We are committed to creating a sustainable future & lasting LEgacy for future generations

Nature is everywhere… and yet many students have little opportunity to get outside and experience it! Kids have become increasingly disconnected from the outdoors and lack a true understanding and appreciation for the bountiful forests, water, and wildlife of the Inland Northwest. Many schools lack field trip budgets for secondary school science classes and students spend most of their time inside the “four gray walls” of the traditional classroom. This can foster apathy, particularly for those who are hands-on learners; and promote physical inactivity, eventually resulting in diseases like childhood obesity and Type II Diabetes.

Whether it’s through planting trees, weaving BDAs, testing water quality, building school storm gardens, teaching SnowSchool on Mt. Spokane, or leading hikes, The Lands Council encourages youth to “get their hands dirty and their feet wet!” Our outdoor K-12 environmental education program restores the connection between youth and nature by enabling students to get outside, practice field science, and be physically-active. Employing our “3E” outdoor environmental education model, we expose students to diverse outdoor experiences, empower them with relevant knowledge and skills, and encourage them to take appropriate action. Blurring the lines between “learning” and “fun,” we teach students about the resiliency of the natural world…which provides them with pathways to overcome personal challenges, helps them build confidence and self-worth, and motivates them to become responsible, productive members of society. By transferring our appreciation and respect for our forests, water, and wildlife to our community’s youth, we are directly investing in the future of our environment. We strive to empower the leaders of tomorrow with the knowledge and passion to become—and remain—good stewards of the environment we’re working so hard to protect today.

To date, TLC has offered outdoor environmental education programming to thousands of kids in dozens of schools in the Spokane and Coeur d’Alene area. Many of our students are at risk of dropping out of school; deal with issues such as learning disabilities, anger management, substance abuse, neglect, domestic violence, and teenage pregnancy; and have little to no experience with the outdoors and lack a connection to it. Our outdoor exploration opportunities offer kids a safe, stimulating environment in which to learn, grow, be active, be inspired, and be exposed to new paths in life. We mentor these students and help role model positive, healthy life skills and behaviors, promote leadership and kinship in the outdoors, familiarize students with career/professional opportunities in the natural resources and environmental sciences, and encourage them to follow their passions.

Here are some highlights of The Lands Council’s outdoor youth environmental education program: 

Snow School

The Lands Council is a certified “Snow School” site. SnowSchool is a K-12 educational program that helps connect youth across the country to snow science and winter recreation. As a SnowSchool site, our “Snow Science and Water Resources in a Changing Climate” unit is promoted nationally.

As part of the Mt. Spokane field experience, students don snowshoes and hike up a hill. They dig snow pits to the ground (which can be 7 feet!); identify, mark, and measure snow layers; and take mass and density measurements. This allows them to calculate snow water equivalency - the amount of water that will ultimately recharge our rivers, lakes, and aquifer. We explore the relationship between our mountain snowpack and wildfires and discuss how climate change and local population growth are projected to impact the snowpack. Students also participate in a scavenger hunt focusing on plant and animal adaptations to winter (e.g. hibernate, migrate, tolerate) and learn about avalanche awareness and safety by performing a search-and-rescue activity using beacons and probes

Storm Gardens

Each time it rains or snow melts, that water runs off rooftops, down sidewalks, and through streets until it reaches a storm drain. This water is known as stormwater. As it moves through urban areas, it picks up pollution from roofs, industrial areas, and roadways. Some of the predominant and most dangerous pollutants in stormwater are PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls). Once that stormwater flows down a drain, the contaminated water eventually reaches the Spokane River. Some of that contaminated water flows into storage tanks – along with our wastewater – to be treated before it enters the river. However, the system is under-capacity and every time it rains half an inch or more the tanks overflow, spilling raw sewage and contaminated stormwater directly into the river. Storm gardens capture stormwater at its source, promote infiltration, water quality improvement, and aquifer recharge, and help enhance a community’s aesthetics.

The Lands Council offers high school and middle school students a year-long, practical, hands-on curriculum on stormwater management through green infrastructure and low impact development; with particular emphasis on the Spokane River, watershed, and aquifer. This curriculum features both field- and classroom-based activities—including creating media and permeable pavement mixes, performing a site assessment, conducting soil texture and infiltration tests, and selecting storm garden species—and culminates in the design and construction of an actual storm garden on campus. It also includes field trips to Upriver Dam, the Spokane County Water Reclamation Facility/Water Resources Center, and the W. Broadway SURGE Project. We facilitate this curriculum in partnership with the City of Spokane and with a different school every year. So far, we’ve worked with Saint George’s School, the Spokane Public Montessori, The Community School, On Track Academy, and Pratt Academy.

Partnership with Cheney Middle School, Eastern washington university, and US Fish and Wildlife Service

The Lands Council has been partnering for over 5 years with the Education Department at Eastern Washington University, the US Fish & Wildlife Service (Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge), and Cheney Middle School. In the fall, seventh grade students, led by EWU pre-service teachers, plant native trees and shrubs along newly-excavated ponds and wetlands along Marshall Creek. They then return in the spring to test water quality and sample for macroinvertebrates. This win-win situation has, to date, allowed us to restore nearly 3 miles of contiguous riparian habitat along four different properties and provide meaningful, hands-on, practical water quality educational programming to over 1,000 students!

Partnered Schools and Youth Programs