Friends of Santa Cruz State Parks News

Shop our ParkStore Online for Puzzles, Seeds, Books, Educational Toys and More

The ParkStore Online has reopened! After taking some time to safely refresh Friends of Santa Cruz State Parks’ online store from home, we are delighted to again offer items that help bring the great outdoors inside.

Shop puzzles, seeds, coloring and activity books, field guides, science kits, and educational toys (even scientific silly putty!). You’ll also find our usual array of books, apparel, souvenirs, and household goods that reflect the natural and cultural history of our local State Parks and Beaches, including merchandise featuring the iconic artwork of Michael Schwab. A special “bundle” deal includes a Michael Schwab T-shirt and poster for the price of the shirt.

Shopping at the ParkStore Online directly supports local state parks and beaches, and helps Friends of Santa Cruz State Parks achieve its mission of ensuring that our parks will thrive and be available to all. Plus, funds from the ParkStore Online stay local.

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Help us Expand State Parks Livestream Educational Programming

California State Parks is offering popular Livestream Education Programming for children and adults at nine local state parks and beaches. Events are offered most days, but donations are needed to help expand this programming.

Your generosity will allow State Parks to increase the livestreamed talks to 12 additional local state parks and beaches, including Castle Rock, Portola Redwoods, Año Nuevo, The Forest of Nisene Marks and Pigeon Point State Historic Lightstation.

The limiting factor is a shortage of equipment. We’re hopeful that our tech-savvy community will be able to help out with some of these items. If you or your company would like to donate, either through an in-kind gift or a financial gift, State Parks staff is in need of the following items (quantity is 1 unless otherwise noted):

• Apple iPad 128gb, Wi-Fi only
• iOgrapher iPad case or JETech iPad Case, 10.2-inch – 7th generation 2019 model
• Surface Pro 7s – i5, 128GB, 8GB RAM (Quantity: 8)
• Kensington Blackbelt 2nd Degree Surface Pro Case or Surface Pro Type Covers (Quantity: 8)
• iKlip 3 Universal Tripod Mounts for Tablets (Quantity: 9)
• Plantronics Voyager Legend Bluetooth Headsets (Quantity: 10)
• Rode VideoMic Me Directional Mic for Smartphones
• Skyroam Solis Lite Mobile Wi-Fi Hotspots (Quantity: 9)
• Data plan Skyroam Solis Lite Mobile Wi-Fi Hotspots (Quantity: 9)
• Magnus TR-13 Travel Tripod
• QuikLok LPH-004 Laptop Tripod
• HolderRAVPower 12000mAH Battery Pack
• Apple Lightning to micro USB adapter
• WeBoost Home Multiroom Cell Signal Boosters or Skyroam Solis Lite Mobile Wi-Fi Hotspots (Quantity: 2)

Please email Jo or call 408-234-2468 to make a donation. Thanks so much!

And remember to join us (virtually) for this great live programming.

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Let’s Get Creative and Color Together!

Adults and kids will enjoy coloring images of favorite state park and beach spots. A purple monarch butterfly? Rainbow poppies? For a limited time, download the coloring sheets for free and print them at home.

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Zoom With State Parks!

Download one of our free Zoom backgrounds today!

Share our beautiful state parks and beaches on your video conference calls. We have free Zoom backgrounds available to download on our website.