Why Our Work is Important
The population of Northwest Colorado is growing rapidly, and environmental conditions are changing, which means our natural resources and landscapes are being stressed, overused, and polluted. Often these impacts are due to a lack of awareness about how these natural systems work and increasing demand for limited natural resources. Yampatika is working to increase awareness about how to better manage and protect these resources by educating the residents and visitors of Northwest Colorado.
Additionally, Americans are suffering from an epidemic of loneliness and disconnection, especially among youth. With increased dependence on digital and social media and fewer built-in opportunities to connect with nature and our community, our society is experiencing sky-high rates of mental illness.
To help address these issues, Yampatika is working to provide a sense of connection to place, community, nature, and self through environmental education.
Environmental education can tackle these issues by:
Ways to Support Yampatika
Help Us Reach More Students:
- Sponsor a third full-time educator who will help us reach 5% more students (3,032 total students) this upcoming School Year and 25% more students (3,610 total students) in 5 years: Total goal: $60,000.
Help Us Offer Camp to More Families and Youth:
- Sponsor a family by contributing to our 2024 Scholarship Fund: Total goal: $25,000.
Help Us Bring Environmental Education to More of the Community:
- Sponsor one of our many adult programs and educational hikes to ensure more local community members learn best practices for environmental stewardship: Total goal: $5,000/each.
Help Us Find a Home:
- Sponsor a Facility Needs Assessment that will help us outline our specific site criteria and map out a strategy for evaluating site options: Total goal: $20,000.
- Lay the foundation for a future Capital Campaign by helping us hiring a Development Director: Total goal: $75,000.
- Make an anchor investment to our Capital Campaign: between $10,000 and $2M.
Benefits of Supporting Yampatika
When you make a donation of any size to Yampatika you not only receive the knowledge that you are making a difference, but you get some perks.
Yampatika’s mission is “to inspire environmental stewardship through education” – we are the only nonprofit delivering environmental education throughout Northwest Colorado. We do so in a way that is science-based, experiential, and inclusive. Our goal is to increase understanding and awareness about the key environmental issues and to help establish a connection to nature among visitors and residents to ensure the long-term protection of these resources. We do this by offering the following programming:
Youth Camps (Summer and Blues Break): Yampatika offers all-day camps in the Summer and over select Winter breaks for youth ages 5 -11 years. In 2023 200 youth participated in our Summer Camp or Blues Break Camp. Camp activities focus on getting kids outside and learning about the environment. Approximately 20% of campers receive scholarships to attend Yampatika camps – our goal is to reduce the financial barriers and ensure that more youth and families can access and benefit from the Yampatika Camp experience.
In-School and Out-of-School Programs: Yampatika brings FREE environmental educators into Pre-K through 12th grade classes to share science-based information on a wide diversity of topics: e.g., water conservation, watershed function and river health, wildlife and habitat, geology, local flora and fauna, sustainability, energy and much more through experiential and outdoor place-based learning. Yampatika offers school programming throughout Routt, Moffat, Rio Blanco and Jackson counties. Yampatika partners with many organizations and natural resource managers to deliver compelling programming to students. Our goal is to ensure students of all ages and backgrounds have access to environmental science. Yampatika also partners with childcare providers and other partner programs in the region (e.g., Boys and Girls Club, City of Steamboat Springs, Rocky Mountain Youth Corps, Totally Kids, Partners for Youth) to provide environmental education and interactive learning experiences to program participants.
Adult and Community Programming: Yampatika offers summer tours and hikes, and winter snowshoe tours, has a standing interpretive booth at Fish Creek Falls, participates in numerous community events such as Yampa River Fest, Craig River Fest and Colorado Crane Conservation Coalition Festival, hosts fund educational community events Wild Edible Feast and Fall Fest each year, and spearheads numerous environmental stewardship informational campaigns.
Yampatika is based in Steamboat Springs, Colorado and has a footprint across Northwest Colorado in Jackson, Routt, Moffat, and Rio Blanco Counties.
Originally a part of the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) as a partner in interpretation, Yampatika became its own 501(c)3 nonprofit organization in 1992. Yampatika employs a full-time staff of 5 people and 14 part-time or seasonal staff.
Organization name
Yampatika
other names
Yampatika
1992
Tax id (EIN)
84-1216132
Category
Environment, Education
Organization Size
Medium Organization
Address
925 Weiss DriveOther
Yampatika 35435 E. HWY 40Routt County, CO, US