Our friends and partners at Cal-Wood Education Center need your support. Cal-Wood is a Boulder County institution, inviting hundreds of students and families into the mountains each year to connect with nature and learn about their world. They have graciously allowed Cottonwood Institute to run program trips on their land for many years.

Now, having survived catastrophic flooding in 2013 and persevered through the challenges of COVID-19, Cal-Wood was struck by wildfire earlier this month. We were relieved to hear their structures were safe, but large areas of their forest were burned.

In typical fashion, the Cal-Wood team has risen to the occasion. Executive Director Rafael Salgado hosted 30+ firefighters in cabins on the property, and has already shared videos of the burn areas to teach the community about fire ecology. Nonetheless, they will need all of our support to make up for lost program revenue and to recover from the effects of this fire.

Our friends at Thorne Nature Experience have set up a special fundraising page and are offering a dollar for dollar match up to $20,000. If you are able, please contribute to the We Stand With Cal-Wood campaign, so that many more students will be able to get outdoors and benefit from the amazing work that they do. We will pass along more information and volunteer opportunities as they become available.

“My favorite part of the camping trip to Calwood would be when we spent our last couple of hours doing service work in return for Calwood as they let us camp in their property. I really liked this part of the trip because instead of just for our [benefit] of going on a trip, we contributed back to Calwood’s needs and worked. It took a toll on our bodies, but it was something really fun. We got to pass logs and make big stacks of wood to contain forest fires. Just the fact that we gave back to the community makes me happy and feel strongly that I did something good. Honestly, it was fun with teamwork.” — CAP Student, STRIVE Prep – RISE