Confluence Institute

Focus on Watershed | Focus on Urban | Focus on Agriculture

The 2025 Confluence Institute – Focus on Watersheds

Explore the Wonders of Watersheds!

Imagine your students becoming water detectives, uncovering the secretsof how our precious H2O travels from mountaintops to kitchen taps. Ourinnovative program helps you:

Cultivate awareness about agricultural and urban water use
Engage students with hands-on activities that demonstrate how all living things rely on water
Spark discussions on water conservation and sustainable farmingpractices
Unveil the hidden world of watershed structures. Use interactive models to show how rivers, streams, and underground aquifers connect
Visualize the good, the bad, and the wet!
Identify potential hazards and brainstorm solutions to protect our waterresources.
Empower students to become stewards of their local water systems.

You can expect:

Local natural resource experts who will “tell you like it is” as we explore ourwatershed.
Place-based and hands-on activities to take back to your classroom.
Tour Northern Water’s new Chimney Hollow Dam project and the Physical Science Laboratory at NOAA (National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration) in Boulder
Camaraderie with like-minded educators.
Practice proven activities to take back to your classroom.

In-person Dates and Times: June 24 & 25, 8:00 am to 3:30 pm. June 26, 8:00 am to noon.
Location: Poudre Learning Center, 8313 W. F Street, Greeley, CO 80631
Audience: K-12 Teachers and Non-traditional Educators
Cost: “FREE” Sponsored by CCWCD, NRCS USDA, WGCD & City of Greeley
Total hours: 22.5 hours of CDE professional development or 1.5-graduate-level relicensure credit at no cost to participant
Maximum # of Participants: 25
Registration link: 2025 Confluence Institute – Focus on Watersheds

More information: Contact Tammy at 970-330-4540 or TRusch@ccwcd.org

Participants have the option to take the workshop for 1.5 continuing education credits. The workshop is free to area K-12 teachers as well as non-formal educators. Lunch is always provided!

Choose the date and location that works best for you!

North Confluence Institute – Focus on Watersheds

Date: June 16-23rd, 2025online learning | June 24-26, 2025 in-person | June 27-July 11, 2025 post work online
Audience: K-12 Teachers and non-traditional Educators
Location: Poudre Learning Center (PLC), 8313 W. F Street, Greeley, CO
Time: 8:30-3:30 Tuesdays and Wednesdays and 8:30 to noon on Thursday will be the in-person sessions.
Total hours: 22.5 hours (15 hours in-person, 7.5 hours online)
Maximum # of Participants: 25
Host Organizations: Central Colorado Water Conservancy District; West Greeley Conservation District, USDA – Natural Resources Conservation Service; City of Greeley Storm Water.

South Confluence Institute – Focus on Watersheds

Date: June 30-July 7th, 2025 online learning | July 8-10, 2025 in-person | July 11-July 18, 2025 post work online
Audience: K-12 Teachers and non-traditional Educators
Total hours: 22.5 hours (15 hours in-person, 7.5 hours online)
Location: Metro Water Recovery Visitor Center, 51 Baseline Road, Brighton, CO
Time: 8:30-3:30 Tuesdays and Wednesdays and 8:30 to noon on Thursday will be the in-person sessions.
Maximum # of Participants: 25
Host Organizations: Central Colorado Water Conservancy District; USDA – Natural Resources Conservation Service; Metro Water Recovery

History of the Confluence Institute

The Confluence Institute began in July of 2010; this hybrid – four-day workshop is sponsored by Central Colorado Water Conservancy District (CCWCD), the City of Greeley (COG), the Poudre Learning Center (PLC), West Greeley Conservation District (WGCD) and the Natural Resources Conservation Services USDA (NRCS USDA). The workshop is FREE to teacher and is offered each summer. The workshop rotates on a three-year focus that includes, Focus on Watershed, Focus on Urban, and Focus on Agriculture.

Teachers can earn 22.5 -CDE credits or 1.5-college credits for completion of each workshop at no extra cost to them.

Testing Soil at the 2023 Confluence Institute.

Confluence Institute Teachers from 2023.

2023 Confluence Institute at the Poudre Learning Center.

Focus on Watershed

We all live in a watershed, and watershed condition is important to everyone. Healthy watersheds are critical to our daily lives. A healthy watershed provides us clean drinking water, water for agriculture, wildlife, and outdoor recreation. Our economies, environment, and quality of life are all supported by the watershed we live in.

This 30-hour workshop will help you define and describe the water cycle, the watershed ecosystem of the South Platte and Cache la Poudre Rivers, provide an understanding of the threats our watershed faces, and describe ways everyone can take to protect and promote a healthy watershed.

Focus on Urban

Building awareness of urban watersheds that deliver fresh water and remove storm and wastewater, depictions of the different aspects of watershed structure, and visualizations of the beneficial and hazardous flows in watersheds. The relationship between urban and agriculture within our watershed will be discussed. The Institute is designed to help build your understanding of basic watershed concepts; especially related to the Cache la Poudre & South Platte Watersheds and water issues in north central and north-eastern Colorado. Project Wet Guide 2.0 lessons and activities will be explored.

Two hours of college credit or a CDE certificate of hours will be awarded upon completion of course at no additional cost to participants. The curriculum is focused on Project WET USA water lessons. Participating teachers will receive the latest Project WET Guide packed full of lesson plans that correlate to national science standards. They will learn how to use the guide and teach activities. Each year we offer different speakers and tours

2023 Confluence Institute photo of teachers testing water quality.

2023 Confluence Institute photo of teachers looking at soil samples.

Focus on Agriculture

Improving agricultural literacy, awareness, knowledge, and appreciation among pre-K through 12th-grade teachers and non-traditional educators will be the focus of this 30-hour professional Development. We will explore the strains placed on water and crop land in the South Platte River Basin. Participants will gain firsthand knowledge (an understanding) of how farmers, ranchers and others in the agriculture industry do their part in sustaining our water resources. Project WET curriculum will be used to explore concepts of water while gaining experience with hands-on activities to take back to your classroom.

You can play a valuable role in helping American students understand where their food comes from and fostering a deeper connection to the sources that nourish them.

Central Colorado Water Conservancy District, the City of Greeley Storm Water Division, the Poudre Learning Center West Greeley Conservation District, and NRCS partner to provide this learning experience for area teacher and non-traditional educators.