Golden Gate

Hans Cole is Patagonia’s Head of Environmental Activism, Grants, and Campaigns, leading its strategic environmental partnerships and helping to achieve the for-profit corporation’s most important goal: to save our home planet. It was the three years he spent working as an educator with NatureBridge, honing his teaching skills and expanding his horizons, that opened his eyes to the possibility of having a life devoted to working on environmental issues.

Rachel Davis is a rare story—she has seen and experienced NatureBridge from almost every possible angle. From an enthusiastic student taking part in a NatureBridge program in Golden Gate National Recreation Area in 1993 to a teacher leading her students into the national parks to participate in the same NatureBridge programs that once inspired her. Today, her journey expands even further as the newest member of NatureBridge’s Yosemite Board.

In December 2019, Ivy Archer Winters called NatureBridge CEO Phil Kilbridge with a two-part piece of news: her mother Doris Archer Winters had died at the age of 98, and the organization’s capital campaign for the Golden Gate National Recreation campus (GOGA) was finished.

“I was overwhelmed by this news,” says Phil. “Ivy had shared slowly over the course of four years that NatureBridge was in Doris’s estate plans, but we didn’t know any other details.”

Thanks to Ivy — a GOGA Board member and former National Board member — Doris had left $489,000 to NatureBridge via her charitable trust.

“The wildest part? I never met Doris.” says Phil.

How did this gift come to be?

Kim Gesicki-Robinson retired from Merryhill Elementary School in 2019 after spending 30+ years as a teacher, and nearly as many years bringing her students to NatureBridge. After speaking with her for a short time, it’s no surprise that she’d find a way to bring kids into the outdoors even after retirement. It was some of the most meaningful work she did as a teacher, and it was some of the most meaningful time the students spent with her.

“I have former students of mine, some of them in their 30s and 40s, who came to visit me after I retired and all they talked about was our time at NatureBridge.”

At a scenic dock in Golden Gate National Recreation Area’s Crissy Field, a tall, metallic pole stands out against the beautiful coastal view—it represents best estimates of sea level rise. The high end marker towers more than five feet above the heads of curious visitors, a startling, tangible reminder of the potential devastation climate change. The Golden Gate wayside installation was the first of its kind created by the National Park Service, so it comes as little surprise that the park is the future home to another inspiring focal point of climate change education: NatureBridge’s Climate Science Lab.

With the rise of anxiety and depression about young people today, social emotional learning (SEL) is also on the rise. SEL a holistic educational framework that focuses on building mental, emotional and interpersonal skills that lead to positive outcomes for students and the community as a whole. We spoke with National Director of Education Meg Jakubowski to learn more about NatureBridge’s unique role in furthering SEL.

Miho has dedicated her life’s work to increasing visibility and access to environmental education, careers, public lands and outdoor adventure for those whom our system has failed to provide these opportunities. Miho’s journey with NatureBridge began in 2000 as an Environmental Science Educator at our Golden Gate National Recreation Area campus, on the traditional territory of Coast Miwok, Ohlone and Graton Rancheria.

Tracy Thompson has been an advocate and partner of NatureBridge for nearly 30 years. Read about the importance of her photograph from the late wilderness photographer Galen Rowell and why she's gifting it to NatureBridge.

At 76, Ingrid is NatureBridge’s oldest—and arguably most iconic—environmental science educator. As we celebrate Women's History Month, we're highlighting Ingrid's contributions to both the San Francisco and NatureBridge communities in which she serves.