Center for Native Peoples and the Environment
Native Earth Environmental Youth Programs

Now in its 16th year, Native Earth Environmental Youth Program brings Indigenous high school students from across Turtle Island to the beautiful Adirondack mountain region for a week of community building, reconnecting with the Earth, and deepening skills for environmental leadership.

The program includes a wide range of hands-on educational activities and workshops, from traditional and cultural skills led by respected elders to hands-on field ecology research taught by SUNY ESF scientists and students. Learning is experiential, immersive, and dynamic, with the mountains, rivers, and lakes of the Adirondacks as our classroom.

Traditional skills-based workshops may include fire-making, medicinal plant identification and medicine making, traditional basket and cordage making, and small mammal trapping. Students gain experience with scientific tools such as ecological inventory, aquatic sampling, and soil analysis. Career exploration and college preparation are emphasized in seminar presentations, through interviews with Indigenous environmental professionals, and during a visit to the SUNY ESF campuses. The program is organized around the integrative theme of the Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving Address, which is a cultural touchstone and also a model for identification and valuation of ecosystem services. 

The program is hosted together by the Haudenosaunee Environmental Task Force and the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment at SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry. Funding is provided through a partnership with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. The program is FREE for participants. Students who complete the full program are also eligible to receive two college credits as well a stipend for their participation. The program is open to Native American youth in grades 10-12.

2025 Program Information & Applications

• 2025 Program Information Sheet
• Native Earth 2025 Application
• Native Earth 2025 Chaperone Application

Contact

Tusha Yakovleva
Community Outreach Coordinator, Center for Native Peoples and the Environment
518-805-9851
teyakovl@esf.edu