Railyard Park Conservancy
Grants Awarded
The Railyard Park Living Laboratory is a field trip program designed to engage youth with outdoor play and learning in Santa Fe’s 11-acre Railyard Park. Through hands-on field trips, youth are introduced to the wonder of the outdoors that can be found in the heart of the City. Program participants take part in recreation opportunities found in the Park and engage with ongoing conservation projects within the Park’s gardens and landscapes.
The Living Laboratory program, established in 2023 and previously funded by the Outdoor Equity Fund, offers immersive and culturally inclusive outdoor learning for K-5 students in New Mexico. Developed by Mollie Parsons from Cerise Consulting, the program enhances students’ curiosity and creativity through experiential learning that utilizes the Park’s diverse biological, cultural, and recreational characteristics. The program, which complies with New Mexico's education standards, successfully served nearly 400 students, of which 56% were low income, across 17 field trips during its first operational year; however, due to financial constraints, it now relies heavily on external funding, including potential assistance from the Outdoor Equity Fund, to continue providing these influential educational opportunities.
The Railyard Park Conservancy (RPC) provides community stewardship and advocacy for the horticultural care, educational programming and public art in Santa Fe’s 11-acre Railyard Park. Each year we serve more than 3,000 youth and adults with free educational and cultural programming, while mobilizing local volunteers to maintain and support the biological resilience of the Park’s complex urban environment. Our work is deeply informed by the original vision of the park – developed after hundreds of hours of public input – as an ecologically sustainable greenspace offering community engagement and cultural enrichment. In the broadest sense, the RPC’s goal is to serve Santa Fe with programming that is responsive to the community’s needs and interests, and reflective of the environmental, cultural and historical principles at the heart of our mission and the park’s design. More specifically, we are guided by a commitment to conservation, equitable access to public greenspaces, and creating free opportunities for local families to enjoy the healing benefits of nature. We are especially proud of our ability to weave these principles into each of our three focus areas, ensuring that our programming remains dynamic, progressive and inclusive. Our horticultural work is meant to support the Park as a biologically diverse greenspace serving all Santa Feans. We mobilize more than 2,500 staff and volunteer hours annually to ensure that it serves as a model of public investment in sustainability, and as a practical buffer to increasingly severe weather. This includes adult and Youth-in-Service volunteer opportunities, as well as an ongoing Green Job Skills collaboration with Rocky Mountain Youth Corps and the New Mexico School for the Deaf (NMSD). The RPC also spearheads ongoing conservation projects like Graze Days, which utilizes prescribed grazing by goats and sheep to help restore the Park’s native grasslands. As one of our most popular programs, regularly drawing crowds of 250-300, Graze Days allows us to educate the community about the importance of native plants and healthy soils in creating a resilient native ecosystem. The RPC’s educational programming is rooted in the growing body of evidence about the benefits of being in nature for children, which include improved physical, emotional and social health; increased social skills and self-esteem; community interest and engagement; and enhanced academic skills like critical thinking and problem solving. Programs like Sand Play Saturday, Pop-Up Playground and Living Laboratory support all areas of children’s development by providing a safe, nurturing environment to enjoy the proven benefits of nature-based play and outdoor learning. Our Railyard Art Project (RAP) encourages thoughtful and edifying projects in the context of social and cultural expression and environmental sustainability. In 2024, RAP has hosted three public exhibitions, including the Herstory Printmaking Collective’s Women of the Rails, a large-scale mural celebrating the many under-recognized women who contributed to the western rail experience; and Jemez Pueblo potter Kathleen Wall’s multi-media installation, Activating Oga Po’ogeh Land Acknowledgment, which addresses issues of land, identity and Santa Fe’s complex local history.