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. 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.
Vision:
To use the San Miguel Watershed as a non-arbitrary, place-based teaching tool of physical, ecological, hydrological, cultural, historical, and economic relationships. Exploration, study, and creative, hands-on learning within such a matrix is more interesting, vivid, and in the end, more meaningful and memorable.
LATEST WEP NEWS & EVENTS
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Love Your BackyardJuly 14, 2020Get to know the delightful flora and fauna of your valley in small group walks. Sponsored by Wilkinson Public... -
Winter Greetings from WEPFebruary 19, 2020Greetings from the Watershed Education Program Directors, the Watershed Education Program wrapped up a successful fall season in early... -
Daring Greatly with Hilaree Nelson - Feb. 18 @ 6:00PMFebruary 18, 2020You are cordially invited to the upcoming Watershed Expedition Series; an intimate evening with world class mountaineer, skier, and... -
Donate December 10th for Colorado GivesDecember 9, 2019TI friends! Please consider donating this year for Colorado Gives on December 10th to the Telluride Institute. You can... -
WEP Ramping up for Another Season of School ProgrammingSeptember 12, 2019The Watershed Education Program (WEP) is ramping up for another season of fall programming with area schools. The educational... -
Next Watershed Expedition Series @ January 24, 2019January 11, 2019Please join us for our next Watershed Expedition Series event: "Up the River" with local favorite adventurer Kristen Hughes....
“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)
Thank you to our ‘bridal veil’ supporters & grantors:
The Lifton-Zoline Family Foundation
Audrey Marnoy
Stuart and Joanna Brown Charitable Fund
Just for Kids Foundation
San Miguel County
Town of Telluride (CCAASE)
Telluride Foundation
AND WEP PARTNERS:
State of Colorado, BLM, USFS, Idarado, Town of Mountain Village, Telski, Wilkinson Public Library, Naturita Public Library, Rimrockers Historic Society, SMPA, and The Nature Conservancy
For further information, please contact WEP Director, Garrett Smith at:
(520) 661-6260 or garrett@tellurideinstitute.org
PO Box 1770, Telluride, CO 81435