Outdoor Experiential Program

Cottonwood Gulch Expedition’s Students in Wilderness Initiative (SIWI) is an immersive program that aims to develop critical thinkers in New Mexico’s next generation and share the beauty and value of our public lands, with an emphasis on Wilderness Areas. We believe that when students understand and experience wild places, this connection will foster an appreciation for the outdoors, bring alive indoor classroom topics, and provide opportunities to give students ownership of their local lands. Our SIWI program achieves this through a combination of classroom-based learning sessions, field-based expeditions, and a person- al reflection project. In the 2020-2021 year, we are committed to adjusting our curriculum to meet COVID 19 procedures as needed.

• Expose New Mexican youth to Wilderness Designated Lands, Wilderness Study Areas, Proposed Wilderness Areas and locations determined as having Wilderness Characteristics
• Engage students in a year-long conversation about the issues relating to Wilderness, conservation, and preservation in NM wildlands
• Connect youth to policymakers and stakeholders addressing these issues
• Immerse students in outdoor experiences and wild places in NM
• Engage youth in service projects related to wilderness areas
• Engage students in thinking about their own roles and stories in NM wildlands and in outdoor spaces more generally
• Create investment and ownership of the wild places of NM by local youth
• Facilitate outdoor experiences for a socioeconomically representative group of NM students

Students will experience seven days in the wilderness to bring outdoor living skills and quiet time in a wild place, bring alive topics learned back at school in the outdoor classroom, understand the uniqueness of wilderness protections, and use art, music, and writing to capture experiences. These field-based experiences give context to the classroom sessions and draw a clear connection between the academic understandings and the real-world impacts. If we are unable to hold in-person programming this year, we will develop hand-on activities.

These sessions will support field-based learning with academic understandings of public lands, “Big W” Wilderness, history of land usage in New Mexico, science, conservation, and personal
connection and storytelling. These sessions will connect students to stakeholders in current issues, engage students in thinking about their own history and connection to land,
and push students to think about their own stories and roles in public lands. We plan to conduct these virtually as needed due to COVID 19.

1. Understanding Public Lands and Defining Wilderness:
Students will work together to create a map of New Mexico, including manmade and natural landmarks. Students will take a pre-survey that assesses their knowledge, attitudes, and skills around public lands. Students will learn specific qualities of Wilderness that distinguish it from other public lands.

2. How History Shapes Relationships with Public Lands:
Students will learn nationwide and New Mexico-specific history that highlights how public lands came to be and who had a voice in creating them.

3. How Public Lands Become Designated as Wilderness:
Students will learn how Wilderness becomes designated through the legislative processes by hosting a mock-senate hearing.

4. Current Events on NM Public Lands:
Students will read articles and distill information, including who, what, where, when, and why; then they will form an opinion and articulate an argument for or against the action described in the article.

5. Natural Resource Conservation:
Students will assess their environmental impact and discuss the definition of a  conservationist.

6. Inquiry-Based Science:
Students will choose from a menu of science topics that affect public lands. Examples include resource extraction, fire ecology, water pollution, erosion, and climate change.

7 . Taking Action:
Students will brainstorm ideas and determine action steps to be more involved in environmental and social justice issues in their city.

8. Storytelling:
Students will generate and share stories about the outdoors through interviewing.  Additionally, students will consider who the storyteller is in the conservation movement.

9. Teambuilding and Backpacking 101:
Students will work together to accomplish shared goals in a classroom or outdoor setting. Students will have a hands-on opportunity to become familiar with the backpacking gear for their expeditions.

10. Telling Your Story 1:
Students will understand why their stories are important and learn how to consider audience, content, and medium to tell their stories.

11. Telling Your Story 2:
Students will engage in a peer-review process and refine their stories. Students may choose to write a new story or add to their story based on their experience on the field days.

12. Closing Session:
Students will complete a post-survey, share reflections on their experience, and celebrate the end of the program with an appreciation ceremony.

Fall Day Program

Students will build relationships with the outdoors, each other, and the Gulch.

Winter Day Program

Students will learn place-based knowledge to practice storytelling and prepare for the backpacking trip.

Spring 5 Day Backpacking Trip

Students will have a capstone experience backpacking in Southern New Mexico develop a deeper connection to the environment, experience personal growth, learn how to backpack, and further their wilderness ethic.

Classrooms will select a representative to share a personal story and experience from the SIWI program who will have the opportunity to present their story to other SIWI participants and provide an opportunity for students to meet and field questions from the larger community.

Cottonwood Gulch Expeditions
www.cottonwoodgulch.org
505-248-0563