Earth Partnership
Education through Ecological Restoration – Department of Planning and Landscape Architecture
Institute participants studying plants

Institutes

Earth Partnership Institutes

Professional Development in Restoration Education 

At an EP Institute you will discover how restoring native ecosystems:

  • Invigorate schools and communities with interdisciplinary learning experiences and citizen science approaches for all ages.
  • Enhance community awareness, skills, and knowledge of stewardship actions that enhance biodiversity and prevent pollution.
  • Connect youth to culture and place while teaching ecological and environmental issues and solutions.
  • Inspire students to develop a personal understanding of their relationship with others and the natural world.

Each institute is place-based and responsive to the community and culture. Graduate-level credits are available through the UW–Madison Department of Curriculum and Instruction.

Institute dialogue in Mexico

Before the Institute

  • Community dialogue informs instructional content, and partners create collaborative teams.
Ecosystem studies in forest

During the Institute 

  • Teams learn about local ecosystems and explore strategies for restoring biodiversity, promoting sustainable landscapes, and preserving a sense of place.
  • Teams develop action plans to engage youth and community in planning and implementing school and neighborhood restorations.
Middle school planting

After the Institute 

  • EP offers continued learning opportunities, resources, and on-site consultation.
  • Teams guide youth and communities in developing stewardship and monitoring projects.
  • Partners stay connected and share stories, knowledge, and research from their restorations.

A Note of Appreciation

In Summer 2020, IAS institutes were offered online for the first time, due to Covid-19.

Earth Partnership and Bad River, Red Cliff, and Lac du Flambeau Bands of Ojibwe and Ho-Chunk Nation hosted a week-long, inter-Tribal session in June.

A week-long summer program for Native youth from these communities was also hosted.

Earth Partnership, in collaboration with Ho-Chunk Nation partners, offered an Urban Indigenous Arts and Sciences institute in July.

Miigwech, Pinagigiwi, Thank You to all partners and participants for an excellent summer of learning, sharing, and relationship-building – all online! Together we adapted to difficult circumstances and found new ways to explore and engage Indigenized science and environmental stewardship.

A Look Back at Past Institutes

Photos and resources from 2019 IAS institutes in partnership with Bad River/Red Cliff, Ho-Chunk, and Lac du Flambeau Nations - and the first-ever Urban IAS institute in Madison, WI.