A PROGRAM OF C.R.E.W.
Green Valley Project
Students and young adults designing and leading ecological restoration projects across Ventura County.
ABOUT
C.R.E.W.’s free conservation program for young people 13 and up, growing the next generation of environmental leaders.
The program is built on youth leadership, habitat restoration, and environmental education. Through hands-on work, education, and collaboration, its members lead conservation projects that restore native habitat and bring their communities together.
No experience is required, only the willingness to show up and create positive change with us.
The Green Valley Project is…
PROGRAMS OF THE GREEN VALLEY PROJECT
• Ages 13 to 20
You meet once a week for a season with a council in Ojai, Ventura, Oxnard, or Thousand Oaks, and together you plan and carry out a restoration project. This year the Ojai council mapped the town’s heat islands and began planting native trees where shade is scarce.
• Ages 13 to 17
You spend eight weeks outdoors in the Ojai Valley and neighboring Ventura County cities, working hands-on with PAX Environmental scientists. You shadow eight careers: marine biology, botany, ornithology, archaeology, wildlife rehabilitation, nursery management, field art, and tribal natural resource management.
• Ages 18 and up
You work six hours a week at $16.90 an hour, half in the field and half from home, assisting the Youth Councils and posting to the Green Valley Project’s Instagram, TikTok, and blog. Group projects include a picture book with artist Bobette Stanbridge and a song with Sage Against the Machine.
YOUTH COUNCILS
Green Valley Project runs a Youth Council in Ojai, Ventura, Oxnard, and Thousand Oaks. The map shows where they have worked since 2020.
Each council works in its community.
HAPPENING NOW
2026 Youth Council
Eight students, a heat map, and a plan to plant
native oaks across Ojai.
On April 14, 2026, the Ojai Youth Council presented its proposal to the Ojai City Council.
Eight students spent the spring mapping Ojai's heat islands in QGIS, visiting each hotspot in person, and ranking where new canopy would do the most.
The plan calls for 66 trees at four priority sites.
Ojai Trees signed on as a partner and is donating 12 trees, the City of Ojai is supporting the plantings on its sites, and planting began this fall. The last community planting day is Sunday, November 1, at Community Memorial Hospital.
IDENTIFIED HOTSPOTS
| Site 01 | Descanso Avenue |
| Site 02 | Daly Ranch Park |
| Site 03 | Sunset Place |
| Site 04 | Community Memorial Hospital |
-
66Trees plannedAt four priority sites8StudentsOjai Youth Council, spring 2026
-
4Heat island sitesMapped in QGIS, visited in personApril 142026Proposal to the Ojai City Council
WHY OAK
The plan centers on oaks. The species list went to a community vote in June: toyon, Catalina ironwood, island oak, western redbud, coast live oak, and valley oak.
It's a native species that supports local pollinators and wildlife, and a mature oak canopy cools the ground, cleans the air, and slows storm runoff during heavy rain.
-
60+Feet tallMature valley oak, 60 to 100 feet
-
50Feet acrossCanopy of a mature valley oak
TIMELINE
SPRING
COMPLETE
Heat island mapping and site visits
City Council Presentation
(April 14, 2026)Ojai Trees partnership discussions
Property owner outreach and permissions
FALL
MID FALL 2026
Three community tree-planting days: October 18, October 25, November 1
Youth-led public participation
Long-term care with C.R.E.W. Field Corps
Join us at our upcoming community events this fall and help support the local environment by planting with us.Ojai Youth Council, spring 2026
IN THEIR WORDS
HOW YOUTH COUNCIL WORKS
Students empowered to create environmental priorities.
A Youth Council meets weekly for a season, 12 weeks at the longest on record.
As a member, you work with Green Valley Project staff and, most seasons, a partner like Ojai Trees.
-
01
Pick
You and your Youth Council pick the problem to work on: bird counts in the Conejo Valley, wrack on Ormond Beach, or heat in Ojai.
Thousand Oaks Youth Council, Conejo Valley, spring 2026. -
02
Plan
You visit the site, map it, meet the partners, and get the permissions. The Ojai Youth Council mapped heat islands in QGIS before it picked a single tree.
Ojai Youth Council, heat mapping, spring 2026. -
03
Do
You do the work yourselves, whether that is a planting day at Nordhoff High School, camera traps in the Conejo Valley open space, or wattles on a Santa Rosa Island slope with a C.R.E.W. crew.
Wattle installation, Santa Rosa Island. -
04
Present
You present the results to the people who decide: the Ojai City Council on April 14, 2026, the Nordhoff High School staff with a garden design in 2024, and the Conejo Open Space Conservation Agency's partners with a research poster.
Nordhoff pollinator pathway design, Ojai Youth Council, spring 2024.
SINCE 2020
The first Youth Council planted 50 oaks in Ojai in 2021.
By 2025 Youth Council members had joined a C.R.E.W. crew as far out as Santa Rosa Island.
2020
The first project plants 36 oak circles in the Ojai Meadows Preserve, with the Ojai Valley Land Conservancy.
2021
The first Ojai Youth Council plants 50 native oaks with Ojai Trees.
2022
The Ojai Youth Council plants 653 native plants in four community gardens and 50 home gardens, and pulls over 55 pounds of smilo grass from Big Rock Preserve.
2023
The Ojai Youth Council plants a 250-plant native garden at MESA. Its Save Our Amazing Raptors project puts up owl boxes at Nordhoff High School, collects 60 rodenticide pledges, and plants over 800 native plants and trees.
2024
The Ojai Youth Council plants 273 native plants on the Nordhoff High School hillside, the Oxnard council installs a 65-plant native garden in Nyeland Acres, and the Thousand Oaks council designs seven rain barrels that conserve up to 9,100 gallons a year.
2025
Youth Council members help a C.R.E.W. crew install 20 wattles on Santa Rosa Island, the Ojai council plants 315 native plants and a rain garden at Ojai Valley School, and the Oxnard council monitors wrack for the snowy plover at Ormond Beach.
2026
The Thousand Oaks Youth Council writes a community bird guide from 12 weeks in the Conejo Valley, and the Ojai Youth Council brings a heat map and a plan for 66 trees to the Ojai City Council.
Each project in full, with photos and partners, in the Conservation Project Archive
AGES 13 to 20
You do not need experience and your interest is your invitation.
This fall, Ojai meets Sundays, 10 a.m. to noon. Thousand Oaks meets Mondays, 4 to 6 p.m. Ventura meets Fridays, 4 to 6 p.m. Oxnard meets Saturdays, 9 to 11:30 a.m.
Join the Youth Council
in your town.
FOR PARENTS AND TEACHERS
Green Valley Project staff run each council. There is no cost and no experience needed. To start a council at your school or in your town, write to Tara Fay, program director, at tara@thecrew.org.
STAFF
The people helping raise a green valley.
PARTNERS
The councils sprout the plans and grow the projects. Their communities reap the benefits.
These organizations provide the land, the plants, the science, and the money.
TREES, HABITAT, AND SCIENCE
Ojai Trees
Ojai Raptor Center
Turtle Conservancy
Watershed Progressive
Rain Barrel International
PAX Environmental
UC Davis
UC Santa Barbara
LAND AND OPEN SPACE
Ojai Valley Land Conservancy
Ventura Land Trust
Conejo Open Space Conservation Agency
Channel Islands National Park
U.S. Geological Survey
City of Ojai
SCHOOLS AND YOUTH
Nordhoff High School
Ojai Valley School
Oxnard High School
MESA
Boys and Girls Club, Nyeland Acres
FUNDERS ON THE LEDGER
Ojai Rotary
Ojai Arts Grant
Cotyledon Fund
SUPPORT GREEN VALLEY PROJECT STUDENTS
A Youth Council membership costs its student members nothing.
Plants, tools, transport, and the people who run the four councils do require funds to help raise a green valley.
A donation designated to the Green Valley Project is used 100% for the Green Valley Project.
Designating donations to
“Green Valley Project” allows our program to receive the funds directly
-
4,000+Native plantsGrown and planted
-
300+Young peopleTrained in environmental leadership
-
12Community service projectsCompleted across Ventura County
PAST PROJECTS
Saving an Island Cloud Forest
Santa Rosa Island!
Youth Council members from Oxnard, Ojai, and Thousand Oaks joined a C.R.E.W. crew on one trip to Santa Rosa Island and built 20 erosion-control wattles on its steep slopes. They slow runoff, capture sediment, and give native seedlings a foothold in soil that 150 years of ranching stripped bare.
The wattles are part of a long-term effort to bring back the island's cloud forest canopy, one stabilized hillside at a time.
