NatureTracks Helps Veterans in Wheelchairs Access Memorial

By the NatureTrack Film Festival

NatureTrack was honored to be an important part of helping veterans experience “The Wall That Heals” by providing the Freedom Trax devices Positive Ride used to assist veterans onto the very muddy field to see the replica of The Vietnam Veterans Memorial last weekend in SLO. 

After all the rain, organizers had a boardwalk created to keep people from sinking into the mud. Wheelchairs needed more to get the full experience.

Sue Eisaguirre, founder of NatureTrack was on site to work alongside Positive Ride’s founder, Travis Jecker and volunteers.

“We’re all about supporting our veterans and giving them access to nature for all the good it delivers to the mind, body and spirit, we can’t get elsewhere,” Sue said. NatureTrack loans these game-changing devices to other non-profits as well as families who want to give their loved ones a chance to get back into nature and off the pavements.

The Freedom Trax devices has allowed NatureTrack to expand the program to beaches in SLO and Ventura Counties. 

The Wall That Heals was in SLO County at the Madonna Inn Meadows from March 16 – 19. It was hosted by the County of San Luis Obispo Veteran Services Office and the Central Coast Veterans Memorial Museum, in partnership with the Madonna Inn and Legacy Village, that brought the official three-quarter scale replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial located in Washington, D.C. and mobile education center to San Luis Obispo County.

NatureTrack is a 501(c)3 non-profit which provides outdoor docent-led field trips during the usual school day for Santa Barbara County children at no cost to the schools or students, utilizing local trails and beaches throughout north and south county. NatureTrack’s mission is two-fold:  to encourage students to embrace our natural world with respect and wonder, inspiring them to be stewards of our natural resources, and prepare school-aged students with the attitudes, leadership skills, and habits for lifelong learning. Founded in 2011, more than 35,000 students have had a chance to experience a NatureTrack docent-led outdoor field trip.  

Recently NatureTrack expanded its’ mission of connecting kids to nature and is now connecting people who use wheelchairs of all ages to get out into nature using Freedom Trax.  This device quickly changes a manual wheelchair into a battery powered, all-terrain vehicle which can easily traverse sand and trails. Now NatureTrack wheelchair users of any age can enjoy natural areas that were previous inaccessible to them. using Trax. https://naturetrack.org.  NatureTrack is expanding its’ reach up to San Luis Obispo and down to Ventura County with the Trax program.  Thanks go to the grantors including: UCSB’s Coastal Fund, California State Coastal Conservancy, Parks California ‘Route to Parks’ grant and the Coastal Resource Enhancement Fund.