Kinsey, Flagstaff School’s Watershed Discovery Day on Black Mesa
HARDROCK, AZ – On April 23, 2026, Navajo and Hopi students from Kinsey Elementary and Flagstaff High School joined the Tó Nizhóní Ání (TNA) Food Sovereignty crew members for a Black Mesa Watershed Discovery Day.
Elementary students from the Kinsey Inquiry and Discovery School (Kinsey) chose Black Mesa as their Discovery Day, a day where 4-5 grade students come out of the classroom to engage in projects within their interests actively in the world. Flagstaff High School (FHS) students from the Native American Club joined the Elementary students.
“[The students came] to learn about the Watershed Restoration project from TNA,” said Darrell Marks, FHS Native American Academic Advisor & Native American Club Advisor. “Hopefully, they see it as a solution for the communities that they come from.”
The day began with the TNA Food Sovereignty crew preparing the worksite for the students to create wool logs and seed pellets. TNA watershed project lead Andrew Atencia greeted the students to prepare them for the day. Atencia first gave a safety demonstration, followed by a brief overview of the activities of the day, before introducing the TNA team.
Kinsey 4th Grade Science & Social Studies teacher, Ms. Michele John, was one of the chaperones for this trip to Black Mesa. “Black Mesa helped students see what watersheds are and how powerful water is as a force that shapes the earth,” said Ms. John. “This excursion was exactly what we aim to do at Kinsey.”
The Kinsey students worked alongside the TNA Food Sovereignty crew members by sifting clay from soil and shaping wet clay with seeds from native plants to craft seed pellets.
FHS students were assigned the task of creating wool logs. The only supervision required was to stitch the burlap sacks together. The FHS students had successfully created 12 watershed wool logs by lunchtime, including one of the largest wool logs to ever be created with TNA.
After lunch, the students, staff, and TNA team traveled to the Tsiyi’ Tó Watershed project site for the other half of the day. Before getting their hands dirty once again, the students were oriented on worksite safety by project lead Andrew. Students were guided in implementing the wool structures and seed pellets they had crafted earlier in the day. Kinsey students were paired with FHS students and supervised by TNA crew members as they installed their wool logs sprinkled with seed pallets.
As the day slowly ended, the last structure build was a rock rundown bowl to accompany the largest wool log that was built. The bowl was created in a road runoff ditch where a large volume of water will inevitably flow down. The wool dam was supported with flat rock splashpads, staircased rocks and rocks at the top of the bowl that are level with the road.
“We’re going to make the water flow easily to make the water go smoothly,” said Stormy Louise Redhorse, 4th grade Diné student from Kinsey. “For the plants to grow nice and strong.”
Outdoor classroom learning is one of the best ways to learn, especially when it’s in your own backyard. “This newfound strength would have never been found just in a classroom; it came from the experience of working with the land,” said Ms. John. “Place-based learning helps students connect what they learn in the classroom to what the real world offers.”
At the conclusion of the event, students were invited to share their favorite part of the day. “My second favorite was learning how to build a dam out of rocks,” said Valencia Timms, a Hopi student from Flagstaff High School. “And I learned that it’s important to create a splash pad in front of the dam because it helps with the water and not create a big huge clog.”
Tó Nizhóní Ání would like to thank the students and staff of Kinsey Inquiry and Discovery School and Flagstaff High School for choosing the Black Mesa watershed as their Discovery Day. One of the Tó Nizhóní Ání watershed restoration campaign goals is to educate the community about what the post-coal economy could look like for the greater Navajo Nation. Tó Nizhóní Ání is hopeful that sharing this seed of ecological restoration will be taken back to the students’ home communities to be planted.
Educators, institutions, or parents interested in Discovery Days like this, please contact the TNA watershed restoration project lead, Andrew Atencia, at andrew@tonizhoniani.org or email info@tonizhoniani.org.
