About
Davis Forest School is a non-profit outdoor education and nature play organization where children and families play in the mountains, swim in the river, eat delicious food, and relax under the trees. Programs include activities such as artistic creation, active games, hiking, and quiet observation. The program also offers adult and family classes in willow basketry and shelter-building, as well as Family Camp, Summer Camp, Little Coyotes Forest Kinder, afternoon and daytime drop-off programs, a Parent/Child program, week-long summer day camps, regular workshops for adults and families, and a year-round Forest Kinder program.
• Ages: 0–18 years old
Davis Forest School started as a once-a-week nature play program founded in the spring of 2018 by Candice Wang, later led by Rosemary Roberts, and became a non-profit organization in the winter of 2022. In 2023, it began expanding to include programs along the banks of the American River in Sacramento, and in 2025 it started running programs in Folsom/Orangevale and Lincoln/Rocklin. The organization states that it values building community through equitable, land-based programming and aims to promote understanding of and empathy for the natural world, especially the ecosystem of Putah Creek and the lower Sacramento River watershed, through exploration, curiosity, free play, artistic creation, active games, hiking, and quiet observation. It uses gentle, age-appropriate teaching and mentoring methods and has a mission to promote environmental justice by acknowledging Indigenous history, forging connections with local Indigenous individuals and organizations, and offering reparations-based scholarships to Black and Indigenous families and need-based scholarships to economically disadvantaged families.
The leadership team includes Board President Sonsie Hopper (RED FOX), Board Treasurer Scott Clements, Board Secretary Crystal Vagnier, and Board Members Sara Goulden, Diego Bocanegra (SCRUB JAY), and Bill Wood (DRAGONFLY). Staff credentials include experience in Montessori education and HR, yoga teaching, business administration and accounting, English and creative writing with international teaching experience, environmental science and citizen science with advanced degrees from UC Davis and Yale, studies in Music and Wildlife Conservation, and engineering and business degrees with work in engineering, finance, management consulting, and healthcare operations in research administration.
Davis Forest School raises money through grants and donations to offer reparations-based scholarships to Black and Indigenous families and need-based scholarships to economically disadvantaged families. It forges connections with local Indigenous individuals and organizations and holds its programs on the ancestral lands of the Patwin Wintun/Yocha DeHe Wintun Nation and the Nisenan people, with a stated commitment to acknowledging and respecting their history, culture, and ongoing presence.
Parent feedback describes Davis Forest School as a partner in helping a child find joy and possibility in the natural world and notes that a child embraced the outdoors with discovery and play. Other parents state that the program fuels their child’s soul and spirit, offers special and creative freedom, and has been a gift, with caring and knowledgeable mentors and a balance of free exploration and suggested activity. Parents also describe uninterrupted nature play, exploration, adventure, problem solving, and developing friendships, and one parent reports that even a youngest, first-time drop-off child explored nature in an educational and safe way with guidance from experienced and knowledgeable instructors.
Last updated June 10, 2026.
• Ages: 0–18 years old
Davis Forest School started as a once-a-week nature play program founded in the spring of 2018 by Candice Wang, later led by Rosemary Roberts, and became a non-profit organization in the winter of 2022. In 2023, it began expanding to include programs along the banks of the American River in Sacramento, and in 2025 it started running programs in Folsom/Orangevale and Lincoln/Rocklin. The organization states that it values building community through equitable, land-based programming and aims to promote understanding of and empathy for the natural world, especially the ecosystem of Putah Creek and the lower Sacramento River watershed, through exploration, curiosity, free play, artistic creation, active games, hiking, and quiet observation. It uses gentle, age-appropriate teaching and mentoring methods and has a mission to promote environmental justice by acknowledging Indigenous history, forging connections with local Indigenous individuals and organizations, and offering reparations-based scholarships to Black and Indigenous families and need-based scholarships to economically disadvantaged families.
The leadership team includes Board President Sonsie Hopper (RED FOX), Board Treasurer Scott Clements, Board Secretary Crystal Vagnier, and Board Members Sara Goulden, Diego Bocanegra (SCRUB JAY), and Bill Wood (DRAGONFLY). Staff credentials include experience in Montessori education and HR, yoga teaching, business administration and accounting, English and creative writing with international teaching experience, environmental science and citizen science with advanced degrees from UC Davis and Yale, studies in Music and Wildlife Conservation, and engineering and business degrees with work in engineering, finance, management consulting, and healthcare operations in research administration.
Davis Forest School raises money through grants and donations to offer reparations-based scholarships to Black and Indigenous families and need-based scholarships to economically disadvantaged families. It forges connections with local Indigenous individuals and organizations and holds its programs on the ancestral lands of the Patwin Wintun/Yocha DeHe Wintun Nation and the Nisenan people, with a stated commitment to acknowledging and respecting their history, culture, and ongoing presence.
Parent feedback describes Davis Forest School as a partner in helping a child find joy and possibility in the natural world and notes that a child embraced the outdoors with discovery and play. Other parents state that the program fuels their child’s soul and spirit, offers special and creative freedom, and has been a gift, with caring and knowledgeable mentors and a balance of free exploration and suggested activity. Parents also describe uninterrupted nature play, exploration, adventure, problem solving, and developing friendships, and one parent reports that even a youngest, first-time drop-off child explored nature in an educational and safe way with guidance from experienced and knowledgeable instructors.
Last updated June 10, 2026.
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