Nevada Outdoor School

Mission Statement: The Nevada Outdoor School (NOS) is a 501c3 organization that provides educational experiences which foster connections with plants, animals, and habitats of Nevada, while deepening students’ knowledge and appreciation of nature.

Stephanie Lefever, Executive Director

NOS provides Outdoor education resources for land agencies, non-profit organizations, youth groups, teachers, and non formal educators: 

• Outdoor Educational Classroom Lessons
  NOS has been able to collaborate with local schools and youth groups in order to teach outdoor education in numerous classrooms with students ranging from the elementary level to high school and beyond. All of our lessons use the scientific inquiry approach and meet Nevada State Department of Education Standards. Our lessons are made available to every school in Nevada free of charge and all the lessons can be viewed and downloaded from our website at www.nevadaoutdoorschool.org.
• Interpretive Kits
  In conjunction with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), NOS has worked to develop interpretive kits for historical and ecological points of interest in the Black Rock Desert-High Rock Canyon Emigrant Trails National Conservation Area (NCA).  These kits include sections on pre-history, history, native plants and animals, outdoor ethics, visitor information, and lesson plans/activities.  These kits can be used in the classroom for thematic units, or can be used on field trips to the NCA.
• Lovelock Cave Back Country Scenic Byway
  Partnering with the BLM, NOS has worked to develop a Children's Interpretive Guide and Junior Ranger Program, available for grades K-6, for the Lovelock Cave Back Country Scenic Byway in Lovelock, NV.  These materials are available at the Marzen House Museum and Pershing County Chamber of Commerce in Lovelock or at the BLM Field Office in Winnemucca, NV.

Teacher Training Workshops

• Great Basin Teachers Workshop ( GBTW )—Every summer, Great Basin National Park offers a workshop for educators who teach about the Great Basin. The     workshops bring field experts to the park to teach about their fields of expertise. While teachers are the intended audience for the workshops, the workshops focus more on content than teaching methodology.
• Lamoille Canyon Workshop —Lamoille Canyon Workshop was a week long workshop resulting from collaborative efforts of NOS, NNREC, and USFS, to bring natural resources education to teachers in Nevada. Educators were certified in Project Wet, Project Wild, Project Archeology, Project Learning Tree. They also received training in grant writing.
• Water Canyon Teacher Workshop - Nevada Outdoor School has partnered up with the NNREC to bring an exciting and informative teacher's workshop to Water Canyon. On May 11th 2007 from 8am to 6pm educators can learn engaging, hands-on lessons and activities for your students that incorporates Winnemucca’s unique and diverse natural resources. Teachers will have the opportunity to learn lessons from the Water Canyon Field trip kit on the Interpretive Trail and receive a certification in Project Learning Tree. Lessons included in the kit are: Water Canyon : A focus on Riparian Wetland Zones, Geology of Water Canyon, Fresh Water Habitat : A Water Quality Study, Water Canyon : Northern Paiute Indians, and Much More

Summer Programs

• Nature at Noon
  Nature at noon is designed for children going into preschool through second grade. This program is filled with fun, age appropriate games, outdoor nature activities, and crafts. Each week the children have an opportunity to explore different topics in nature aimed in strengthening their awareness of nature. This summer the children will learn about rainbows, flowers, birds, insects, and much more.
• Girl’s Camp
  Girl’s camp is a day camp for girls entering 5th and 6th grades. This camp provides adolescent girls with the opportunity to enjoy art, recreation, and education as they gain skills in friendship, leadership, and decision making. Women mentors, whom have become well known leaders in their community, help strengthen the girl’s confidence and community interest while having fun and making new friends.
• Adventure Camp
  Adventure camp is an indoor and outdoor science camp for students entering 3rd-8th grades. Participants of this program will have the opportunity to explore and experience exciting ecological concepts as well as enjoying such outdoor activities like orienteering, hiking, wilderness survival skills, backpacking, falconry, and much more.
• Ruby Mountain Backpacking Adventure
  This is an eight day long backpacking trip that takes place in the beautiful Ruby Mountain range of northern Nevada.  Students who participate are offered an experience and education of a life time by learning about outdoor education in a backcountry environment. Outdoor specialist will teach the students about the native fauna and flora, habitats, river and lake ecology, and many more interesting and educational lessons.
• Sierra Mountain Backpacking Adventure
  Eight days of fun and challenges are offered to students who love the challenge of the outdoors, enjoy hands on learning, and are interested in a career in natural resource management. The participants will spend numerous days studying the river, wildlife, land development, human impact, and many other natural resource topics while following the Carson River up into the High Sierra.
• Black Rock Desert NCA backpacking Adventure
  Eight days of fun and challenges are offered to students who love the challenge of the outdoors, enjoy hands on learning, and are interested in a career in natural resource management. The participants will spend numerous days studying the historical and cultural significance of the NCA, the Emigrant trail, learn about native Pauite traditions and the beautiful flora and fauna that exists in the fragile desert ecosystem.
• Burning Man Kids Camp
  Nevada Outdoor School hosts a week of kid’s camp, integrating science, art and natural history of the Black Rock during the Burning man event held on the Black Rock Desert Playa in late August.

Special Community Events

• Earth Day Celebration
  Earth day is a large scale celebration across the globe of our beautiful mother earth.  Winnemucca takes this opportunity to host a wide range of hands on activities for students at the Winnemucca Community garden.  Students have the opportunity to learn a variety of earth friendly concepts such as composting, recycling, leave no trace camping, and much more.
• Family Astro
  Spinning off of our successful Project ASTRO™ program, the Astronomical Society of the Pacific developed Family ASTRO to help families, youth groups, after-school clubs, and everyone else learn and enjoy some of the exciting ideas that underpin our understanding of the universe. An important aim of the program is to help parents (and other caregivers) to get more involved in their children’s science education, and to spend more time together in active experiments, observations, and discussion.
• Public Lands Day
  National Public Lands Day is the nation’s largest hands-on volunteer effort to improve and enhance the public lands American’s enjoy. Teaming up with the Winnemucca BLM field office, NOS has successfully co-sponsored a variety of volunteer work projects throughout Nevada’s wilderness areas in an effort to protect the fragile desert environment.  By recruiting and training volunteers and providing outdoor education lessons, NOS works to increase the community’s awareness and appreciation of our wilderness areas during this national event.
• Black Rock Rendezvous
  each year on memorial day weekend, NOS partners with the Friends of the Black rock and BLM to host a 3 day volunteer training event in the Black Rock Desert.  Please visit www.blackrockdesert.org/rendezvous for more details

Restoration Crew

In addition to the many education programs offered by NOS, we also work with college age students in the implementation of restoration work in the Black Rock Desert and surrounding areas. The crew builds trails, rehabs old roads in Wilderness, installs signs, write grants to funds projects, assists in the development and implementation of large scale volunteer events and works in the day to day operations of NOS.