Grants at Work 

February 17, 2026 – CAL FIRE officials announce a grant of $3.59 million is transforming five elementary schoolyards in Tulare County into cooler, greener, nature-based learning spaces. Through CAL FIRE’s Urban and Community Forestry Green Schoolyard Grant, outdoor campuses that currently face extreme heat and high water use will be reimagined with dense shade trees, drought-tolerant landscaping, and living school forests near classrooms.

These improvements will reduce irrigation needs, lower surface temperatures, and improve air quality, turning underutilized, overheated schoolyards into healthy, shaded environments where students can play, learn, and explore.

In this video (link below), Porterville High School students roll up their sleeves to help build living school forests for local elementary schools, showing the power of community partnership and investment in youth.

View video from CBS 47 here.

Source: CAL FIRE