Earth Tracks Newsletter Winter 2026
- Misha Smith
- Jan 1
- 5 min read
News
Call for new IdEEA board members!
Please consider volunteering your time to support IdEEA’s mission of advancing environmental education in Idaho. We are recruiting new board members for the 2026-28 term to help specifically with Communications, Teacher Awards, Partnerships, Member Benefits, and Treasurer positions. The application is open January 1-31, with decisions being announced by mid February, and the two-year term beginning March 2026. Contact Janice Alexander with any questions.
See Robin Wall Kimmerer in Boise with IdEEA this March! IdEEA is giving 10 members the chance to join us at the Morrison Center on March 23rd, 2026, for An Evening with Robin Wall Kimmerer, best-selling author of Braiding Sweetgrass and The Serviceberry, as part of The Cabin’s Reading & Conversations series.
Here’s how to enter the raffle:
Refer a friend to join IdEEA! Friends can leave a comment in the membership form letting us know who referred them.
Find our raffle post on social media and tag 3 friends who love environmental education in the comments
Each action counts as one entry!
Bonus entry: Share our IG post about the raffle to your IG story and tag @Idaho_environmental_education so we can see it!
Entries close on February 14th, 2026. Winners will be contacted via Email or DM.
In addition, we’ll be hosting a HappEE Hour just before the event for anyone who wants to gather ahead of time. Meet us at Lost Grove Brewing near the BSU campus from 6-7 PM for 1 free drink for IdEEA members and lots of other fun food and beverage options. Mark your calendars now for this amazing event!
NASA’s Earth to Sky Idaho Adapt: Teaching Climate Action for Idaho’s Future
Informal and formal educators from across the Treasure Valley met to attend Earth to Sky Idaho’s Adapt climate workshop in October. Hosted by the City of Boise at The WaterShed climate education center, the workshop connected educators with NASA climate science data and provided field experiences spotlighting examples of local climate action projects. Educators then worked to plan lessons and projects of their own to bring climate science to their audiences with the end goal of creating an action project. This annual workshop, in its fourth year, is sponsored by IdEEA and other Idaho organizations. Next year’s workshop will be located in North Idaho.
Check out our November Blog Post for a deeper look into this year’s workshop!
Announcing the 2025 IdEEA Grant Awardees!
From flowers to ospreys, from the classroom to winter solitude, from Sandpoint to Soda Springs, awardees for IdEEA’s 2025 environmental grants show great examples of environmental education in Idaho. IdEEA is proud to support these activities with grants of $500. Selected from over 13 applicants, awardees will have until the end of the 2025/2026 school year to complete their projects. Here’s a short preview of this year’s grant winners:
The Farmin Stidwell Elementary School in Sandpoint will introduce over 500 students to the vital role of pollinators and native wildflowers through hands-on experience centered around flower pressing. Students will use a handmade flower press, and collect, identify and press wildflowers they collect from their own homes or neighborhoods in early spring. To further enrich the experience, the project will incorporate pollinator-focused lessons using curriculum provided by Idaho Fish and Game, and host a visit from a local beekeeper.
The Salmon Outdoor Classroom in Salmon, a four-acre ecological learning space owned by IDFG, located within walking distance of both Pioneer Elementary and Salmon Junior/Senior High School, will install a live-streaming camera on an active osprey nesting platform and integrate it into SVS’s Outdoor Education programming for students from the two schools.
One Stone High School in Boise will offer several winter term immersions, which are experiential courses to inspire passion and curiosity. An example of such an immersion experience is Solitude and Survival Stories: “Using Pete Fromm’s memoir (Indian Creek Chronicles) of a winter alone in the Selway–Bitterroot Wilderness as our guide, we’ll explore what it takes to spend the winter outdoors, as well as what we stand to gain by spending alone time in nature.” This grant was generously sponsored by CapEd Credit Union!
Thurkill Elementary in Soda Springs will enhance its existing science curriculum by offering after-school STEM nights. These activities will deepen students’ knowledge of science, foster an appreciation for local industries and resources, and encourage responsible environmental stewardship—ultimately helping prepare a strong, informed future workforce.
Coeur d’Alene High School in Coeur d’Alene will recreate their current Environmental Science course with focus on the Pacific Northwest (mainly forestry and water resources). The project would take two classes to off-site experiences (i.e. University of Idaho Experimental Forest, simulators, and other nearby forested and wild landscapes.) for interactive learning experiences.
Professional Workshops
Miami University’s Project Dragonfly is accepting applications for 2026 Earth Expeditions graduate courses that offer extraordinary experiences at global field sites in 15 countries throughout Africa, Asia, Australia, and the Americas. http://EarthExpeditions.MiamiOH.edu
Outdoor Learning Partners free Winter 2026 Virtual Workshops
This seasonal series features 10 partners and 14 presenters. Here's the line-up:
Jan 13: Seeing Ourselves in Nature: Diversity, Equity & Inclusion in Outdoor Learning
Mar 3: Mentorship in the Wild: Leadership, Adventure & Wonder
Resources
Idaho Power Solar 4R Schools Program educates students about renewable energy by placing solar installations on school property, along with a data monitoring system and a curriculum package. Energy generated by these small-scale solar-electric systems helps participating schools offset a portion of their electricity use. Applications are accepted anytime but reviewed on March 1 and October 1 each year. Applicants will be notified of funding decisions on approximately April 15.
Give Earth A Chance (GEAC) is a free cooperative board game created by a graduate student at Oregon State University as an open resource for educators, advocates, and communities working on climate action. GEAC transforms the climate crisis from an abstract issue into a shared challenge where collaboration is the only path to survival. GEAC is offered free to everyone under a Creative Commons license. The complete game can be downloaded through OER Commons and MERLOT, two trusted global repositories for open educational resources.
Upcoming Events
The UI McCall Outdoor Science School has availability for Residential and Outreach Programs in Spring 2026! Contact Beth K. to chat about availability and program options: ekochevar@uidaho.edu
The 2025–2026 World of 8 Billion Student Video Contest is now open! Middle and high school students are invited to create a 60-second video on Energy, Economics, or Wetlands for a chance to win up to $1,200 in cash prizes. Submissions are due March 4, 2026—learn more and access free classroom resources at ➡️ https://www.worldof8billion.org/
IdEEA Updates
ICYMI: Top stories from the IdEEA blog
October Giving Tuesday
November Earth to Sky: Climate Action
December Gear Up and Get Outside this Winter
IdEEA is looking for guest writers for blog posts. Do you have an interesting project or idea you’d like to highlight? Contact us at communications@idahoee.org to share your ideas with our community!
Climate curriculum available: We have units for grades 5-12 based on the Idaho Climate-Economy Impacts Assessment and tied to the Idaho Science Standards for a place-based discussion of climate variability relevant to Idaho’s students. See the full list of lessons at https://www.idahoee.org/climate-curriculum.
Support EE in Idaho by becoming an IdEEA member today!
Our membership rates have increased to $25 in 2025 with increased member benefits. Stay current with all our updates: subscribe to this newsletter and follow us on Facebook and Instagram. If you have an interest in supporting our mission more fully but don’t have the capacity to be on the board, join one of our committees! Any active members are eligible to meet with a committee to help with specific events and projects. Let us know you’re interested by emailing communications@idahoee.org under the subject “Committees” and we’ll connect you to the correct Committee Chair.
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