Over the past decade, seven service trips have been focused on the environment with four happening in the last year alone.  The rips are listed below by year with a brief description of what the trips entailed.  For more information on Service Trips at Wartburg College, please click here.

2009

Title: Mendocino Land Trust
Location: Mendocino, CA
Student Leaders: Eric Golder (’09), Stephanie Evans (’10)
Advisor: Kip Ladage
Service Description: An environmental service trip, the core of our work will be done in the redwoods of Northern California. Main jobs will include but are not limited to: invasive plant removal, surveying plants and trees, and erosion control. We will spend many hours outdoors with mild to heavy physical activity in damp and cool conditions. Environmentally minded students from all areas of academic study are encouraged to apply. Our goal is to help retain and improve the health of the forest and impact our lives with a heightened sense of duty to Mother Nature.

Title: Plateau Restoration
Location: Moab, UT
Student Leaders: Cara Rada (’10), Anna Fagre (’10), Jane Ohde (’10)
Advisor: Dr. Dennis Drolet
Service Description: On this environmentally-focused trip, we will be helping to protect and restore the native habitats of the Colorado Plateau in Moab, Utah.  Work may include but is not limited to trail delineation and elimination of social trails, fence-building to protect re-vegetation sites, erosion control, planting native vegetation in impacted sites and exotic species removal.  On our day off, we will be rafting down the Colorado River. Come share with us in this magical Utahpion experience!

Title: Outer Banks
Location: North Carolina
Student Leaders: Mike Mertz (’09), Kyle Huegel (’09)
Advisor: Alek Wipperman
Service Description: This environmental trip to the Outer Banks of North Carolina will feature marsh restoration work as well as construction of a handicap-accessible hiking trail.

Title: Cumberland Trail
Location: Soddy Daisy, TN
Student Leaders: Erika Nelson (’10), Shelby Colwell (’09)
Advisor: Dr. Samantha Larimer
Service Description: This is a service trip to a section of the Appalachian mountain range, in Crossville, Tennessee. We will be camping in a remote location to best provide a complete outdoor experience. The physical work could include trail maintenance, trail construction, bridge work, and conservation. This trip is for anyone willing to get their hands dirty in order to better the environment.

2007

Title: Big River Stewards
Location: Mendoncino, CA
Student Leaders: Katie Friedline (’09), Rachel Shellabarger (’07), Sarah Vox (’07)
Advisor: Dr. John Melville
Service Description: This environmental service trip is to aid a local environmental organization located near old-growth Redwood forests and a contaminated watershed. We will be collecting data on water quality, endangered species, and plant life, which will contribute to conservation efforts. Other activities may include trail maintenance and visiting local sites of interest. Participants will be camping in tents in the Russian Gulch State Park for the duration of the trip.

2005

Title: Latreia
Location: Lewis, DE
Student Leaders: Amber Regan, Damen Heitmann
Advisor: Melissa James
Service Description: Worked with Latreia, an organization that sets up service trips, to organize the trip. They then spent time doing environmental service work and one day of urban service work in Georgetown.

1999

Title: Gila National Forest
Location: Truth or Consequences, NM
Student Leaders: Brendan Saunders, Chris Thomas
Advisor: Dr. Dennis Drolet
Service Description: This trip worked with the rangers of the Gila National Forest to do trail maintenance, building and park clean up.