that people can enjoy and explore them for generations to come. 

Here are five things we learned from Jay:

1. Increasing equitable access to state parks and promoting resource stewardship amongst visitors is key in the protection of California’s natural resources.
2. Everyone can embrace land protection and landscape stewardship. This can be as simple as picking up litter or volunteering, or as far as furthering education and awareness of how to care for natural lands.
3. Most people have a hunger to be engaged in the work needed to take care of the beautiful lands in California – and the world. 
4. California State Parks is actively investing in the protection of land by restoring habitats and ecosystems, protecting native species, and using prescribed fires to maintain healthy forests.
5. The state parks employ a wide variety of incredible professionals, such as geologists, biologists, foresters and more that are on the field protecting the state’s natural resources. And you can be one of them!  

Everyone who visits state parks (over 70 million people annually!) has an opportunity to foster a relationship with the natural world. Jay thinks that once visitors have the opportunity to connect with nature, they realize they have a responsibility to protect it. 

To catch up on the conversation, watch the full chat here. Thank you, Jay, for sharing your expertise and time with us!  

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