Man vs. Wild: Surviving Colorado´s wilderness

When Ford Church first got a taste of the wilderness he was a middle school student in New Orleans dreaming of sleeping under the stars. After going on to high school, his school offered a program that enabled students to go canoeing and camping, fulfilling a love of nature that Church couldn´t escape. From that day forward, sparked a deep love within him of the outdoors as well as how to survive in the wild.

Now, at the age of 32, Church passes on his wisdom as well as the plethora of survival skill knowledge he has obtained throughout the years with the development of the Cottonwood Institute based in Denver. The non-profit Cottonwood Institute "hopes to inspire a new generation of young community leaders who are environmentally aware, civically engaged, and who are empowered to make a positive impact within their respective communities," according to the organization´s vision statement.

"My sole intention was to create a program for high schools," Church said. And this is exactly what he did, as the Cottonwood Institute offers several programs for high school-aged students including the Stone Age Survival Project and Endangered Wolves and Animal Tracking courses. Church has seen his company explode with a great need for both students and adults seeking his survival skills courses.

He recently teamed up with REI to "help individuals avoid becoming a statistic" by assisting in educating adults on the basics of survival skills. Church recommends abiding by the rule of threes, as in an individual can survive:

only three minutes without oxygen

three hours without shelter

three days without water

three weeks without food

If an individual is lost in the outdoors, Church said, they should determine what of the rule of threes they have and must obtain. "Survival priorities are ´what do you really need to focus on first,´" Church explains. "Put a lot of thought into survival priorities, shelter being a main priority, water location, how to make a fire."

For individuals who are in a position with plenty of oxygen, building a shelter for protection from the elements, especially the

cold, Colorado winter nights, is a must. Some of the most common shelter types that an individual can construct with little effort, in order to conserve body energy, includes a pine needle bed, which will provide insulation for an individual who is in an area and able to quickly gather plenty of pine needles before it temperatures dip. A pine needle bed may be prickly, but with a layer of insulation protecting the body from the ground and another layer on top of the body, heat can be conserved and lives saved.

Additional shelters include lean-to shelters and debris shelters. Lean-to shelters, according to Church, are "fire-dependent shelters to stay warm," while a debris shelter can take two individuals anywhere from 1 to 3 hours to build or one individual approximately 3 to 4 hours to create, but, if built properly, can adequately protect an individual from the harshest of elements.

In addition to knowing these skills, Church also recommends that every Coloradan carry a survival kit. While his mantra is "the more you know the less you need" in the wilderness, carrying a survival kit with the following basics can prevent anyone from becoming a backwoods statistic and instead turn them into a survivor. Some of the basic survival kit requirements include:

purification tablets

snow shovel (in the winter time, to be carried in the car)

signaling mirrors/signaling device/surveyor tape

lighter

striker

cotton balls (which dipped in vaseline can be adequate for starting a fire)

knife

Church and his crew have also created an Official Survival Kit that is available through their Web site and is based on field-tested equipment and will assist an individual in obtaining the basic proper survival gear specifics.

Although it takes more than an hour to obtain a lifetime of common survival skill sense, Church has developed a one- to two-day course for adults that can learn the basics of survival skills as well as practicing these skills in real-world situations. Additionally, individuals can get a glimpse of his adult survival skill courses by attending a free workshop at REI's flagship store in Denver on January 13, 20 or 30. Also, for similar articles, visit: http://www.examiner.com/x-714-Colorado-Travel-Examiner