Liana Chavarín

Formed by the San Gabriel Mountains, and the Santa Ana Winds, Liana spent her childhood exploring the rich colors and textures of Southern California with her gigantic and hilarious family. With a childhood of playing chase with tumbleweeds in the Mojave Desert, to investigating decomposing animals in her East LA neighborhood’s vacant lots while wearing the dried surf on her skin after a morning on the beach, Liana’s relationship with nature in all its forms have been a lifelong source of reverence and inspiration for her, connecting ancestry, time, and place.

After studying child development, then art education, and graduating from California College of the Arts with an emphasis on textiles and Earthworking, Liana began to combine her passions which brought her to the mossy and wonderful world of forest school. She has been working in early-childhood art-and-nature programs since 2002, and founded Berkeley Forest School after the birth of her child in 2011.

The freedom, respect, unwavering support and love in Liana's early life has carried with her and greatly influences her work today. Liana remains passionate about increasing access to the benefits of forest school and partners with schools and community organizations to offer the practice of forest school as a cornerstone for a community’s mental / emotional health healing in connection with the land.

Liana is one of the founding members of the California Association of Forest Schools since 2015, and continues to serve on the Board of Directors. She was also recognized as a steward for the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee for Yosemite National Park in 2018, giving a panel presentation on dismantling white-centered narratives in our National Parks.