Programs for Students and Educators

Engaging Youth:

We offer three ways for youth to get involved with the Yerba Mansa Project. Our opportunities nurture connections to the Albuquerque Bosque and help to build knowledge of this beautiful place. Our hope is that by doing so we are inspiring the next generation to love and care for the Middle Rio Grande Bosque.

Classrooms and youth groups can request a field trip or apply for a field trip grant to join our educators in the Bosque for a unique learning experience.
Individuals and groups can volunteer at our next Bosque Restoration Field Day.
Classrooms and youth groups can use our free Field Guide. (Middle and high school students attending a field trip will contribute to the Field Guide Project as part of their field trip experience.)

Join Our Field Crew:

Volunteer at our next Bosque Restoration Field Day! Check our Events page for our next scheduled Restoration Field Day.

What is a Field Day like?

Bosque Restoration Field Days occur twice yearly in May and September and each event lasts about 3 hours. Participants will engage in active riparian habitat and native plant restoration work including removal of non-native invasive Ravenna Grass, planting natives species, and reseeding with a mixture of native plants donated by the City of Albuquerque Open Space.

Who can participate?

We welcome classrooms, school clubs, scout troops, youth groups, and families. All ages are encouraged. Children must be supervised by parents and/or teachers.

Bosque Field Guide Project:

A work in progress using the iNaturalist platform, this collection of botanical photographs and research represents the effort of Albuquerque-area students coming together to produce an invaluable resource for anyone wishing to learn more about the plants of the Middle Rio Grande Bosque. It is intended to be a multi-cultural, interdisciplinary service learning project that reflects our entire community’s relationship with the river and floodplain that sustains and unites us all. Entries are searchable and professionally fact-checked and edited for accuracy.

Students who join us on field trips contribute to the field guide as part of their pre-field trip activity. The research portion of this project is designed for middle and high school students while younger students contribute artwork with the help of their teachers or parents. Selected entries are reviewed, edited, and fact-checked before being added to the guide.

See Our Bosque Field Guide

Alameda Elementary Student Botanical Artwork for Plants of the Middle Rio Grande Bosque Field Guide

Field Trips:

Bring your classroom to the Bosque with us! Our field trips are open to classrooms and youth groups in Albuquerque. Our goal is to help students slow down and notice the world around them while deepening their connection and relationship to the Middle Rio Grande Bosque. On the field trip students are broken into groups and spend time with Yerba Mansa Project educators at different stations. See sample field trips below:

Elementary

Group 1: Students go on a plant walk to learn about native plants and explore some of the ways humans use these plants.

Group 2: Students learn about non-native plants and their uses and do a hands-on art and ecology project.

Group 3: Students spend time exploring the Bosque, doing a scavenger hunt and sketching plants. Students discuss the animals that live in the Bosque and play a game of animal charades.

Middle and High School

Group 1: Students go on a plant walk to learn about native plants and explore some of the ways humans use these plants.

Group 2: Students learn about the cyanotype process and experiment with hands-on techniques that combine scientific and artistic methods observation while making cyanotypes outdoors.

Important notes:

Field trips take place April-May and September-October. There is a required pre-field trip activity for all grade levels:

Custom Field Trips

Have your own funding and want to skip the application process?

Request a Trip

Field Trip Grants

Would you like to fill out an application for a free field trip including bus transportation?

Apply Here

Want to support these free educational community service opportunities?

Make an one-time or monthly donation by clicking the donate button.
Sponsor a school classroom field trip including research project support, bus transportation, and guided field programs for $750 per school group. Business sponsors will have their logo added to our website and be recognized in our newsletter. Individual donors will be listed on our website and newsletter, if they choose. Contact us to inquire.
See our Ways To Give page for more opportunities to help.

Donate