Arcadia High Students Vie For Chance to Restore Angeles National Forest

Arcadia High School students will take to Facebook and Twitter in hopes of clinching a chance to help restore the Station Fire-ravaged Angeles National Forest.

The school is one of 17 others slated to take part in a five-week social media campaign, during which students will post weekly photos of their school’s environmental activities on Facebook and Twitter for a shot at getting an all-expenses-paid trip to the Angeles National Forest to participate in TreePeople’s effort to restore the ecosystem by planting native seedlings.

“The Station Fire in the Angeles National Forest was one of the largest fires in L.A. history,” said Julie Prejean, TreePeople’s forestry director. “Hundreds of students will participate in replanting areas that were burned too severely to come back without human assistance. They will make a big impact in restoring this precious natural resource.”

During the 2009 Station Fire, more than 160,000 acres of the forest were burned. The Angeles National Forest encompasses 72 percent of the county’s open space and accommodates four million visitors annually.

The campaign begins Wednesday. Communities from Santa Fe Springs to Santa Monica are participating, and include students at schools in Long Beach, Norwalk, San Gabriel, and beyond.