Environmental Living Program

The Environmental Living Program (ELP) at Sutter’s Fort State Historic Park is a special program that allows school children (3rd thru 9th grade) to really “live” California’s history.  Student participants, along with parent helpers and their school teachers, spend a total of 24 hours portraying characters of the 1840’s and participate in historical trade activities and historical entertainment of the era.  The Sutter’s Fort ELP offers students firsthand experience and a personal perspective on California’s history than most books or movies.

Sutter’s Fort Environmental Living Program operates from November to May of each school year with program days pre-scheduled for most Tuesdays and Thursdays, except on major holidays. Participation in the Sutter’s Fort “ELP” requires instructors to submit an application outlining the grade level and number of their students they want to participate. Applications are not transferable, so each teacher needs to complete a separate application for each of their classes in school.

A typical program days starts at 8:00 am on the Tuesday or Thursday morning and ends around 9 am the next day. Students arrive dressed in period costumes similar to the clothes worn by workers and visitors during the Fort’s historic period of 1839 to 1849. Carpentry, bread baking, butter churning, spinning, weaving and candle making are the traditional reenactment work stations in a program day. At night, groups take turns keeping “night watch,” while the others sleep.

Due to the interest, the Sutter’s Fort Environmental Living Program only accepts applications for participating in our program from February 1st to March 31st of each year.

In May, the program coordinators hold a random drawing from all applications by all teachers of all schools to select the next group of participants and to develop a waiting list of classes. (Teachers, if your class is selected to participate in the ELP, but you are unable to participate for some reason, your school may not send another teacher in your place. Accordingly, another class on the waiting list will be invited to participate in your place.)

All classes who have been randomly selected to participate in the program, need to have their designated teacher attend a mandatory training workshop in August. The workshop is around three (3) hours long and provides an overview of the program. The ELP schedule for November to May of that school year is scheduled during the August training workshop. Selected instructors and their classes will be contacted in writing or by phone to confirm their attendance at the August training workshop.

An additional training workshop will also be offered for teachers and any interested parents in September. Parents play an important role in the ELP and it is required that five parents from each participating class be required to be trained on the six (6) ELP reenactment work stations.

Depending on the school, Sutter’s Fort encourages classes to make a “pre-visit” with their class to the historic park. This optional “pre-visit” introduces the Fort to the students and allows for in-class lesson plans and study opportunities to learn about the Fort’s important history.  Sutter’s Fort ELP costs $400 per participating class group.

A maximum of seventy (60) students can participate in the daytime portion of the ELP program. However, Sutter’s Fort SHP has very limited overnight facilities, so only forty (40) students, with chaperones, can stay overnight at a time. All students, teachers and parents will need to bring their own “sleeping bags” or “bed rolls.”

The ELP is a self-supporting program at the historic park, with program staff wages are paid by the participants. Individual student, teacher and parent food costs and supplies are the responsibility of the class itself. These costs will vary depending on what the instructor and parents want to do during their activities at the park. In the past some classes have also chosen to pay extra for musicians to entertain during the evenings, while other class groups have parents or students that play instruments. Most classes enjoy telling stories and singing around the Fort’s evening campfire.

We welcome your interest in our Environmental Living Program. The ELP application can be download by using this link: ELP Application.  Please call our program staff members at 916-323-8112 with your questions. You can also email your questions to elp@parks.ca.gov