Author: Jake Brenner

In Sentinels, we are introducing you to what we call “experiential wilderness skills and awareness training.” This type of skill development will help you learn things that are difficult to learn in a conventional classroom—things like attachment to natural areas and motor skills necessary to thrive there.

The Student Land Stewardship Program (SLSP) gives students an introduction to ICNL management, and prepares them for a paid summer internship.

In this case study, we narrate the story of one exercise deployed in this course, a night class in the forest, which has proven valuable for helping our students develop an affective connection with the natural surroundings.

This course takes a human-environment geographer’s perspective, posing the following questions: What role does land play in particular cultures in particular places? How do biophysical processes shape landscapes? How do social processes determine land use?

A course developed to address these related problems called Environmental Sentinels, which integrates experiential wilderness skills and awareness training with subject matter about local natural history, ecology, and environmental management.