YES Conference But Make It Virtual

The Youth Exploring Stewardship (YES) Coalition is a group of more than 15 organizations who are located in or working along Colorado’s Front Range and who engage youth in environmental stewardship. While such a network has long existed for stewardship organizations statewide, youth organizations have been largely compartmentalized or participating in small-scale collaboration. The YES Coalition was initiated in the spring of 2017 by Wildlands Restoration Volunteers to bridge that gap with the intent of establishing best practices, determining opportunities for partnership, and maximizing our impact through collaboration. 

The third annual YES Conference was slated for this October. Of course, due to the realities of the current pandemic, organization partners and our youth board had to get creative when planning this year's conference. What they created was a seamless blend of small, in-person, outside activities, and virtual workshops.

Over two-days, youth environmental leaders from around the Front Range

• Participated in hands-on stewardship and fun outdoor activities in small groups
• Explored future academic and career opportunities
• Took their leadership skills to the next level
• Made new friends, and had fun outside!

Saturday’s in-person projects included a guided hike, native seed collection, in-stream trash pick up, and fire mitigation. Sunday was entirely student-led, and comprised of virtual workshops ranging from climate activism training to career panels and sustainable art workshops!

At our in-person project on Saturday, we had 6 awesome river stewards help pick up 5 bags worth of trash from the South Platte River at Confluence Park! We ended our day talking about the importance of our mental, physical, spiritual connection to nature, a five minute forest bathing activity, and sipping on some delicious sumac tea- thanks to Zuza with Americas for Conservation!