Increasingly, land trusts are discovering the power of bolstering their stewardship toolkits with new technologies and perspectives. Remote monitoring has helped stewardship teams and landowners gain new perspectives on their work, respond quickly to threats to conserved land and work more efficiently to uphold the promise of protecting land in perpetuity.

On a damp, overcast Wednesday afternoon, Kaniksu Land Trust Educational Director Dave Kretzschmar led a group of fifth and sixth graders from Washington Elementary down the pine-covered pathways at Pine Street Woods in Sandpoint.

The children chatted, laughed and played games as the group hiked. At one point, Kretzschmar stopped, eyes turned upward as he looked at the trees.

“You see how those trees are stripped of wood?” he said, pointing upward.

Students and teachers know too well the challenges of classroom learning during COVID-19. Alternative education models, inconsistent schedules and safety protocols make concentration in the classroom much more difficult. One alternative being proposed by Kaniksu Land Trust, with support from the University of Idaho, is the outdoor classroom model, which some local schools have already joined in a pilot project.