This spring, Mother Lode is excited to announce its collaboration with the
Young Environmental Writers and Storytellers (YEWS) of El Dorado – a youth
development program being created by Emily Underwood and Shawn Dunkley in
partnership with the non-profit organization Family Connections El Dorado.

The mission of YEWS – “to create a dynamic environmental education program
for El Dorado County high school students, enrich the quality and
availability of rural environmental news, and celebrate El Dorado’s unique
natural heritage through good storytelling” – is right up Ma Lode’s alley,
so we have agreed to host the program’s workshops at our camp and give
students access to some of our fun outdoor activities, like whitewater
rafting, ropes courses, and hiking.

We can’t wait to see what these young poets, fiction writers, journalists,
and filmmakers dream up at our camp. They’ll learn about environmental
issues in the county from local experts and come up with creative projects
that inform and inspire people to address these issues, with the help and
mentorship of professional writers, editors, documentary filmmakers, poets,
etc. They’ll get to bond over s’mores with students from all over the
county, and learn what’s special about their own backyard – the forests,
rivers, foothills, and mountains of El Dorado county. After the program,
they’ll continue to produce local environmental news, creative writing, and
other forms of storytelling like film, and publish them through the YEWS and
Mother Lode website, as well as other venues.

YEWS is now recruiting students, mentors and professional environmental
storytellers for the program. The first workshop is going to focus on
documentary filmmaking. If you or someone you know would be interested in
getting involved, please contact shawndunkley@yahoo.com or
emily.l.underwood@gmail.com.