Teacher Workshops & Resources
Reaching our youngest coloradans
Today’s youth – the next generation of leaders that will be protecting our land – need a repertoire of knowledge and skills that is more complex than any previous generation of students. We want youth to have the opportunity to become leaders in the environmental field and integrate their care for nature into their personal and professional lives as adults. This is only possible if educators are equipped and empowered to facilitate environmental learning in their classrooms. COL addresses this need by hosting Teacher Workshops to help K-12 educators learn about land and water conservation, develop hands-on skills, and compose curriculum that is tied to state standards and instills a sense of appreciation for conservation among their students.
Click on a workshop below for more information and content!
And click here for free environmental education classroom resources!
sacramento creek ranch teacher Workshop
June 16-19, 2025
Fairplay, CO
San Luis Valley teacher Workshop
Fort Garland, CO
Sacramento Creek ranch Teacher Workshop
Co-Hosted with Mountain Area Land Trust
Join us for a 4-day, 3 CEU workshop to learn about wildlife, forestry, agriculture, and water! This workshop is open to all Colorado K-12, special education, literacy programs and gifted and talented classroom educators. Educators will take part in discussions with expert staff, develop hands-on skills outdoors, receive take-home classroom resources, and complete a lesson link project to plan how they will apply the information learned to their subject and grade level.
This workshop is held at Sacramento Creek Ranch near Fairplay, Colorado. This 71-acre conserved property was conserved in 2020 and boasts many nature trails, beaver ponds, and if you’re lucky – wildlife sightings!
When: June 16-19, 2025
Where: Fairplay, Colorado
Cost: $100 (includes CEU, lodging, and meals)
Detailed Overview: Click here for more information!
Questions? Contact Yvonne Schramm at yschramm@coloradoopenlands.org or 303.988.2373 ext. 223
or Jeff Jordan at jeff@savetheland.org
San Luis Valley Teacher Workshop
Co-Hosted with Trinchera Ranch
Join us for a 5-day, 3 graduate credit workshop all about wildlife! Students are naturally inclined to love animals, so why not use that love to educate about Colorado’s wildlife, their habitat, and how we can protect them. This is a brand-new curriculum, so we invite all Colorado K-12, special education, literacy, gifted and talented classroom educators, and outdoor education specialists to join us. Since this is a new session, it is also open to those who have attended our workshops before! Educators will become Project Wild certified, collaborate with conservation practitioners, build their knowledge base, develop hands-on skills, and receive both classroom and outdoor based lesson plans and resources.
This workshop is held at the beautiful Trinchera Ranch outside of Ft. Garland, Colorado. This 177,000-acre conserved ranch lies within the beautiful Sangre de Cristo mountains and boasts a variety of pristine habitats that help facilitators make the content come to life! To view a video of what past workshops have looked like, click here.
The San Luis Valley Teacher Workshop has been put on pause for 2025. Please check back here for updates regarding the program.
Questions? Contact Judy Lopez at judy.lopez@trincheraranch.com or 719.580.5300 or
Yvonne Schramm at yschramm@coloradoopenlands.org or 303.988.2373 ext. 223
Classroom resources
Unable to attend a teacher workshop but looking for classroom resources about Colorado’s natural resources? With support from the Colorado Department of Natural Resources and the Trinchera Blanca Foundation, Colorado Open Lands produced six short videos to help introduce different environmental topics to students. The videos cover topics such as wildlife, watersheds, sustainable agriculture, forests and more. They are age-appropriate and a great way to present topics to students in the classroom. They are available for free and can be viewed on our YouTube channel at this link.
