Catamount Institute turns 10
Kids and teachers get hands-on education about water quality

By Erin Yount, Catamount Institute

As the Catamount Institute continues to grow, it moves closer toward its goal of being one of the nation’s premier environmental educational organizations.  Founded as a nonprofit in 1997, it’s all about inspiring ecological stewardship.

“By connecting kids of all ages to nature, we can help them understand their individual and collective impact on our planet,” said Eric Cefus, executive director of the institute, which has offices in the Beidleman Environmental Center in Colorado Springs as well as a 177-acre mountain campus on the north slope of Pikes Peak near Woodland Park. Science-based environmental education programs are conducted at both locations.

Catamount Institute crafts programs rich with opportunities for exploring the natural world.  Recent research confirms that today’s children spend less time climbing trees or simply watching birds fly.  Richard Louv, author of “Last Child in the Woods,” has termed this phenomena “nature-deficit disorder.”  Catamount is committed to its elimination among kids in the Pikes Peak region by offering a variety of year-round educational outings, from interactive classes for students and teachers to hands-on water ecology studies.

The Creek Connections program offers opportunities for students to conduct basic water quality monitoring, design water-related research projects and attend an annual student research symposium.  By practicing real science using a local natural resource, students strengthen quantitative skills, and understand the connections and impacts they have to their waterways.  This hands-on field study encourages students to share their knowledge, research and concerns with others in the watershed community. The result is a productive collaboration between students and faculty leading to a new focus on scientific literacy, environmental stewardship and research for students at all levels.

Another offering, Keepers of the Water, is an interactive field trip program that promotes an enriched understanding of water conservation.  Students are guided through a series of experiments demonstrating how the water cycle works, how much usable water exists on the planet, and how our actions both positively and negatively affect the system. Through engaging experiments, students examine stream ecology and identify specific actions that reduce pollution entering local water sources.

A third program was developed as a partnership between Catamount Institute and FutureSelf.  In Stream of Conscience, students become active stakeholders in their community through the power of art and civic engagement.  As future stewards, they create a multimedia photo-documentary about Fountain Creek, from its source above Catamount Institute downstream through the city of Fountain. Artists will create works of art and science, interpreting the value of Fountain Creek as a natural resource for the region as well as contemplating the degradation and pollution of this critical watershed. By combining science and art, Stream of Conscience brings awareness to environmental challenges in a very unique way.

To learn more, visit catamountinstitute.org.