Access to Nature for ALL

In the ten years that NatureTrack has been taking Santa Barbara County’s school-age kids on outdoor field trips, Steve Schulz has volunteered as a docent for nine of them, sharing his extensive knowledge of local flora. Yet in that time, Schulz has never been able to enjoy the beautiful trails of the Arroyo Hondo Preserve, a single beach field trip or numerous other field trip locales. That’s because Schulz has been a wheelchair user since 1999.

This year, NatureTrack expanded its field trip program to include NewTracks. Using Freedom Trax, a device which quickly transforms a manual wheelchair into a battery-powered, all-terrain vehicle which can easily traverse sand and trails, NewTracks provides field trips for wheelchair users and others with physical disabilities. Now, Schultz can enjoy many beaches and trails that have been inaccessible to him for 20+ years.

NatureTrack has received funding to buy nine Freedom Trax. Their goal is to acquire and maintain a total of 10 Freedom Trax to provide outdoor field trips to wheelchair users of all ages. NatureTrack also lends their Freedom Trax to other nonprofit organizations so that they too can include wheelchair users in their events and programs.

“We’re thrilled that we’re able to remove the barrier between wheelchair users and nature, allowing them to have the same experience as other students, teachers, and volunteers. It’s wonderful that we can ALL be out on the beaches and trails together,” says Sue Eisaguirre, NatureTrack’s founder and executive director.

NewTracks fulfills an essential part of NatureTrack’s mission: to connect as many people as possible to the natural world. Eisaguirre founded the organization after heading up the docent and K-12 programs for the UCSB Sedgwick Reserve. It was then that she realized she could impact more schools and students with a countywide organization.

A decade later, NatureTrack has taken more than 25,000 school-age students on outdoor field trips. The organization relies on the support of 100 enthusiastic volunteer docents to lead the trips. The program is entirely free, including transportation.

“We find every way possible to make sure everyone has the same opportunity to connect with and experience nature,” Eisaguirre says.