Education is an integral part of the Santa Fe Watershed Associations mission. Currently, we have both youth and community education programs. The youth program includes classroom presentations, stewardship programs and youth group activities. We offer talks on the flora and fauna of the river and watershed policy and practices, hikes into the upper watershed, and public meetings and forums on current watershed issues.

Youth Education

Current Programs

Water in the River

We all live in a watershed with water pollution that comes from many sources. The combined affect of pollution from many small sources can have a real impact on the quality of our shared water resources. SFWA offers a pollution program for fourth, fifth and sixth grade students. Using an interactive watershed model, students pollute their watershed and watch what happens when it rains. They then come up with ways to stop or minimize the pollution. The program helps to make the connection between what we do as humans and how it affects our environment, creating a better sense of stewardship.

Santa Fe Riparian Investigation

Join us as we investigate the Santa Fe River through the world of beavers. Learn about the physical adaptations of beavers with hands-on classroom activities with a real beaver skull, tracks, scat, and chewed logs. Then its a field trip to the local beaver ponds to explore their habitat and their effect on the land. Students will learn about river dynamics, riparian ecosystems, wetlands and infiltration. The program is geared toward fourth and fifth grade students.

River Stewards

Do you want to learn more about the Santa Fe River and how we can all help to restore it to healthier river? Then the River Stewards program is for you! This 4th-12th grade program includes an introduction to riparian habitats and a hands-on experience planting native vgetation along the Santa Fe River at the new San Isidro Park. This program is generously funded by a grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.

Past Programs

The River Project

For the 2008/2009 school year, Ms. Chodosh's sixth and seventh grade class at Gonzales Middle School investigated the Santa Fe River and Arroyo Mascaras. River mapping, stream dynamics and restoration techniques were a few of the hands-on activities that the students learned about. They produced a field guide to animals of the river corridor for their school and planted native trees and wildflowers in the spring.

After-School Program

The Santa Fe Watershed Association joined with Youthworks! to provide environmental education to after-school students at Salazar, Ramirez-Thomas, and Gonzales Elementary Schools. One day a week, a volunteer group of students leave their regular program to learn about their environment and community through hands-on activities. Once a month, the focus is on the watershed. The students make watershed models, play water-cycle games, learn about non-point source pollution, plant native wildflowers, and explore the river.

The after-school program is part of Youthworks! Environmental Service Learning Program that is funded by New Mexico State Public Education Department and State Farm Youth Advisory Committee. The goal of this program is to help revive the Santa Fe River by creating stewards rooted in our community. We’re excited about the collaboration with Youthworks! and Santa Fe Public Schools, and we hope this is the beginning of a long partnership.