The number and variety of outdoor education programs has
increased dramatically in the last 25 years.
Magazine
June 10, 1996
A special issue celebrates the thousands of educators who are working to teach people about the West. But it also raises some questions: Who are they reaching and where should the lessons be learned?
Feature
A state-by-state directory describes some of the many
outdoor education programs in the West.
Controversial "wilderness therapy programs" such as Utah's
North Star, intended for troubled kids, come under critical
scrutiny - and lawsuits - after several teenagers die while in
their care.
Sidebar
A program called Volunteer-led Investigations of
Neighborhood Ecology (VINE) introduces urban children to nature, as
demonstrated by Denver's Garden Place Academy.
River guide, author and activist Roderick Nash describes a
method of outdoor education he calls "unguiding" - letting the
river teach its own lessons.
The Student Conservation Association has been sending
thousands of young volunteers to help maintain national parks since
1957.
A Northwest conservation and outdoor recreation group, The
Mountaineers, educates children by sending actors such as Loren
Foss into schools, who teach by assuming character roles such as
"Old John."
The National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) and Outward
Bound are the biggest outdoor education schools in the
West.
Utah native Steve Cartisano, the controversial "godfather"
of wilderness therapy, has left a trail of lawsuits behind him,
including one for negligent homicide in the death of a Florida
teenage girl.
Essays
The writer describes a tough and educational time spent
working in the inner city with the San Francisco League of Urban
Gardeners.
A former professional outdoor educator traces his slow
disillusionment with wilderness programs that live off the urban
high-tech society and teach nothing about truly living simply on
the land.
Writer and Wyoming native C.L. Rawlins considers the good
and bad inherent in trying to provide an outdoor
education.
Writer and naturalist Terry Tempest Williams lauds the
lessons she learned from the Teton Science School.
Heard Around the West
Strange bedfellows in the West: Wal-Mart and Main Street,
sheep and range restoration, javelinas in Washington state,
cartoonist John Callahan runs for Oregon state Legislature, Cheetos
in space, cowboys and California.
Dear Friends
Special issue, board meeting in Grand Junction, drop-ins,
odds and ends.
News
The Colorado Air National Guard's plan to increase
fighter-jet training over southeastern Colorado raises opposition
from environmentalists, ranchers and residents - and from Colorado
Springs' booming airport.
The Colorado Air National Guard's plan to increase
training flights over the Sangre de Cristo and Wet Mountains and
the San Luis Valley upsets locals, including contemplative monks in
Crestone.
A GOP memo to this year's Republican candidates urges them
to start looking green.
Two Chelan County commissioners defy Washington state's
Growth Management Act, claiming freedom from state and federal
controls.
Former U.S. Senator Dan Evans, who once supported
Washington state's Growth Management Act, now seeks to change the
law after finding it will prevent him from building a house where
he wants.
An irrigation district's water diversion from the Rio
Grande in New Mexico wipes out an estimated 70 percent of the
endangered silvery minnow population.
The Colorado Legislature passes a bill allowing the state
Corrections Department to ignore local zoning when it wants to
build or expand prisons.
Under the salvage logging rider, thousands of acres of
habitat of the endangered marbled murrelet may be cut in coastal
Washington and Oregon.
To improve trampled vegetation and watershed in
California's Ishi Wilderness, Forest Service officials remove 13
tranquilized bulls by helicopter.
Republican Gov. Tony Knowles of Alaska joins an
environmental lawsuit fighting Columbia and Snake River dams in the
Northwest to save endangered salmon.
Letters
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JOHN DEERE SNOW BLOWER 24"
Newly refurbished and tuned. Older model, great condition. Gasoline engine. Chains on tires. Heavy duty for mountain snow. Call cellphone and leave message or email.
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CARPENTER RANCH MANAGER Hiring a part-time ranch manager to live on The Nature Conservancy's Carpenter Ranch property in Hayden, CO. Responsibilities include: facility maintenance of historic ranch house,...
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STRAW BALE, ADOBE, TIMBER FRAME, HEALTHY HOME, NEAR LA VETA PASS, CO unique custom home in Sangre de Cristo Mountains of CO near La Veta Pass, 3 bed, 2 1/2 bath, private gated park, two hours from...
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EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, KANIKSU LAND TRUST Kaniksu Land Trust, a community-supported non-profit land trust serving north Idaho and northwest Montana, is in search of a new executive director. The ideal candidate...
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EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR The Flathead Lakers are seeking a dynamic, self-motivated and proven leader to be our next Executive Director (ED).
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EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR The Blackfoot Challenge, a renowned collaborative conservation org in MT, seeks our next ED.
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COPPER CANYON MEXICO CAMPING & BACKPACKING 10-day tour from Los Mochis airport, 2/nyts El Fuerte, train, 2/nyts canyon rim hotel, 5/nyts camping. 520-324-0209, www.coppercanyontrails.org.
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STAFF ATTORNEY, ALASKA
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EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR to lead an organization that funds projects in National Parks. Major gift fundraising and public lands experience critical. PD and app details @ peopleinparks.org.
