What we do:

The Watershed Education Program (WEP) provides hands-on education for grades K-12 in the San Miguel, from its headwaters in the high alpine zone down to the confluence of the San Miguel with the Dolores River. Our main focus is assisting classroom teachers in planning, preparing and executing full day and overnight field trips that are tied directly to their classroom curriculum and the Colorado State Standards. We use the San Miguel River Watershed as the core element of a place-based curriculum that includes science, history, mathematics, language arts and art and offer different programs each season: spring, summer, fall and winter. WEP works in all the schools of the San Miguel River Watershed, including: Telluride, Norwood, Nucla, Naturita and Paradox Valley. All programming is provided FREE of charge to the schools. WEP raises the funding through grants, foundation donations, and private donations.

Mission:

A commitment to contribute to the raising of a generation of informed stewards of place and community.

“Progress does not have to be patented to be worthwhile. Progress can also be measured by our interactions with nature and its preservation. Can we teach children to look at a flower and see all the things it represents: beauty, the health of an ecosystem, and the potential for healing?”   (Richard Louv, Author of Last Child in the Woods)