Firestarters Afterschool
Where it all began…
Our afterschool Firestarters Sessions are now enrolling.
These are 90-minutes of fun for kids 8-12, with games, primitive skills, awareness games (like hide and seek only cooler) and more.
Now enrolling for Fall 2026. Dates + info below…
Firestarters Fall 2026
October 24-November 5 (6 Sessions)
No session during Fall Break (Delta County School District)
$250-$350 (Sliding scale)
3:45pm-5:30pm @ Paonia River Park
What to bring: Comfortable shoes, snack, filled water bottle, weather appropriate gear (layers, sunhat, etc.)
Guide Bios
Gabe Crawford
Paonia, CO
Gabe Crawford was raised on a small homestead outside of Durango, Colorado and started learning about plants from an early age. He got launched on his plant journey by studying with Katrina Blair at the Turtle Lake Refuge in Durango. He moved to Sandpoint, Idaho where he worked with Twin Eagles Wilderness School and Kaniksu Land Trust mentoring kids. Through this, he started naturalist training which opened him up to the world of wild tending, Traditional Ecological Knowledge and the ancient and intricate relationships between humans and ecology. Gabe spent time with Finisia Medrano learning about the ancient wild gardens of the west that were and still are tended by indigenous peoples and was taught how to tend these first foods and plant back for future abundance. He collects the seeds of native foods plants, fruit trees, berries and other exotics to plant feral orchards and wild gardens.
Jon Paasch
Paonia, CO
Jon is someone who lives in relationship with people, land, and service. He has been an educator for more than 10 years, teaching youth in the public school system as well as Montessori and Forest schools. For the past five years, he has called Colorado’s Western Slope home, where he has tended both land and community in Paonia and Durango, especially through Turtle Lake Refuge, a farm and café devoted to teaching wild plants and nourishing ways of living. In Paonia and Durango he has spent time mentoring and volunteering with youth through Firestarters, the Nature Connection, Big Brother Big Sister, and various summer camps.