​Earth Living Skills School
Projects, Programs and Initiatives
This page highlights the projects, programs and initiatives that we are currently involved with in a partnership role and or leading and moving towards implementation. Some of these projects, programs and initiatives are broad in scale and will take many years to complete. All of these efforts in some way tie back to our mission statement, goals and strategies. If there are particular projects, programs and or initiatives that you would like more information about or would like to support through donations or volunteer time. Please visit our donation page.
Medio Dia Canyon Headwaters Restoration:
In 2011 the Los Conscious fire exploded across the Jemez Mountains in North central New Mexico. The aftermath was such a devastating contrast from what was once a thriving high mountain ponderosa pine, grassy meadows and braided stream – a sanctuary for many mammals, birds and amphibians. Earth Living Skills School is committed to restoring 25 acres at the upper headwaters of Medio Dia Canyon. There is lots of work to be completed first and for most is to design and construct an environmental sustainable access road with proper drainage and alignments. Then access to the property will speed up the removal of excess dead and down debris, stabilization of erosive areas and plant native species to help repair the soils and habitats. We have annual volunteer work parties which have been good yet work is slow due to the lack of access. We have engineering estimates that suggest we will need about $70,000 to properly create an environmentally suitable and sustainable road. Funding this part of the project is our greatest obstacle. If you would like to donate to this project please go to our donation page.
Preserving Tribal Culture and Increasing Indigenous Economic Capacity Through The Cultural Tourism Experience:
One of our main goals here at Earth Living Skills School is to preserve ancient wisdoms, traditional methods and sustainable primitive practices. This program is essential to our mission and existence as a nonprofit. We believe that a key element to successfully preserve traditional cultures is to provide a financial foundation, in which cultural preservation goals can be anchored to. If there are financial components woven into cultural preservation programs, then they are more likely to thrive. We believe this structure will create support systems, provided financial incentives and remove funding obstacles for tribal communities to practice and live closer to their traditions. We plan to implement this program through guided workshops hosted at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center. These workshops will be open to all tribal cultural committee, tribal cultural preservation and tribal cultural tourism representatives. We have applied for a grant for this program add are currently waiting to see if we are awarded the grant. Once we know we have funding for this program we will list the 2017 dates and times for the training workshops. If you would like to donate towards this program please go to our donation page.
Pueblo / Valles Caldera National Preserve Bison Stewardship and Rural Economic Development Partnership Project:
This project aims to establish a high elevation bison herd and habitat in the Jemez Mountain of north-central New Mexico. This project would most likely take place on the Valles Caldera National Preserve. The vision is that this bison herd would be managed through a partnership between the Valles Caldera National Preserve and a Pueblo management group. Yellowstone National Park in their Interagency Bison Management Plan (IBMP) has established two outcomes for excess bison population management. One is to cull the herd and the second is to capture bison near the park boundaries then transfer them to Native American tribes for slaughter and distribution of meat and hides to tribal members. They are currently looking and open for other alternatives to prolong the bison’s lives in a healthy and sustainable way. This project has the potential to allow for this to happen. If you want more information about this project please contact us. If you would like to make a donation to support this project please visit our donation page.
Monthly Herbal and Skill Share Gatherings:
These offerings are one of the many ways we give back to the community. These are monthly classes that are free and open to anyone in the community. We teach, demonstrate and share everything from primitive fire making to preserving and caching food, to plant identification and medicine making. These offering usually last about 3 hour long and are held at different location depending on the class content and objectives. Our long-term vision and goal is to have an official outdoor school property that we could host these classes at. We believe that hosting these classes on a piece of property would allow us to provide a higher quality of nature connection opportunities for our students and would create better teaching resources and supplies for our instructors. For example when our youth groups construct a primitive survival shelter on public lands one week and when they come back the following week to work on addition skills, only to find that the shelter has been disassembled and removed, this is quite frustrating and disappointing for them. However, the opportunity now exist for our instructors to then teach them about concepts of impermanence and its value in our lives. This offerings are currently full. If you are interested in these types of opportunities please contact us and we will add you to the waiting list for this next season.
Women Empowerment through Earth Living Skills Program:
This offering is an opportunity for women to take the time and space to find that Earth connection within themselves through learning and applying various Earth Living Skills; such as making friction fire, splitting wood, tracking and stalking, making and using bows and arrows, gathering and harvesting edible and medicinal plants and much more. Inherently and instinctually women have a deep, significant, relevant and meaningful connection to nature and the Earth. This connection can sustain us through hard and difficult times; it can offer contentment, purpose and happiness, it can also provide direction, guidance and action. Join us and find out just what kind of powerful Earth Women you are. For more information about this program you can go to our class page or contact us. We are looking for donations to help support this program and allow us to provide more offerings like this.
