Having also served children in positions such as teacher and principal, Steve Betando is the retired superintendent of Morgan Hill Unified School District (MHUSD) in Morgan Hill, California. With a passion for the outdoors, Steve Betando contributes and supports the Green Foothills, an organization focused on preserving natural beauty across Santa Clara and San Mateo counties.

In early 2023, the Los Altos History Museum presented “Wallace Stegner: A Path to Conservation,” which detailed the efforts of a celebrated local novelist who was also the Green Foothills’ first president. Environmental advocate Lennie Roberts and the executive director of the nonprofit, Megan Fluke, presented, “Green Foothills: Advocates and Activists.” Roberts has a resume of conservation work that includes helping establish the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District in the early 1970s and authoring the pivotal Coastside Protection Initiative.

As museum educator Georgianna Shea described it, the event was particularly vital in connecting with youth, who often feel disempowered in an era of apocalyptic forecasts of global warming. The speakers provide tangible evidence that, organized properly, people do have the power to protect and heal the environment.