The Nature Corps Timeline

1987 President’s Commission on Americans Outdoors is released. Arrangements made for first group of Nature Corps (originally known as the Sousson Foundation) volunteers to work in Yosemite NP.

1990 Forest fire in Yosemite causes Sousson volunteers to relocate on projects in Kings Canyon. Sousson teams up with Cal Poly to develop plans to work in Sequoia on a historic project to protect The General Sherman Sequoia, the largest living organism on earth.

1991 Sousson Receives the American Express, Travel and Leisure "Mark of Innovation" Award for the General Sherman project.

1994 General Sherman Tree restoration is completed with the help of 400 High School students from throughout the Central Coast. Project earns three "Take Pride in California" Awards.

Program expands to Channel Islands NP. Sousson wins fourth "Take Pride" for work to protect the island’s endangered Santa Rosa Oaks.

1995 Sousson adopts rainforest restoration project in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park and begins its Volunteer Vacations Program.

1996 First corporate partner, Chevron, sponsors its employees to join Sousson on projects to restore the rare ecosystems of the Channel Islands.

1998 Chevron and Occidental International join Sousson in massive tree planting campaign to restore impacted habitats in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks.

1999 Sousson and its corporate partners receive the coveted National Park Service "Partnership Achievement" Award.

2001 Sousson pots 13,000 dormant tree seedlings after their refrigeration unit fails. Sequoia NPS agrees to have trees planted in memory of the victims of 9/11.

2003 Sousson holds its first accredited Professional Development program for teachers in Sequoia. The program is designed to promote stewardship in public schools.

2004 Sousson Foundation announces its new name, "The Nature Corps".

2005 On September 11, 2005 The Nature Corps holds memorial service among the Giant Sequoias to commemorate the planting of 15,000 trees planted through-out Sequoia/Kings of which 3,000 are planted in memory of the victims of 9/11.

2006 The Nature Corps takes first steps to expand program to a national level.

2007 The Nature Corps receives the Congressional "Take Pride In America" Award.

2008 The Nature Corps receives the National Park Service, Pacific West Region "George B. Hartzog" Award -- the most prestigious award bestowed upon a volunteer agency.