Toyota Donates $1 Million to Build Youth Campus for Yellowstone National Park

On August 25th Toyota donated $1 Million to build a new Yellowstone Youth Campus. This new campus is going to be a place of learning for future generations of conservationists. Place for socializing and sharing experiences and a home for immersive youth programming in the park. Thanks to Toyota, kids soon will explore a new living environment in this park.

Designed by Hennebery Eddy Architects of Portland, Ore., this new Yellowstone Youth Campus aims to be the first building in a national park that will receive “Living Building Challenge Certification”, as it is known that this certification is one of the most rigorous environmental building certifications in the world. For all who enter here, the result is a “Living Lab”.

“The new Yellowstone Youth Campus is an opportunity to support the conservation principles of the National Park Service while reinforcing Toyota’s commitment to the environment,” said Toyota Motor North America Environmental General Manager Kevin Butt. “We hope this environmental learning center will inspire and empower future leaders in building a more culturally aware, ecologically responsible and regenerative future.”

According to Toyota, the buildings are designed to reduce energy consumption through installing windows, natural ventilation and implementing other passive measures. Planned photovoltaic collection will supply more energy than it is needed in the campus, which is more than 100 percent. Water used in the campus will be locally derived and all waste water will be reused. The accent of the design is healthy environment, with no toxic materials and low VOC materials for building and furnishings. When this project is completed, this campus will serve as a new benchmark for the National Park Service projects.

This will also be the home and aid for two youth programs. Expedition Yellowstone program supports a week-long residential experience for school-aged children targeting disadvantaged populations. The other program, Youth Conservation Corps offers high-school students a one-month engaging summer program. The new youth campus will be able to serve twice the capacity including residential buildings, four additional classrooms and staff housing,

This is not the first time that Toyota puts their mark in a park. At the Lamaro Buffalo Ranch in 2015, Toyota brought in one particularly rare sustainable energy system. With solar power and reused battery packs from Camry Hybrid this kind of system supplies dependable, tenable power with zero emission to the educational center as well to the ranger station, founded in 1907.

When Yellowstone designed the new Old Faithful Visitor Education Center (OFVEC), engineers in Toyota shared knowledge during the construction of its Gold Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified office complex in Torrance, Calif.

Toyota as an automaker provides a $1 million gift for construction of the Center to the foundation which was opened in 2010.