Turn Your Stache Into Cash!

Ford Church, Founder and Executive Director of the Cottonwood Institute, is an amazing man who sadly does not have the ability to grow facial hair. But this October, despite the odds, Ford will be attempting to grow a mustache! Why would he want to do such a silly thing you ask? Well, for Mustache4Cash of course!

Mustache4Cash and Color4Kidz is a Denver Fundraiser started in 2004 by the Youth Opportunity Fund, an organization committed to raising money for non-profits serving “at risk” youth. The way it works is that willing men and women in the Denver area called “growers” and “colorers” will be sporting handsome staches and stylish streaks for the month of October. Each of these men and women are reaching out to the public for sponsors to donate money to their cause.

April Pishna, Cottonwood Institute’s Administrative Coordinator and all-around multi-tool will be joining Ford in this ultimate adventure, along with Ryan Bovard-Johns and Nate Bankirer, two amazing Cottonwood Instructors.

We are participating in this creative event to raise money to help increase the accessibility of the outdoors to low-income, inner city public school students at Gilpin K-8 Montessori School in Denver, CO during the 2009 – 2010 school year. The money we raise will be used to offer a 1-day field trip for World Water Monitoring Day, a weekend overnight camping trip to practice leadership and teambuilding skills, and a 1-day rafting trip next spring. Most of these kids have never even been to the mountains!

Give Cottonwood Institute a hand by donating to this campaign. Its quick and easy! All you have to do is visit this link http://www.mustache4cash.org/users/294 and make a donation before October 24th.

What’s CAP up to? First Post

What’s this quarter’s CAP class been up to? let’s take a peek!

A guest speaker talked about environmental issues surrounding Open Space on a hike, and they’ve had many guest speakers already.

Students are way stoked about their action project, which will address Genetically Modified Organisms, or GMOs. More information on that soon — stay tuned! They’re also going on a backpacking trip this weekend. Good luck, and have fun!

Gilpin Students Make World Water Monitoring Day a Success

On Thursday, September 17, 2009 students from Gilpin K-8 School headed over to the South Platte River in downtown Denver to team up with Earth Force and Cottonwood Institute for World Water Monitoring Day (WWMD).

In partnership with Keep it Clean from Drain to Stream (KIC), a water education campaign led by Denver Public Works, Denver City Councilwoman Judy Montero kicked off the event with her inspiring opening remarks and encouraged students to do their part to help keep Denver’s water clean. Approximately 25 students and 10 volunteers performed a variety of tests along the South Platte River to check the water quality for the wildlife that call it home and for the people that use it for recreation.  Students performed several water tests including, pH, turbidity, temperature, and dissolved oxygen, waded in the water in search of macroinvertebrates, and participated in an interactive game called “The Incredible Journey” to understand the water cycle.

Students recorded their findings, which will be submitted to the Water Environment Federation.  Community results are published each year in the “Year in Review” report and made available on the WWMD website, so stay tuned for more information. At the end of the day, students had gained knowledge on not just water, but how to keep it safe, how to know it’s safe, and how to enjoy it responsibly.

WWMD was one of three events Cottonwood Institute, Earth Force and Gilpin have planned for the 2009 – 2010 school year thanks to a generous grant from REI. Other courses include a fall camping trip and a spring rafting adventure, so check back with us to keep track of all that we accomplish throughout the year.

Alumni Spotlight: Dana Nelson

Dana was one of the very first students to register for the Cottonwood Institute’s core educational program called the Community Adventure Program at New Vista High School when the program first launched during the 2003 – 2004 school year.

Q: What are you up to these days?

A: Well I’m a recent graduate from the University of Northern Colorado and now I’m currently working for Royal Caribbean as the Head Sound and Light Technician in the theatre on the Grandeur of the Seas production.  I’m actually writing this from the middle of the Caribbean!

Q: What is your favorite Cottonwood Institute memory or story from your course?

A: I think my favorite memory is from a camping trip I went on with Ford Church and a bunch of other students from New Vista High School.  Ford will remember this I think, but I was the first one to make friction fire with a bow drill fire kit.  I was so excited when I did it!  I felt truly human in that moment of discovery.

Q: What environmental issue are you most passionate about?

A: I’m most interested in the idea of clean cheap energy for everyone.  I’m always researching whats new in wind energy, wave energy, and all sorts of alternative fuels and ideas.  Considering that our consumption of energy is what drives us as a race, and our highly destructive ways of producing it, I think that its extremely important we find solutions to our energy problems.

NPR Contributor Recommends Survival Books

If you didn’t catch it, NPR had a report called Stranded? Three Books To Save Your Life on All Things Considered. Jake Halpern found himself deep in the backcountry of New Zealand with his wife on their honeymoon. When another family accidentally ate all of their food while they were on a day hike, they found themselves in an interesting survival situation in the middle of nowhere for a week without food.

After surviving the ordeal, and I am assuming his marriage, Jake read up on the survival genre and recommended three survival books: 1. The Complete Worst Case Scenario Handbook. 2. When All Hell Breaks Loose: Stuff You Need to Survive when Disaster Strikes, by Cody Lundin. 3. SAS Survival Handbook.

In my opinion, The Complete Worst Case Scenario Handbook is a novelty book and should only be purchased for your amusement and entertainment, not to save your life. Cody Lundin is legit and a friend and I highly recommend When All Hell Breaks Loose for urban survival and his other book 98.6 Degrees: The Art of Keeping Your Ass Alive! for wilderness survival. The SAS Survival Handbook is also a good buy for a military perspective on wilderness survival.

Question: What are your 3 favorite survival books and why?

Cottonwood Institute Wraps up a Phenomenal Summer!

As the leaves start to change color and kids return to school, it is time to reflect on an amazing summer and all the happenings here at Cottonwood.

We kicked the summer off with a couple of weekend adult survival clinics, where our brave attendees not only built a survival shelter, but actually slept in them!

We continued our summer journey with two, 7-day courses geared towards the mighty teenager!  The first was all about the stone age, where students made their own tools, learned primitive fire skills, and built debris shelters. The second was all about the wolves. The students immersed themselves in the land of the wolves, learning about their habitat and culture, as well as nature awareness, animal tracking, and survival skills.

We ended the summer by giving back. Team Cottonwood joined Sunrise Century, a 100 mile bike race, for a day of volunteering as route marshalls in beautiful Boulder.  And to top that off, we moved mountains at Mt. Evans with our valiant volunteers and Colorado Fourteeners, while on a trail building mission.

Read more about these exciting events at stay on top of all the action at Cottonwood Institute by checking out the Notes-from-the-Field section of our blog.

Volunteers Give Back On Mt. Evans

Under the intense blue of the mountain sky atop Mt. Evans, Cottonwood Institute and Colorado Fourteeners Initiative (CFI) teamed up to give back to the mountains we love so much. Our volunteers worked hard for two days, completing much needed trail maintenance and ecological restoration projects next to the glistening waters of Summit Lake. They got down and dirty moving rocks and building steps, making the trails around Summit Lake safe and enjoyable for all of us.

Cottonwood Institute believes in giving back to the mountains we love and use as our “office.”  By doing so, we build a connection with our communities, with nature, and with people. In the end, after hard-working days, and star-strewn nights, our volunteers came together, worked diligently, and had a great time! According to Josh Chance, “that’s the most fun I’ve had all year! I definitely want to participate again.”

We offer courses and volunteer projects for schools, community organizations, and businesses throughout the year.  Keep track of all we do at Cottonwood Institute and don’t miss out on anything by checking out our blog at http://www.cottonwoodinstitute.org/blogs/cottonwood-institute/

You can see all of the action on Mt. Evans by Clicking Here for the complete photo gallery.