Fall 2011
Desert Winds Newsletter |
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Join our List |  |
| Thank you CFI Supporters! |
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CFI would like to thank the following individuals, organizations, and businesses who have contributed funds, goods, or services since our last newsletter:
Backcountry Mules
Best Western Plus Canyonlands Inn
Big Horn Lodge
Canyon Voyages Adventure Company
Canyonlands Jeep Adventures
Carolyn Raffensperger
Chip's Grand Tire
Christopher Layer
Christy Williams
Del Sol Massage
Eddie McStiff's Restaurant
Eric Bjornstad
Eric Odenthal
Explore Fund of The North Face
Gearheads
Grand Soil Conservation District
Green River Research
Harris Foundation,
Mr. Henry Hite
James Knipmeyer
John Weisheit
KZMU Public Radio
Linn DeNesti
Living Rivers
The Maki Foundation
Maravia Corporation
Mary Kohler
Mike Milligan
Moab Adventure Center
Moab Arts and Recreation Center
Moab Folk Festival
Moab Half Marathon
Moab Music Festival
Nation's Towing
Nature Valley Granola Bars
Neil Simon Festival
Palladium Foundation, Ms. Jennifer Speers
Quintstar Management
Red Rock Bakery
Rim Village Vistas
Robert Fillmore, Ph.D.
The Ruth H. Brown Foundation, Darcey and Charla Brown,
Rob Burnett
Serena Supplee
Sheri Griffith Expeditions
Wabi Sabi
Ye Ol' Geezer Meat Shop |
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CFI's 2012 Programs | |
Look for CFI's 2012 Adult and Family Program Schedule to be sent out in November.
Teachers, schedule your 2012 School Field Trips today! Special discounts available through Oct. 15, 2011.
Call (800) 860-5262 or email info@cfimoab.org for more details. |
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CFI Wraps Up Another Great Year! | | |
As 2011 draws to a close, CFI is as busy as ever, and we are so grateful to everyone who has helped make this year such a success. Keep reading to find out more about what CFI has been doing here in the Colorado Plateau. |
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CFI's Fall 2011 Online Auction | |
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Students on a CFI River Trip |
Get your holiday shopping in early AND benefit local and regional youth!
CFI is hosting an online auction to raise funds to support its youth outdoor education programs. Whether you're a local, visiting the area, or just want to support CFI, this auction has something for you! Check out great items like a 4 wheel tire alignment, geology and river running books, an hour long massage, local lodging, and more. Many items and services were donated by local business and individuals who support CFI and its mission of increasing stewardship of the Colorado Plateau.
You too can help support CFI and its mission by placing your bid at www.biddingforgood.com/CFI. The auction ends October 22, so hurry to place your bid today!
For more information, contact Trina Van Schyndel, Public Relations, 435-259-7750, business@cfimoab.org. |
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2011 Photo Contest | | |
Click on the photo below for more details!
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Reflections from the Field: The "R" Words |
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Written by Krista Beerling
Like the natural phenomenon of a river making her way to the sea, my first season with CFI is making its way into the mysterious sea of the future. Memories, experiences, struggles, and learning moments resurge and resurface. I ask myself two questions: "What am I leaving this experience with?", and, "What am I leaving behind at CFI?" The best way to answer those questions lies in the "R" words of our mission statement: reverence, respect, responsibility and reciprocity. I am going to concentrate this reflection on my favorite "R": reverence.
On every youth program, with local Grand County kids "used to" this place or with kids experiencing the beauty of the Colorado Plateau for the first time, I have the privilege to see them connect to something "greater than themselves." A perfect example of reverence shines through from my last river trip of the season.
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Krista (2nd from right) teaching middle school students about stream ecology |
On the first night of our programs we lead a "Sense of Place" journaling and reflecting activity. This last time I led it for a group of 5-6 graders. I initiated the activity by asking the students what the term reverence meant. I wasn't sure what answers I would get, but the students blew me away. The shy and quiet girl of the group hesitantly raised her hand and said, "Isn't it when you are in awe or inspired by something? Like when you think a place is so amazing that you'd want to stay there forever and ever and never go away." "Wow. Yes, that is exactly right," I replied, and thought to myself, "They get it. They really get it."
What followed was a discussion about the paradoxical nature of the river, the beauty of the desert, and reverence for their ability to "experience peace and solitude away from their daily lives in civilization." I have so much gratitude for that moment and others like it, where I have seen our mission manifest itself in the experiences and revelations of students. I have found no matter "how hard" and "how much" I seem to be working, I end up humbled by the river and the land in their ability to inspire a wealth of reverence, reciprocity, respect, and responsibility in myself and the students I share this place with.
To learn more about CFI's school and youth programs, click here. |
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New Faces at CFI this Fall | |
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Alison paddling on the Fall Women's San Juan Trip |
Alison Pollack, our Program Intern, came to Moab from Seattle by way of Washington, D.C. She recently attended Seattle University where she studied English and Environmental Studies. She came to CFI because she "wanted to see a new and different part of the country while gaining experience with an environmental non-profit." She says that her major duties "ARE the best parts of my job. I get to provide tours of Arches National Park at sunset and of ancient rock art in the area. I also co-lead an after-school program, provide outreach, and assist with office and field duties." In the future, Alison would like to have a career in the environmental field.
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Trina staffing the CFI info booth at our Sept. 9 "Friendraiser" event |
Trina Van Schyndel, our Public Relations Intern, came to Moab from the Midwest. She recently received her graduate degree from the University of Wisconsin - Steven's Point and went to Michigan State University for her undergraduate studies. She came to CFI because she "wanted to gain marketing, fundraising, and grant writing experience with a non-profit." She has enjoyed working with special events, creating marketing and fundraising materials, and staffing CFI's farmer's market booth. She is also managing our Fall 2011 Online Auction, which she hopes "will help support the amazing youth programs CFI offers." After leaving CFI, she would like to work in the areas of strategic planning and development with an organization focused on environmental education and social justice.
Click here to access our Fall 2011 Online Auction. |
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Nature Note: Sandhill Cranes |
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Written by Trina Van Schyndel
If you have ever visited Aldo Leopold country in northern Wisconsin, you might also have seen the majestic sandhill crane (Grus canadensis). Over the past two years, I have enjoyed watching flocks of sandhill cranes throughout northern Wisconsin, but when I came to Moab, UT, I did not expect the sandhill cranes would follow me. A few weeks ago, it seemed that they did. It was sunset when I drove into Dinosaur National Monument and spotted a flock of sandhill cranes resting along the Green River. I took a moment to stop and enjoy the beauty of their silhouettes as they drank from the river.
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Photo by Marc Moritsch |
The migration routes of sandhill cranes stretch as far north as their breeding grounds in the Great Lakes, Canada, Alaska, and Siberia and as far south as their wintering grounds in Florida, Texas, Utah, Mexico, and California. The sandhill cranes I saw in Dinosaur National Monument were probably not the same sandhill cranes I saw in northern Wisconsin, as the migration route for those birds is toward Florida. It is likely that the sandhill cranes I saw along the Green River came from northern Utah or even as far north as Canada, Alaska, or Siberia.
Regardless of where they (or I) came from, for a brief moment, we were together, enjoying a rest in a beautiful place set aside for human and wildlife alike. As Terry Tempest Williams wrote in her book Red,
"The manic pace of our modern lives can be brought into balance by simply giving in to the silence of the desert, the pounding of the Pacific surf, and the darkness and brilliance of a night sky far away from a city"
...and perhaps to the beauty of cranes resting along the river.
For more information on sandhill cranes please visit:Utah DNR, USGS Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center, or The International Crane Foundation.
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About Canyonlands Field Institute: Founded in 1984, Canyonlands Field Institute is an outdoor education center located in the heart of the Colorado Plateau. We encourage people of all ages to experience wild nature directly with few of the trappings of modern life through hiking, camping, tours and river running. Thousands of adults, families and students have participated in our outdoor programs while studying natural and cultural history, wildlands values, ethics and issues, and writing and guiding. |
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Join Now or Renew:
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CANYONLANDS FIELD INSTITUTE
P.O. Box 68 ∙ Moab, UT 84532 ∙ 435-259-7750 Fax 259-2335
Inspiring enlightened perspectives, passion, and care for the Colorado Plateau since 1984.
MEMBERSHIP LEVELS
Circle one: Date: ______ Name:____________________________
$30 Individual Street:________________________________
$15 Student City:______________State:_____Zip:______
$50 Family Phone:_____________Email:_____________
$100 Supporter Payment Method: Check Visa Mastercard
$250 Sustaining Partner Card #:________________Expiration:______
$500+: The Plateau Society Signature:________________
$2,500 Corporate Sponsor
Memberships provide critical underwriting for school/youth environmental education programs. Member benefits include discounts on CFI's exciting outdoor programs, invitations to special events, and our monthly e-newsletter. We do not share your information. All contributions are tax deductible. CFI is a 501 c(3)non-profit organization. THANK YOU! | |
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