Pollinate!

Pollination was LEAP’s theme in 2016. “The Buzz” permeated LEAP activities and programming throughout the year, from our science and art enrichment programs for Questa and Costilla elementary students in the spring, to NeoRio at Wild Rivers in the Fall. We also organized our annual Questa Earth Day event, the regional¡Pollinate! Art Show at OCHO in Questa, StorySLAM and Paint Out event at Wild Rivers, Dia de los Muertos Celebration and field trips for Questa Junior High Students. 
 
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Each event and engagement deepened understandings of the phenomenal and beautiful roles of pollinators in our lives and ecosystems and brought people and "place" together in new ways.

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Neo Rio 2016 @ Rio Grande del Norte National Monument

We also launched two new projects this year: The Northern NM Growers & Makers Exchange and the North Central NM Story Cache. The goals of these new projects are to enliven our communities, generate meaningful conversations, draw-out local stories, and celebrate histories and traditions, new and old. The Growers & Makers Exchange champions our local agricultural and artisan networks by localizing our economy with outlets to sell goods and other infrastructural support. The “Story Cache” is a local oral history/story archive and platform for cultural events and programming.

HUGE thank yous to all our 2016 LEAP volunteers, collaborators, artists, participants, donors and grant-providers! You all made it possible. 

We look forward to more in 2017!

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Northern NM Growers & Makers Exchange

Rewilding the Way

Todd Wynward and Tyler Eshleman led the first Rewilding the Way Wilderness Trek in 2016. The expedition gave adult participants an opportunity to step into the wilderness for a time of reflection, space from dominant culture, spiritual formation, and renewal of vision and energy for a lifetime of climate and justice advocacy.

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Todd Wynward (Localogy Board Prez / Author of Rewilding the Way: Break free to follow an untamed God) and Tyler Eshleman (Tilt Program Coordinator) and some wild-ones have been to the mountain top.

Rewilding included backpacking deep in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and rafting down the Rio Grande—grappling with the complexity of water in a place where water is so precious, yet is also squandered and polluted. The challenges participants faced on the trip afforded them a deeper understanding of the ways in which they engage with, and learn from, their own environment.

The Rio Grande, the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, and the people of this watershed have much to teach. The trek empowered those who participated to not only learn and become attentive, but to return to their own communities and act with a "rewilded" spirit.

30 years + 30 days + 30 kids + you = free summer camp!

For 30 years Dr. Bud Wilson has worked a miracle - giving his all to provide a month-long transformative ranch and wilderness summer camp for any child... tuition free.  

This summer 30 lucky campers will make the Sangre de Cristo Youth Ranch Summer Camp their home away from home.  

For 30 days they will be beaming out sights, sounds, revelations and stories from camp.

We'll be live on this site on June 21 - the day camp starts.  We want you right there with us - doing the deeds, singing the songs, in on the jokes, and up on the peak.

If you know someone who just needs to be a kid outside this summer - let them know Singing River Field Center is the place to be.  Day-camp runs 9-4 Monday through Friday with a Thursday night campout starting June 22nd.  Tuition is sliding scale.  Facilities include: day lodge, a farm and greenhouse, nature trails, swimming and fishing holes...READ MORE