FOREST BOUND: FREE Conservation Training & Forest Immersion Program
FOREST BOUND is a FREE native plant ecology training program for high school age youth, utilizing the Native Plant Curriculum, From Ponderosa to Prickly Pear, developed by the Institute for Applied Ecology.
This integrative program examines native plants through a botanical, environmental, social, and cultural lens. Students examine their own relationships with plants and the environment, sharing ideas about the power of plants and the roles they play.
Students are trained in native seed collection and cleaning, proper collection of plant specimens, vegetation monitoring, and data collection. They learn to build their own plant press, use botanical terms to describe and identify plants, cook with plants and make herbal recipes, and much more! Guest speakers from natural resource fields are sprinkled throughout the sessions, providing expert knowledge and a glimpse of careers in conservation as well as opportunities to get involved in conservation work.
At the end of the course, students receive a certificate of completion in Basic Native Plant Ecology, which can be used as a resume builder and demonstration of skills gained toward conservation internships at the Institute for Applied Ecology.
Sessions are week long, and offered three times during the summer, both in the Santa Fe National Forest, and the Cibola National Forest.