The Silver City Watershed Keepers (SCWK) program is proud to announce that we will receive a $20,000 Outdoor Equity Fund grant from the New Mexico Economic Development Department’s Outdoor Recreation Division. This funding will enable SCWK to host a fifth annual Nature Discovery Summer Camp in June 2026, continuing our mission to connect youth with the wonders of nature and the importance of environmental stewardship.
Silver City Watershed Keepers is one of three Grant County organizations that will receive funding from the New Mexico Outdoor Recreation Division this year, along with Earth Ways, Inc. and the Gila Community Foundation’s Youth Mural Program.
The Outdoor Equity Fund, established by the New Mexico Economic Development Department’s Outdoor Recreation Division (NM ORD), was created to expand access to outdoor opportunities for youth who have historically faced barriers to nature-based experiences. By supporting programs like the Nature Discovery Summer Camp, the fund ensures that all New Mexican children have the chance to learn, play, and thrive in the outdoors.
“Thanks to the support of our legislators and the Land of Enchantment Legacy Fund, this year’s Outdoor Equity Fund awards will give more than 22,000 young people across New Mexico the chance to experience the outdoors in meaningful ways,” ORD Director Karina Armijo explained. “These programs strengthen communities and foster connections to the landscapes and cultures that make our state unique.”
Across the state, NM ORD awarded $2,178,029 through its Outdoor Equity Fund during this first round of FY26 grants. These awards will be distributed to 61 programs which provide outdoor education and career training to more than 22,000 New Mexico youth. A record-breaking 140 applications and $4.9 million in funding requests were received in the first round of the FY26 Outdoor Equity Fund grant program. Since 2020, NM ORD has awarded over $8.6 million in Outdoor Equity Fund grants, connecting more than 106,000 youth from 23 counties to high-quality, educational outdoor programming. These programs remove barriers, giving all New Mexico youth the opportunity to experience the health benefits of outdoor activities and explore career pathways in recreation, conservation, and leadership.
With this support, SCWK will continue to provide a safe, inclusive, and fun camp experience in 2026. The Nature Discovery Summer Camp is open to rising 4th-6th grade students from Grant County. This outdoor day camp invites kids to explore the outdoors while learning from environmental educators, community volunteers, and guest scientists. Campers discover local biodiversity, learn about the connections between land, water, wildlife, and people, and are empowered to steward the environment they call home. Previous camps have included lessons about native tree identification, water testing, healthy food, reptile diversity and safety, bird-watching, air quality, stream ecology, insects, litter control and more. Students are also led on field trips to the Gila River, Mimbres River, and the Gila National Forest, where they learn about traditional land uses and stewardship principles of indigenous Apache and Mimbres peoples. At the end of the camp, campers have a deeper understanding of their watershed, not only as a location on a map, but also as a place of history, ecological interactions, and community connections.
The 2025 camp also emphasized creative expression as a pathway to understanding nature. Campers painted watercolors of desert wildflowers, wrote poems about summer monsoon rains, and built nature journals that combined scientific observations with sketches and personal reflections. These projects encouraged children not only to observe the world around them, but also to find their own voices in speaking for its protection.
Beyond ecological lessons, the 2025 camp prioritized building life skills such as teamwork, problem-solving, and confidence in outdoor settings. Through group games, map-reading challenges, and guided hikes, campers learned to trust one another and themselves in navigating unfamiliar terrain. For many participants, the camp provided first-time experiences such as holding a snake, using binoculars to view wild birds, or testing water with scientific equipment.
Parents and guardians praised the program for providing safe, enriching, and screen-free experiences that helped their children develop a stronger connection to the land. One parent shared, “[T]his was, hands down, [my child’s] most favorite camp. After the first day she was BEAMING with joy. She is so excited to come back next year. She couldn’t stop talking about all the fun she had.”
Nature Discovery Summer Camps are hosted at multiple locations in Grant County, allowing students from rural communities, home schools, and the Mining District, in addition to those from Silver City to attend. Camps take place in June, coinciding with Silver and Cobre School Districts’ summer school programs. Camps are provided free-of-charge and students receive healthy lunches and snacks during the camp, bus transportation, and all of the supplies needed to participate in programming. By securing funds for these resources through Outdoor Equity Funds and other grants, SCWK is able to remove financial barriers, and provide a fun, educational camp experience for students of all income levels and backgrounds.
The Nature Discovery Summer Camp embodies the mission of the Silver City Watershed Keepers: to inspire stewardship of the Gila watershed through education, science, and community action. By offering youth the opportunity to explore the outdoors, practice science, and build meaningful connections with the natural world, the camp plants seeds of curiosity and care that will grow for years to come.
About the Silver City Watershed Keepers
The Silver City Watershed Keepers is a volunteer-based community stewardship program that fosters environmental education, scientific monitoring, and advocacy to protect the Gila watershed. Through school programs, citizen science projects, and community cleanups, SCWK engages residents of all ages in caring for the waterways and landscapes that sustain Silver City and surrounding communities.
