We can love the Backcountry Wilderness Area right now, but what happens when "we" are gone?
The next generation of conservationists are in classrooms and find it easier to get screen time than play time outside. When the average child is spending five to eight hours in front of a screen, the Backcountry Conservation & Education Fund is desperate to give children in our community the change to learn about the great outdoors and hopefully that leads to them loving wild places enough to protect them! To propel that mission forward, the Future Conservationists Initiative kicked off this fall to bring no-cost environmental education to local second-grade classrooms. Through generous donations, we bring our education team into classroom to teach a program on wild animal and plant survival based on Colorado's state academic standards. Take a peek at the video below for a quick look at what happens when nature meets kids at school. After that, we hope to see these students (and their parents) out enjoying our trails or at a program.
If you are a parent, teacher, principal, or know of a local second-grade classroom that we could bring the Future Conservationists Initiative to, contact us.
Lindsey McKissick is the outreach coordinator for the Backcountry Wilderness Area. She is Colorado born, Chicago raised, and Wyoming educated. For Lindsey, there is nothing better than waking up in a warm tent on the side of a remote river with coffee preferably made by someone else. You'll find Lindsey on river rafting/SUPing, mountain biking, or camping with her husband and two pint- size, adventure-seeking daughters.