Family Wildlife Day Returning to Santa Rosa Plateau

The Santa Rosa Plateau Foundation and Riverside County Regional Park and Open-Space District announce the return of the popular Family Wildlife Day to the Santa Rosa Plateau Ecological Reserve just west of Murrieta.

The sixth annual event will take place from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 2, at the Visitor Center, 39400 Clinton Keith Road.

Families may visit with animals such as live wild birds, snakes and mammals unique to the Reserve. Designed to inform, entertain and inspire children and their families to learn more about the Reserve and the natural world, the day will also include music, nature storytelling, nature drawing, special nature craft-making activities, games, nature walks and displays of mountain lions and “bugs and creepy crawly things” that live at the Reserve.

Wild Birds Unlimited will be on hand to also discuss about wild birds in local backyard habitats.

The third printing of the “Plants of the Santa Rosa Plateau Ecological Reserve," along with SRPF membership information, will be available for a donation to support the children education programs.

The SRPF partners with RivCoParks to ensure funding for the children environmental education programs at the Reserve which include Third Grade Education, Third Grade Title 1 Outreach, 5th Grade Seed Bank Studies, Middle School Grassland Restoration and a high school Habitat Studies and Restoration program.

Serving 10 school districts and more than 7,500 students per school year, the SRPF’s mission is to inspire and motivate children to learn and care about the natural world and they accomplish this by providing environmental and outdoor education, research and preservation programs and projects for children and older youth at the Santa Rosa Plateau Ecological Reserve.

A small admission fee of $3 for adults and $2 for children 2 to 12 years old will be charged the day of the event at the gate. Admission for children younger than 2 is free.