This summer four Project Dragonfly graduates helped facilitate Dragonfly’s first Earth Expeditions (EE) Rocky Mountains: Fire, Resilience & Urban Wildlands course at Cal-Wood Education Center in Jamestown, Colorado. 

The course, which occurred June 28-July 3, 2026, highlighted how Project Dragonfly’s community can work together to achieve powerful experiences. 

Alicia Lamfers M.A.T. ‘11, a Global Field Program (GFP) graduate and Director of Education at Cal-Wood, proposed the Earth Expeditions at Cal-Wood course and served as the main facilitator. Lamfers has a deep understanding of Project Dragonfly, as she has served as a student, an AIP facilitator, and an instructor for Earth Expeditions, Web+, and core courses. She brought the values of inquiry, community, and voice into both her proposal and the course design. 

The course began at Rocky Mountain Arsenal, where Sarah Metzer M.A. ‘12, a GFP graduate and Visitor Services Manager at U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, guided a tour that highlighted habitat restoration, the value of prescribed burns, and the complexity of living in the wildland-urban interface. 

Mary McCormac M.A.T. ‘15, an Advanced Inquiry Program (AIP) graduate, serves as the Statewide Interpretation & Wildlife Viewing Coordinator at Colorado Parks and Wildlife. McCormac, who earned her Miami degree with experiential learning through Denver Zoo Conservation Alliance (DZCA), led an interactive activity on human-wildlife conflict in the wildlife-urban interface. 

Bevin Carithers M.A.T. ‘15, an AIP graduate who also did his experiential learning through DZCA, is a Resource Protection Division Manager at Boulder County Parks & Open Space. Hosting students at Heil Ranch, Carithers shared the impact of fires on parks and demonstrated the importance of building ecological and personal resiliency. 

Students not only learned the important content and perspectives that each of these alumni brought to the class, but also saw how the Dragonfly community puts its Master Plans into action to make positive change for its communities. 

Students in the course also visited the National Center for Atmospheric Research and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Boulder, participated in activities facilitated by the Cal-Wood staff, learned from local community members and organizations, and designed inquiry projects that examined how fire impacts the ecology. 

The Rocky Mountain Earth Expeditions learning community of participants included both current and former AIP and GFP students from across the country.

The Earth Expeditions course, Rocky Mountains: Fire, Resilience & Urban Wildlands, will be offered again in the summer of 2027.