Chances are, you care deeply about the Earth, you are concerned about its health, and you are taking steps to minimize your carbon footprint. At Deer Hill, we spend our lives close to nature, and we are committed to preserving both the delicate wilderness that surrounds us, and our wider world. We are all stakeholders in the health of our planet. Reducing our contribution to environmental degradation is an ongoing journey.

The Deer Hill Basecamp is centrally located on the Colorado Plateau, reducing the amount of time our vehicles (and our participants) are on the road. Our expeditions are based around Leave-No-Trace (LNT) principles. Deer Hill’s small groups have a smaller impact as they travel through the wilderness, and all our participants are taught skills that will help them tread lightly on the earth. To learn more about LNT, see www.lnt.org. Over the years, through more than 100 conservation service projects, in partnership with the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service, we have instilled in hundreds of young people a passion for giving back to the wilderness as they enjoy its gifts.

We have begun to power our sleeping cabins with solar panels, and our two main buildings are designed to be passive solar, requiring no electricity for heating and cooling. The Meeting Place, our newest facility, is a straw bale building finished with natural materials.

The food we eat is one of the key factors in determining our environmental impact. We are making the transition to locally produced (organic where possible) meat, dairy and produce. We also maintain an organic garden at Basecamp to supply fresh, delicious salad and vegetables. Participants may choose to help out in the garden while spending time at Basecamp, a great way to connect with the soil and learn where your food comes from.

Finally, we operate as close as possible to a zero waste facility. Organic waste is composted for use in our garden, and we recycle our metal, plastic, paper and corrugated cardboard. Non-recyclable cardboard is retained for burning in our woodstove in the winter. We even reuse printer paper that has only been used on one side, and gather manure from Wiley and Jake, our resident horses, to fertilize our grass fields.

We try to employ administration staff from the immediate area, and encourage them to commute by bike or on foot. We estimate that less than 50% of commutes to Deer Hill are made in a vehicle. Our administration staff participates in our recycling and composting program, reducing waste from their homes.

Finally, we host this website with a carbon neutral ISP to minimize the impact of our internet presence. In fact, Green Geeks purchases carbon credits equivalent to 3 times their energy usage.

These efforts are our small way of taking care of our Earth.