In the Company of Wolves with West Denver Prep

On July 28th, 2011 a small group of students from West Denver Preparatory Charter School joined up with the Cottonwood Institute to participate in our week-long Endangered Wolves and Animal Tracking course held at Mission: Wolf.  For a full week students were able to camp together in the mountains, spending their days in the company of one of North America’s most intriguing animal species: wolves.

During their stay at Mission: Wolf, students spent their time caring for and learning about the wolves that live at the reserve.  They helped feed the wolves each day, and participated in a daily wolf visit where they interacted face-to-face with some of the friendlier wolves that belong to a group known as the Ambassador Pack.  The Ambassador Pack consists of wolves that are taken on tours across the United States to help teach people about wolf behavior and encourage respect for wildlife and the natural environment.

“Hanging out with a wolf is an intense experience,” said Clark Patton, a Cottonwood Institute Instructor.  “It’s not your average dog.”  Visits with the wolves were supervised and lead by Kent and Kathy, two members of the dedicated staff who live and work at the wolf reserve.  They taught students about wolf behavior, and showed how the behaviors of wolves can be connected to how humans behave as well.

When they weren’t busy helping the wolves, the students were learning how to build debris shelters and make primitive fires using bow drills.  They also spent a few days learning about animal tracking in Carcass Canyon, where they learned how to identify different animal tracks and about how other animals tracked each other in the wild.  Evenings were spent around the campfire, sharing thoughts and stories with each other and discussing the events of the day.

For a service project the students helped pick up bones in Carcass Canyon, as well as cut lengths of chain-link fence that could be used for future repairs on the wolf enclosures.  They also helped label the wolves’ food bowls.

Coming into contact with wildlife can be a profound and life-changing experience.  Many of the students who went on the trip had never gone camping before, nor had they ever come into such close contact with wild animals.  “It brought a lot out of them,” said Clark.  For the students who spent a week at Mission: Wolf, the experience not only garnered a deep respect for and new found understanding of the wilderness.  It gave them a personal understanding of themselves, enabling them to see the relationship between humans and nature, and how we as people both differ and relate to the creatures that inhabit our natural environment.

A special thank you to the staff of Mission: Wolf for allowing us to hold our course at their reserve and for all that they do for the wolves.

Move Your Tail – Create a Trail! Call for Volunteers!

It’s that time of year again and we are pumped!  Cottonwood Institute will be teaming up with Colorado Fourteeners Initiative (CFI) to help complete much needed trail maintenance and ecological restoration projects on the beautiful and majestic Mt. Evans the weekend of August 12-14, 2011.

This free volunteer opportunity is for adventurous and mellow folks alike, who want to blend their passion for the outdoors with their passion for generosity, by giving back to the land that constantly gives to us. We will set up our base camp at Echo Lake Campground and drive up to our site on Mt. Evans each day.

While the days will be action packed, there will be plenty of time in the afternoons and evenings for relaxing at our base camp, hanging out, philosophizing, and having good old-fashioned fun. You will be able to work on projects at your own pace, so make this experience as mild or as wild as you want.

This course is limited to 12 participants and spots are filling fast so Register Today! This is a great opportunity to meet like-minded people and for everyone to walk their talk and give back to the mountains that we all use and love. Click Here for a detailed itinerary and registration packet. To find out more about Cottonwood Institute visit us on the web at: CottonwoodInstitute.org.

“Sit and Listen” – Operation: Military Kids Overnight Teaches More Than Just Survival

This summer, the Cottonwood Institute and Operation: Military Kids teamed up for the Operation Military Kids Family Survival Skills Overnight.  In July, a team of students, accompanied by a number of parents, ventured up into Colorado Lions Camp near Woodland Park, Colorado for a weekend of outdoor exploration and fun.

This trip equipped its participants with good, practical knowledge about surviving in the wilderness, and also gave everyone an opportunity to get to know each other in an environment that facilitated a sense of community and teamwork.  Surviving in the outdoors alone was a new and enriching experience for most of the students and their parents.   Some people seemed a little hesitant at first, but it wasn’t long before the group’s avid interest and enthusiasm for the outdoors became apparent, as well as their remarkable ability to connect and relate to one another from day one, despite having never met before.

Students, instructors, and parents alike focused their time and energy on learning new survival skills and discussing how to respect the land they were staying on.  Course participants learned how to make one-match fires, and even got to try their hand at using bow drills.  They also learned how to build debris shelters, an activity that some students found to be so enjoyable, they wanted to try constructing shelters in their own backyards.

For some, one of the best parts of the trip was simply having an opportunity to be alone in the wilderness.  Finding sit spots, a reflective exercise where each participant finds a place to sit in the woods where they can be alone with the stillness of their surroundings, became an activity of special importance for many of the students.  “My rose was the sit moments—just being able to sit and listen,” said TJ, one of the students who attended the course.

For others the most valuable aspect of the trip was being able to get to know other people.  At the end of the weekend, one participant took time during their closing circle to mention all of the “roses,” or strengths, she had observed in each person attending the course.  “Her words were a great example of how well this group got along, and they also showed how you can learn a lot from other people,” said Madeline Bachner, an instructor on the course.

“We so appreciated the opportunity to go out on a survival adventure sponsored by the Cottonwood Institute,” said Channon, a course participant, in an e-mail to the Cottonwood Institute.  “Your founder and donors should be very pleased with how your organization is helping to nurture a love of the outdoors and the confidence to enjoy it as only a true camping experience can provide.  My husband, who is deployed to Afghanistan, also wants me to pass on his gratitude for getting his girls up to the Colorado mountains this summer.  It’s non-profit groups like yours that take up the slack when our troops are off serving and away from family.”

To view pictures from the course, click here.

The Journal Project at Maroon 5 and Train Concert

Cottonwood Institute was honored to be invited to table at the Reverb Eco-Village during the Maroon 5 and Train concert at Red Rocks on Thursday, July 28, 2011.

What started out as clear sunny skies, quickly changed to clouds and gusty wind, but we persevered; papers, markers, and all!  During the concert, we featured The Journal Project.  Journaling is a crucial component in a child’s education, so we gathered old markers, crayons, and papers found around the office and asked concert-goers to decorate our recycled journal covers.  This was a great start to our goal of getting journals to all of our students, encouraging them to document their adventures while learning how to change the world.

While the wind closed us down early, the spirit of the Eco-Village and the excited concert-goers kept our message going: Changing the World, One Adventure at a Time!

A special thanks goes out to Maroon 5, Train, and Reverb for making this opportunity possible and to Melissa DeVaney-Goss for volunteering at the event.

Colorado Academy: Amidst the Wind and the Wolves

Just before school let out for the summer, 11 adventurous girls from Colorado Academy set out on a final mission: wolves.  On a warm spring day in May, although the van was stuffed full of fuzzy pillows, makeup bags, and iPods, it was the adventurous spirit of these girls that filled the air with confidence, strength, and true girl-power.

Turning out of the driveway and leaving the city life behind for a few days, we were all buzzing with a sense of curiosity, wondering what the future had in store for us. Upon our arrival at Mission: Wolf, while we were greeted gustily by the wind, we could still hear faint howls from the wolves off in the distance, reminding us that nature now surrounded us.

Mission: Wolf is a wolf sanctuary located in the southwest corner of Colorado, near Westcliffe.  It is home to more than 40 wolves, giving these often misunderstood animals a safe haven.  Our mission while visiting here was to connect with nature through survival skills, hang out with the wolves, get to know them, feed them, and in return, gain a better understanding of how wolves affect the environment and how we can improve the environment for everyone.

Amidst the wind, we attempted to set up camp without getting blown away. Little did we know that the wind would remain our constant companion throughout the course.  After a few broken tent poles and chasing tent bags, we managed to successfully set up camp and eagerly went off to meet our first wolf.  The anticipation was palpable and that initial excitement remained with us as we woke up in the mornings, met each wolf, helped to feed and care for them, and collapsed happily into bed each night.

While the wolves took up most of our time, we still managed to build debris shelters, make one-match and cotton ball fires, create our very own pop can backcountry stoves, meet and care for horses, embark on hikes, roast marshmallows, and hold inspiring discussions into the wee hours of the night.

With the distant howling of the wolves whispering in our ears and the Sangre de Cristos offering us glimpses of snow-capped mountain tops through the wispy clouds, we relaxed into our new surroundings, giddy as 7-year olds.  And when it was time to leave, although eager to return to society, there remained a hint of nostalgia for the memories created in our short time spent with these majestic creatures.  The students stated it best: “This course changed the way I look at wolves and had a large impact on me.  I felt more peaceful here.”

Click here for a slideshow of our adventures and until next time…Hooooooowl!

 

Highlights from the Cottonwood Institute’s 2010 Annual Report

People often ask me about the impact Cottonwood Institute programs have on our participants and the communities we serve, and I am reminded of a quote by Paul Loeb, the author of Soul of a Citizen, we share with students at the end of our programs:

“We never know how the impact of our actions may ripple out. We never know who may be touched. That’s one more reason why, although the fruits of our labors can’t always be seen, they matter immensely.”

Through exciting programs like our Community Adventure Program (CAP), our collaboration with West Denver Preparatory Charter School, and Operation: Military Kids, we are having a tremendous impact in the lives of our students.

Here are a few of the ways Cottonwood Institute programs impacted the communities we served in 2010:

More than 1,000 participants, including more than 375 diverse youth, logged more than 11,000 program contact hours, and completed more than 3,500 environmental service-learning project hours through our educational programs, outreach programs, and volunteer projects.

Cottonwood Institute primarily works with schools and community groups that serve low-income students. On average 53% of students were eligible for free or reduced lunch — an indicator of poverty.

According to post course surveys, 98% of our students would recommend our programs to other students.

Cottonwood Institute generated over $140,000 in revenue through programs, individuals, businesses, grants, and special events. 94% of every dollar raised went to direct programming activities.

To download a full copy of the Cottonwood Institute’s 2010 Annual Report, including a list of our top supporters,  Click Here.

I want to personally thank all of our students, parents, volunteers, staff members, instructors, board members, donors, and supporters who make what we do possible.

Sincerely,

How to Make a Fire (And Anything Else): Colorado Academy Learns Stone Age Survival Skills

Whether you are camping out for a weekend or climbing to the top of Longs Peak, surviving in the wilderness can be an empowering, humbling, and enriching experience.  However not many people in this day and age choose to spend their lives relying only on what the natural landscape has to offer.  Yet that’s exactly what some of the students of Colorado Academy chose to do when they signed up for the Cottonwood Institute’s Stone Age Survival Skills Course.  For five days at the end of May, these students lived, learned, and worked at the survival skills school known as Earth Knack in Crestone, Colorado.  Under the instruction of Robin Blankenship, the owner of Earth Knack, and her partner, Mike O’Donal, students learned a plethora of new survival skills that not only made use of the natural resources around them, but also challenged their intellectual and creative abilities as they used ancient methods to help sustain their modern lifestyles.

“With stone age survival, adaptation is one of the most important skills to have,” said Clark Patton, one of the instructors who went on the course.  Adaptability was certainly a learned skill for Robin, who built her family’s home from the ground up, and one that was strengthened for the students of Colorado Academy during the course.  By the end of their five-day stay, the students knew how to make fire from friction using bow drills, create cordage from plants, construct their own hunting weapons, and were even able to make arrowheads using the ancient and challenging technique known as flint knapping.  They helped lay the foundation for a new workshop at Earth Knack, shoveling dirt to level the ground and clearing away tree stumps and branches that would have gotten in the way of the new structure.  A day was also spent at Sand Dunes National Park, where they learned about camouflage as well as animal tracking techniques used by the Apache and the Bushmen of Africa.

The students of Colorado Academy not only gained a better understanding of primitive survival at Earth Knack: they gained a broader perspective of the natural world.  They realized that the natural landscape has much to offer each and every one of us, and that we not only have the ability to change their relationship to the land but also to make use of its potential in different ways.  These students learned that it is possible to live off the land and still remain a part of the modern world.

“Being able to take value of the wilderness is important,” said Aleyna Porreca, a student instructor who also went on the course.  “When students can learn outdoor skills you wouldn’t use in everyday life and then combine those skills with an appreciation for the outdoors in the city…I think that’s the most valuable thing they can take away from their experience.”

Click here for a slideshow of their adventures.

A Meal for Many: New Vista High School and The Kitchen Restaurant Host Local Lunch 2011!

New Vista High School’s Earth Task Force (or ETF), held a successful (and delicious!) second annual Local Lunch on May 6th, 2011.  This special event, put on for New Vista’s 300 students, had been planned for months and turned out to be great!  ETF collaborated with the staff at The Kitchen Restaurant to create an all-local meal that raised awareness about the importance of eating local and supporting local farms and restaurants.  ETF’s intent was to educate their peers on food miles through a fun and approachable event, and nothing grabs people’s attention like excellent food!

“This is a great way to create community through the sharing of food, to connect people with the food they eat and all the hands and hearts that helped create it, and a great opportunity for high school students to collaborate with local food producers and local chefs,” said Paige Doughty, Earth Task Force Mentor.

In addition to having a locally-grown-and-made meal, students were asked to bring or rent re-usable plates and utensils to further the pro-environmentalism atmosphere of the event.  This year’s meal featured locally raised pork as a main course, beets and goat cheese, wheat-berry salad, and locally roasted and crafted chocolate…Yum!  Everyone went back to class with full bellies and good spirits, wondering what next year’s Local Lunch will be like.

A big thanks to all the producers, growers, and chefs who donated to make this event a success: The Kitchen Restaurant (we couldn’t have done it without you!!!), Farmer John’s Butte Mill Flour Company, Haystack Goat Farm, Cure Organic Farm, Whole Foods, and A Spice of Life.

The Earth Task Force (ETF) is a Cottonwood Institute-sponsored program at New Vista High School in Boulder, CO designed to give students an opportunity to take the lead to implement sustainability initiatives at their school.

This article was written by Kelly Muller and edited by Lindsey Quakenbush.

Cottonwood Institute Represents at National Get Outdoors Day in Denver

On Saturday, June 11th the Cottonwood Institute joined many other outdoor minded groups to be part of the National Get Outdoors Day event in Denver City Park.  It was a beautiful day and thanks to great weather, in combination with the hard work of Get Outdoors Colorado, the event was the most well attended yet.  Thousands of visitors strolled through the park enjoying the entertainment and education throughout the day.

The Cottonwood Institute was in good company including REI, Governor Mark Udall, Jefferson County Open Space, Avid 4 Adventure and Colorado State Parks.  At our booth we provided information about our programming and had a fun game for kids to start thinking about what they would need to pack for a day-hike to be safe and prepared.  We also demonstrated the bow-drill technique for starting fires and drew several interested crowds teaching this unique skill.  It was a great day for people from all over the Denver Metro area to learn about how to prepare for and enjoy the outdoors here in Colorado and see what the Cottonwood Institute has to offer!

 

Logan School Students Earned Their Marshmallows

Although the students from Logan School in Denver were eager to go, it was the teachers that were ready to jump out of their skin from the excitement of the upcoming trip. All 24 of us -  including 19 rambunctious and highly energized 8 and 9 year olds – loaded into our caravan of vehicles and headed to Earth Knack, where we would spend the next three days learning primitive survival skills, while embracing sustainability, adaptability, and nature.

After fours hours of humming tires, the Sangre de Cristo Mountain Range finally greeted us with sunshine reflections off snowy peaks, and the adventure began. Once camp was set, we met Robin, the creator and owner of Earth Knack, our temporary home. She led us on a comprehensive and educational tour while discussing sustainability and recycling.  Dinner and marshmallows were our next order of business, and as the stars twinkled silently above us, we settled in for the night.

The sun shone bright the next morning. We ate a hearty breakfast and prepared for a short hike to the Ziggurat.  This unique piece of artwork sits atop a hill towering above the sparsely populated valley symbolizing one man’s vision of piece.  During the hike, we discovered an abundance of wildlife from birds to rabbits to flowers.  Although our stomachs were grumbling for lunch, our laughter and smiles evidenced a successful hike.  After a stimulating game of camouflage and bow drill practice, we began building our debris shelter.  I have never seen a group of kids dedicated so intensely to the task at hand as these young ones were.  In the middle of it all, it started to snow, and their determination did not wane, their smiles did not falter, and their shelter was a work of art on its own accord.

We celebrated our last night together listening to fireside stories, and dining on dessert of birthday cake and marshmallows.  It was a bittersweet moment, but as we backed out of the driveway the next morning, all of us knew the skills we learned and the laughter we shared would remain with us as long as the Sangre de Cristos continue to tower above this vast valley.

Check out the slideshow of our adventures, by clicking here.

Written by April Pishna.