Youth in the Outdoors
We’re inspiring the next generation of conservation leaders and helping to build a more inclusive outdoor recreation community.
We believe the outdoors is for everyone. Unfortunately far too many people in our community, especially youth, face substantial barriers to access and enjoyment of the outdoors, especially public lands. At Glacier-Two Medicine Alliance, we are collaborating with schools, community leaders and other organizations to get youth outside to experience and connect with wild places.
Badger-Two Medicine Immersion Trips
Each summer, we host a three-day immersion trip for local high school students to experience and connect with the Badger-Two Medicine in a fun, safe, and educational setting. Students hike, camp out under the stars, cook meals together, and engage in a trail maintenance service-learning project. Blackfeet cultural knowledge holders, science teachers, and GTMA staff teach students about the cultural heritage, ecology, and conservation of the area. For many students, this is their first opportunity to directly experience these ancestral lands.
Photo credit: Whitney Snow
Piikani Lands Crew
The Piikani Lands Crew provides young tribal members a job and technical skills, as well as valuable leadership, communication, and team-work experience, to conduct various conservation projects like trail maintenance, invasive species mitigation, or wildlife surveys on the Blackfeet Reservation or nearby public lands. GTMA is excited to serve on the steering committee as well as to contract the Crew to perform work in the Badger-Two Medicine as part of our commitment to improve local conservation-related employment and to support the Blackfeet Nation’s stewardship of traditional lands.
Outdoor Education Field Trips
The great outdoors makes for one heck of a good classroom. GTMA partners with local teachers and other community partners to provide students with healthy, recreational field trips – like hikes or snowshoes – where students also can learn about natural history, cultural heritage, or current conservation issues of public and tribal lands. If you’re interested in partnering with us to get your class, student group, or youth organization outside to learn and explore, please contact us.
Sah Ko Mii Tah Pii Cultural Camp
The “Land and All Things Living Together” camp celebrates Amskapi Piikuni cultural perspectives on people’s relationship and responsibility to the land. Organized by Blackfeet cultural leaders, the camp, which is open to all, focuses on Blackfeet youth a safe, healthy way to connect to the land. Activities typically include trail rides, hikes, traditional games, dancing, drumming, songs, and stories shared by elders. GTMA is honored to provide financial and staff support for this annual cultural camp.