Telluride Institute's Watershed Education Program (WEP) initiated two Snowshoe Overnights with students from the West End School District.  WEP conducted this program in collaboration with Cindy Farny, owner and operator of the High Camp Hut, and through a generous donation from the Lifton-Zoline Family Foundation.  The program is offered free of charge to ten carefully selected middle schoolers from the West End School district.  The students were accompanied by West End teachers Stacie Schoppman and Vicki Phelps, as well as WEP instructor and program director, Laura Kudo.  The program included an intensive snow science and safety course conducted by Mark Frankmann of Telluride Helitrax.

The students began their journey with a 2.5 mile snowshoe through the subalpine forest off of Lizard Head Pass to an elevation of over 11,000ft.  Once they reach the High Camp Hut, they melted snow for water on the wood burning stove (the source of heat and water for the cabin), learned the environmental "friendliness" of a composting toilet, prepared meals together, sled and built snow forts, created high mountain Haiku poems, and participated in team building excercises...all while having FUN!  A highlight was the snow science and safety sessions with Mark Frankmann, a snow and avalanche expert from Telluride Helitrax.  Students dug snow pits and analyzed the snowpack, looked at snow crystals through a scope, learned about avalanche awareness, and even built their own snow mountain, complete with avalanche paths.  WEP intends for this type of programming to be thoroughly enriching and pertinent to students' life experiences and future stewards of the region in which we live and play.  All of the programming for this project aligns with Colorado State Standards in Science, Language Arts, Geography, and Physical Education.

Read the article from the Daily Planet:  http://www.telluridenews.com/articles/2011/03/07/news/doc4d72c94962787027336464.txt

2011 Winter Program for San Miguel County Elementary Schools

The Watershed Education Program Puppet Theater of the Telluride Institute is entering its 4th season with exciting new additions to its repertoire. We have been rehearsing, working on our stage, and making some new puppets such as "Paddy the Paleontologist" who tells the story of the dinosaur bones recently discovered on Norwood Hill. The puppeteers include Ashley Boling, Sally Davis, Jeb Berrier, Laurie Lundquist, and Colin Sullivan. Buff Hooper has been working behind the scenes with Sally and Laurie on props and puppets. We will be performing up and down the watershed in various schools and libraries with the goal of educating and entertaining. It will be lots of fun!

The basic concepts of watershed awareness are introduced in simple ways that form a foundation for childrens' later participation in our Watershed Education Program (WEP). The real stars of these shows are the animals and insects of the watershed. When you come to a show you are likely to meet a bear, a coyote, a beaver, a cricket, an eagle, and even a mosquito! All of these wild creatures have a point of view; we can lean a lot by listening to them interact. The dynamics of our watershed are rich and complex. It is good to hear about this place from the horse's mouth... and the dog's bark and the cricket's chirp... !

Our fun filled puppet showsfor the 2011 season include :

"Where Does the River Come From? --Where Does the River Go?"; "A Cricket's Journey Down the Watershed;" "Day World/Night World;" and "Get Outa My Hair, Ski Area Bear." A new play is in the works, thanks to Pamela Zoline, that celebrates the discovery of dinosaur bones on Norwood Hill.

Puppet shows were performed in February and March at Mountain School Montessori Program, Naturita Public School, Telluride Elementary School, the Telluride Public Library, and the Norwood Elementary School.