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About Burton Homestead    

A place to enrich our community by providing environmental education and programs that foster stewardship, appreciation and conservation of our natural, cultural, historical and agricultural resources. 

  • Outdoor classroom for youth where they can find their place in the natural world as they develop science literacy
  • A resource center for educators to learn methods and provide hand-on, interactive curriculum for experiential nature education
  • A place where people of all ages can explore ways to be better stewards of the land
  • A place for discovering how nature is integrated with the arts, literature, culture, history and science.  

Program Goal: Provide on-going, interactive, learning opportunities, environmental education, curriculum development, trainings, innovative partnerships, community collaborations, community events, after school clubs, restoration projects and camps.

Development Objective: Create Burton Homestead as a multi-use, multi-purpose, nature center for environmental-based learning and community recreation programs.

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The following programs are held at Burton Homestead:

Click the Calendar Button to see the upcoming activities

Earth Encounters Camps
Eco-Kids Fair
Junior Stewards Program
Indigeneous People’s Day
Tribal Council Meetings
Food Love Project
Fox Walkers
School Field Trips

The Burton Homestead development plan includes support for expanded Land Trust and other programs in keeping with the intent expressed in Francis Burton’s will.  More specifically:

  • Expansion of existing Bear Yuba Land Trust-operated youth educational and recreation programs
  • A destination for Nevada County public and private schools, home school groups and charter schools for field trips on science and nature, and Native American studies
  • Offer programs for special nature- and conservation-related interest groups of all ages and abilities
  • Create a demonstration farm for children in collaboration with Living Lands Agrarian Network
  • Conduct a restoration laboratory for teaching wetlands and pond restoration
  • Support programs that target Native American tribal members and youth

Physical infrastructure improvements needed to support these programs include 1) built infrastructure including improvements in amenities for program delivery, public access areas such as trails, and measures that minimize the impact of expanded activities, and 2) restoration of wetlands and local hydrology, and fuel reduction. 

The built infrastructure improvements encompass:

  • Creation of an interpretive and informational kiosk
  • Building of restrooms, preferably in a the latest eco-sensitive methodology
  • Construction of a small amphitheatre for presentations
  • Erection of an indoor-outdoor classroom/meeting facility
  • Improvement and construction of trails
  • Improvement of the parking area and circulation