About SEED

SEED is a community and school-based program engaging middle and high school students in the complete cycle of tidal marsh restoration in the San Francisco Bay, from seeds to ecosystems. As a service-learning project students will use these field experiences as a lens for understanding the process of ecosystem restoration and design their own school yard habitat restoration projects.

The SEED program requirements: minimum 15 and maximum 35 students, grade levels: 6-12th, one teacher.

Sign up for SEED

Complete the SEED Cycle

Three field trips
Seasonal field-based projects including seed collection, propagation, planting natives and invasive weed removal take place at Save The Bay’s restoration sites & native plant nursery. Check out our map of local restoration sites and help spread the word about the SEED program at your school by posting our SEED flyer!

Two classroom lessons
(one pre-trip & one post-trip)

These interactive classroom lessons are designed to familiarize students with the San Francisco Bay salt marsh ecosystem and provide a basic overview of restoration ecology and natural landscape design.

A schoolyard habitat design project
Student scientists will investigate and analyze their schoolyards to design their own habitat restoration projects.

Youth Leadership Summit
This a chance for students to showcase and present their community action projects CAP, network with other students and employers, as well as learn out about environmental career opportunities.

Do Some SEED Study

The following lessons are from Earth Partnership for School's Curriculum and U.S Fish and Wildlife's Schoolyard Habitat project guide and have been adapted for California by Save The Bay educators.

Please select two or more of these lessons to integrate into your classroom to support your students' in designing a schoolyard habitat.

  1. Ecosystem Observations (Cards)
  2. Ecosystem Observations (instructions)
  3. Mapping your Schoolyard
  4. Site Analysis
  5. Designing a Restoration
  6. Creating your Master Plan
Additional Lessons

SEED Photos

Students keeping journals Plants in the nursery 8th graders planting Transplanting Girls collecting seeds

Notes From The Field

"The best part of our Save The Bay experience was returning multiple times to the same place. The Bay has become part of my students' vocabulary - they've been interested in planting and also acknowledge impact of activities on our ecosystem."

- Myra Vallianos
8th grade teacher at E.C. Reems Academy

"Thank you for letting us grow plants. I had so much fun. I want to go back and see our plants get really big. My favorite parts were the camera game and of course planting. I think that at our school garden we have the sticky monkey plant we planted. I even taught my mom how to do the planting at my house. Thank you for inviting us, I really want to go back!"

- Selenne
5th grader at East Palo Alto Charter School

Please Contact Us

The Restoration Education Staff at Save The Bay looks forward to hearing from you. We are very proud of our SEED program, eager to answer your questions, and excited to work with you to ensure that students throughout the Bay Area have the opportunity to protect and restore the San Francisco Bay! Please give us a call anytime at 510-463-6813.