Nature - How Innovative!
Imagine the not-too-distant past. Children attended rural schools, observing and discovering their surroundings as they walked to and from school each day with siblings and school mates. Recess was outside with nothing more than free play and the natural landscape to physically challenge and refresh young minds.
Today’s students have access to an abundance of technology. As “digital natives,” kids learn from a young age how to navigate the virtual world. Yet, all of the technological resources they have can not rival the astounding educational assets that can be found outdoors.
We have something special here that no one else on earth has.
Public and private schools are seeing a resurgence of outdoor education. It may not be new, but it is gaining new momentum. Since 2016, when KLT first began delivering outdoor education to local schools, the Lake Pend Oreille School District alone has added eight outdoor educators to its faculty. And, as teachers look for ways to make outdoor education more accessible, schools are converting monoculture playing fields and equipment into rewilded play yards and outdoor classrooms.
We have Idaho and Montana.
Home to some of the most spectacular lands and waters in the country, Idaho and Montana’s natural treasures provide unique and invaluable learning opportunities. We do more than take classroom lessons outside. We harness these strengths to elevate education in a way only the Kaniksu Region can. KLT’s education outreach encourages students to discover and interpret their own observations in nature. These experiences have been shown to increase academic success as well as inspire a lifelong love of nature and stewardship.*
Caring for the lands and people of the Kaniksu Region, today, tomorrow, and forever starts with our youngest generations. Connecting youth to place early in life stays with them. Together, we protect what matters.
*See the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point Outdoor Education Research for School Grounds summary for results from studies conducted relating school performance, health, child development, enrichment, and community/civic involvement success with outdoor education.
Teachers, taking it outside
For nearly a decade, Kaniksu Land Trust has helped bring learning outside, teaching kids in their element.
It started with a simple idea. If kids can’t always get to nature, bring nature to them. We worked with local schools to introduce outdoor learning and guide students into nearby natural spaces like Pine Street Woods. The impact was real. Students were more more engaged in learning and more connected to the world around them.
But making outdoor learning a regular part of the school day came with challenges. Transportation, schedules, and staffing made it hard to build into standard curriculum.
So something bigger began to grow.
When Schools Choose the Outdoors
Over time, the Lake Pend Oreille School District made a bold shift. Instead of treating outdoor education as an extra, they began hiring outdoor educators as part of their regular faculty.
One school principal summed it up best when a tech lab teacher resigned.
“We don’t need more classes to teach kids how to use technology. We need to get kids outside.”
Today, there are eight outdoor educators dedicated to bringing nature into mainstream education.
Their classrooms are forests, fields, and fresh air. Their teaching tools include sticks, stones, bones, and observation. Many of these educators are pioneers, building lessons from scratch and solving challenges that don’t come with a textbook.
Supporting the Teachers Who Teach Outside
KLT’s Education Director supports this growing cohort by creating regular opportunities for outdoor educators to meet, collaborate, and learn from one another. These gatherings help teachers share resources, swap ideas, and tackle challenges together, because teaching outside is powerful, but it can also be isolating without support.
Whether it’s continuing education, classroom supplies, or rewilding school playgrounds, KLT is there to back the teachers who are outside every week, in every season, bringing learning to life.
A Community That Believes in Learning Outside
Outdoor education is no longer an experiment here. It’s becoming a priority. Our community sees the value. Schools see the impact. Students feel the difference.
KLT is proud to support the programs that are working and the educators who show up year-round, rain or shine, to help students learn from the land beneath their feet.
ReWilding - one playground at a time
As outdoor education grew, one challenge kept surfacing.
Getting students to natural spaces regularly was not always easy. Transportation, time, and access could limit how often classes made it beyond school grounds. But that challenge revealed a powerful solution.
What if nature didn’t require a bus ride? What if it lived right outside the classroom door?
From Grass Fields to Living Landscapes
Most schoolyards were designed for simplicity. Large stretches of grass. Fixed playground equipment. Easy to maintain, but limited in how students could explore, observe, and connect with the natural world.
Rewilding flips that script.
Instead of monoculture lawns, we imagine living landscapes filled with native plants, insects, birds, and seasonal change. Not nature left to reclaim space on its own timeline, but nature thoughtfully restored with intention, creativity, and care.
Designed by the People Who Use Them
Rewilding schoolyards starts with listening.
Through hands-on workshops with students and teachers, KLT partnered with a design team and an outdoor education committee to reimagine how existing school grounds could become places for discovery, learning, and connection. Together, we created plans that balance play, education, safety, and stewardship, starting with three schools in the Lake Pend Oreille School District.
ReWilding in Action
Kootenai Elementary School
The Kootenai reWild project is now a thriving example of what’s possible. Students learn in multiple outdoor classrooms, explore native plant identification posts, and play among natural features designed for movement and imagination. A new trail weaves through the space, benefiting both students and the broader community.
Washington Elementary School
Washington’s reWild project is taking shape in phases. Its first major feature will be a timberframe outdoor classroom, creating a sheltered space for year-round learning. As funding is secured, additional elements of the design will be brought to life over time.
Farmin–Stidwell Elementary School
Planning is underway for Farmin–Stidwell’s play yard rewilding. As funding becomes available, this school will join the growing network of living schoolyards designed for exploration and outdoor learning.
Learning Outside, Every Day
Rewilding is about more than landscaping. It’s about access.
Even as projects are built in phases, KLT education staff and the district’s outdoor educators continue to ensure students experience nature as a regular part of their school day. Forests, fields, and fresh air remain core classrooms, whether on campus or beyond it.
By transforming schoolyards into places where nature and learning coexist, we’re making outdoor education part of everyday life.