Wild Rose Education News

Students Take the Lead On River Issues

11/19/2018

2018 Year in Review

Wild Rose Education’s Youth Water Leadership Program™ mission is to create authentic student-centered learning experiences that increase watershed literacy through civic action. During 2018, the program reached 646 student contacts ages sixth grade-college in three program areas during 94 hours of experiential learning.

5 Lens on Climate Change Filmmaker Teams
4 films: Our Lives Our River, Out of Balance, Streamflow on the Crystal, and Grass Skis selected for 2019 Colorado Environmental Film Festival
16 Field Trips and Classroom Visits
1 Youth Water Summit

Growth and Expansion of Youth Water Leadership Program™

Exciting growth occurred during 2018, the second year of this signature YWLP program. Hosting the CIRES Lens on Climate Change film making program, creating branding, convening the Summit Leader Team, mentoring senior capstone students, hosting a day long youth water summit, and employing a program intern significantly increased the program’s capacity and impact. In addition to the founding sponsor, Pitkin County Healthy Rivers, 10 additional generous financial sponsors made this expanded programming possible. Finally, utilizing the collaborative support of 20 partner organizations made this year’s YWLP more effective, meaningful, and fun.

Read the new Youth River Voices blog where water, river, and climate change youth leaders give voice to the most important issues of today

2nd Annual Healthy Rivers Youth Water Summit
November 15, 2018, Third Street Center, Carbondale, CO
This student-driven educational conference was an opportunity for learning, dialogue, and action on local watershed issues. Students presented their call-to-action research projects and proposed evidence-based solutions to environmental issues within the local watershed. This year’s event included:

20 student presentations and films
2 keynote speakers
6 Summit Leader Team members
10 student-determined topic group discussions
14 Opportunity Expo presenters
5 interactive activities
1 Watershed Trivia Game
125 burritos

Watch the student presentations below

The Third Street Center 501(c)3 is the fiscal agent for the Youth Water Leadership Program.

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Seeing Things Whole: John Wesley Powell and an Understanding of the American West

10/8/2018

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Wednesday, November 14, 2018, 6pm, Pitkin County Building, Main Street, Aspen
Thursday, November 15, 6pm, Third Street Center, 520 S. Third Street, Carbondale

Join Grand Canyon rafting guide, paleontologist, and author Christa Sadler for her talk about John Wesley Powell the man, the scientist, the explorer and visionary policy-maker with excerpts from her new book “The Colorado” on Wednesday, November 14th at 6 pm at the Pitkin County Administration and Sheriff’s Office BOCC meeting room 530 E. Main Street in Aspen and again in Carbondale on November 15th at 6pm at the Third Street Center. Free. Sponsored by Pitkin County Healthy Rivers and Wild Rose Education.

Interviews with Christa

Aspen Public Radio Interview (7 min)
KDNK Valley Voices with Amy Hadden Marsh (25 min)
KDNK News (4 min)

John Wesley Powell recognized inherent problems in our vision of settlement of the West more than a century ago, and his prescient ideas may help guide us into the future. Join author and river guide Christa Sadler as she discusses John Wesley Powell the man, the scientist, the explorer, and the visionary policy maker from her new book The Colorado, about the human relationship with the Colorado River Basin.

Although most people are familiar with John Wesley Powell as the intrepid one-armed Civil War veteran who became the first European to explore the canyons of the Colorado and Green Rivers in 1869 and again in 1871-72, it is the work that Powell did following his epic journeys for which he truly should be famous. Powell understood the challenges of life in a land of little water like few others of his time, and his ideas for settlement of this region were visionary. As water becomes scarcer and more precious in the West, Powell’s ideas may provide valuable guidance for water managers at all levels in the coming decades.

The Colorado River Basin is one of the driest river basins in the world, yet it has nonetheless birthed extraordinary landscapes and entire civilizations. The waters of this desert basin now support more than 40 million people—more than 10% of the country’s population depends in part or entirely on the waters of the Colorado River and its tributaries. The Colorado examines nine episodes in the history of our interaction with the Colorado River, from early prehistoric cultures to the Spanish explorations of the lower reaches of the river, the dam building frenzy of the early and middle 20th century, industrial agriculture and the current use of water throughout the region. This book provides important history and context to one of the country’s most important—and most endangered—watersheds.

AUTHOR BIO
As a rafting guide on the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon and elsewhere in the region, Christa Sadler has called the rivers of the Colorado River Basin home for more than three decades. She holds a Masters Degree in Earth sciences and paleontology from Northern Arizona University and a Bachelor's Degree in physical anthropology from the University of California at Berkeley. Christa has been writing and teaching in the landscapes shaped by the Colorado River since 1988 and has published several books and articles about the region. She can be contacted at www.thisearthpress.com.

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New River Training Center Offers Excellence in Innovation and Professional Learning

9/4/2018

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Wild Rose Education is joining the River Management Society (RMS) education team rolling out the new River Training Center in October 2018. The River Training Center vision is to be the leader of innovation, professional learning, and best practices for river professionals who study, protect, and manage North America's rivers.
Wild Rose Education contributes expertise in adult education, training strategies, and river education techniques to the development of this new training and certification program.
The RMS River Training Center hosts the first Instructor Certification Orientation Workshop in conjunction with the Wild, Scenic and Beyond! River Management Symposium in Vancouver, Washington with a half day workshop October 22, 2018.

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Serving North America's eePro Community

8/28/2018

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Sarah Johnson has recently been selected to serve the North American Association for Environmental Education's eePro community as a moderator of the Guidelines for Excellence Group. She will grow the online community of practitioners and leaders in environmental education sharing resources, discussing and asking questions about how members are utilizing the Guidelines for Excellence and other innovative best practices that incorporate the Guidelines and professionalize the field of EE, and celebrating the excellent work members are doing across North America and beyond.
All are invited to join the free eePro professional platform hosting a wide spectrum of environmental education interests. Upon creating a free account, you can join as many eePro groups as you'd like.
Sarah is co-moderating the professional community alongside Bora Simmons and Renee Strnad who are all three members and leaders in the Guidelines for Excellence Trainers Bureau.