Cottonwood Gulch Expeditions
Grants Awarded
This immersive high school extension program will engage New Mexican youth in backcountry travel and ecology while fostering personal projects related to outdoor recreation. Participants will develop technical skills in trip planning and leadership, and will explore New Mexico's diverse ecoregions, enhancing their understanding of climate change and land stewardship. Ultimately, the program aims to cultivate a deeper connection to the natural environment and empower youth as advocates for sustainability in their communities.
Cottonwood Gulch Expeditions' school programming aims to enhance personal growth, cultural understanding, and environmental stewardship among participants through a blend of classroom sessions, day trips, and overnight camping experiences. Desired outcomes for participants include improved technical skills in outdoor recreation, a deeper understanding of environmental science, and enhanced social-emotional learning, ultimately benefiting the local community by fostering responsible and culturally aware youth.
Cottonwood Gulch Expeditions aims to enhance its outreach and engagement with underserved populations in New Mexico and families nationwide by rebranding and redesigning its website and marketing materials. This initiative will promote access to outdoor experiences through camping and backpacking, ultimately fostering greater inclusivity and appreciation for the region's natural and cultural offerings.
This project will enhance year-round access to Cottonwood Gulch Expeditions outdoor education programs for youth from diverse backgrounds by constructing a heated bunkhouse in our McKinley County facility. The desired outcomes include improved educational opportunities for participants and strengthened community engagement through outdoor experiences.
CGE presents eight interactive curriculum choices for outdoor experiential education partnership with schools and community organizations, involving classroom sessions, day trips, and camping experiences. These options, which will be detailed in the grant request, include Energy (exploring fuel production and conservation in New Mexico), Photovoice (nature and narrative through photography), Water (studying water's impact on life), Environmental Restoration (research and action on humankind's impact on nature), Students in Wilderness Initiative (nature appreciation and activities), Plan Your Own Adventure (outdoor experience planning), Community Camping (creating social and community experiences), and Every Kid Outdoors (introducing 4th graders to public lands with national park passes). Consistently woven throughout are social-emotional learning goals to create safe spaces and a love for learning, encouraging a sense of community, fostering curiosity, creativity, and leadership.
Cottonwood Gulch Expeditions (CGE) is a 501(c)(3) educational nonprofit, established in 1926. Our mission is to create outdoor learning adventures for youth from all backgrounds that foster personal growth, strengthen community, and inspire stewardship of the natural world. Our programs focus on three broad areas of expertise: 1) environmental stewardship, 2) building bridges between cultures, and 3) personal growth through outdoor adventure. Our outdoor learning adventures provide technical skills in the outdoor fields, meet benchmarks for environmental science curricula, and promote social-emotional learning skills. Since 1926, we have run enrollment-based summer programming from our Basecamp in Thoreau, NM. In 2004, we piloted our first school based program, operating during the spring and fall semesters with local partners. Today, we create over 10,000 student days in the outdoors annually, with 10 individual summer programs, and over 25 school partners. At CGE, we believe in the power of speaking to young people about their environment and culture, and getting them outside to move their bodies, experience nature, work together with their fellow students, and reflect on their own social-emotional learning. Every experience at Cottonwood Gulch, whether a day hike, a week-long backpack, a shared meal on the road, or sitting together around the campfire, is dedicated toward discovering who we truly are and who we want to be. We firmly believe that getting outdoors is essential in developing critically thinking, compassionate and capable young people. And we also know that sleeping under the stars and exploring with friends builds memories that last a lifetime. In 2018, we received a generous multi-year start-up grant to create our Students in Wilderness Initiative (SIWI), with a handful of school partners. SIWI has now expanded to include partnerships with over 25 schools, providing outdoor experiences for over 1500 students per year. As our initial grant draws to completion, the demand for this program has only grown. Educators and students alike continue to request more programming, more days of outdoor experiences, and expansion of the program to other age groups. Our school programs have allowed us to reach a greater number and diversity of young people–something that has been a long term goal over the past 20 years. However, through the growth of these programs, it has become clear that our school year participants and our summer participants are two very different groups of students with different needs. How to clarify our marketing message and reach the variety of families and schools who will benefit from our programs is a dilemma we have been wrestling with. We believe an investment in our marketing look and messaging is key to moving forward in an increasingly digital world, and that this initiative will allow us to attract many more participants to our programs, both from New Mexico and across the country. Support from the Outdoor Marketing Grant will allow us to achieve this goal.