Impact Outdoors

Impact Outdoors: impacting communities through conservation, education, and meaningful outdoor opportunities. Impact Outdoors was created in 2019 and has since served the communities of New Mexico (NM) by promoting conservation-minded leadership from our attendees. We work hand-in-hand with private landowners in rural areas to provide no-cost outdoor education opportunities for these communities. Our organization works with multiple schools, federal and state refuges, and agencies, in addition to local partners to manifest awareness of the resources located right in the next generation’s backyards. Through multiple engagements, we raise accountability for cleaner waters and impart a voice for the voiceless resources across NM by providing outdoor education. When youth recognize their love for the ecosystem thriving within their community, they are more likely to get involved through volunteer work. These connections between the youth and agencies/partners, coupled with promoting careers in wildlife fields, improve retention rates for local communities that keep traditions from our Land of Enchantment alive, all while raising accountability for our rapidly disappearing resources. Impact Outdoors hosts youth for multiple engagements on private and public lands. Our participants directly influence these sites through habitat improvements, biodiversity documentation, citizen monitoring, agriculture, fishing, and hunting. We also participate in community outreach events focused on education at locations like Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge, Bosque del Apache, Bernardo Waterfowl Management Area, the Pecos Sunflower Festival, and others. Impact Outdoors coordinates multiple youth and family workshops throughout the year in post-fire communities to promote marshland development and aquatic vegetation, which aids in carbon filtration for the waterways that run through these rural communities. This August, we held a workshop at the Rolling Hills Ranch that focused on increasing accessibly, restoring two outdoor classrooms, and several habitat improvements. This workshop, among others, has created countless opportunities for the Anton Chico Schools, and now serves as a location for learning in this post-fire community. Impact Outdoors promotes small environmental wins by educating on how to get involved in conservation while welcoming youth from the community at our newly developed outdoor classroom sites. We attended the Anton Chico School System’s STEM Day this year where 96 youth helped conduct citizen monitoring through a macroinvertebrate count that Impact Outdoors brought from Rolling Hills’ restoration pond/outdoor classroom. In 2023, over 400 youth attended our programming events and next year, we aim to match or exceed our participation numbers. A further achievement this year was completing 64 sites of marshland development and receiving our first private land donation in Santa Rosa, NM. In collaboration with the Natural Resources Conservation Service, we also worked with youth and families to plant over 4,600 pounds of bird-specific seed across 250+ acres while utilizing a no-till seeder to educate on soil health and water retention. And with thanks to partnerships like the Outdoor Equity Fund through NM’s Outdoor Recreation Division, Impact Outdoors aspires to continue mentoring future conservation-minded leaders and strengthen community involvement.