Natural History Institute Partnership
Mogollon Highlands Naturalist Certification Program
Why this program?
The Mogollon Highlands Naturalist Certification Program is a collaboration between The Natural History Institute and Prescott College. This program cultivates deep connections to nature, place, and community through the practice of natural history. Participants will explore the Mogollon Highlands while building mentorship networks, engaging in creative expression, and developing stewardship, all rooted in firsthand experiences of the land.
This program emphasizes field-based study of the Mogollon Highlands Ecoregion through formal class sessions, weekly field trips, and a mentored approach to the sustained practice of natural history. We will explore ecosystems such as conifer forest, evergreen woodland, chaparral, grassland, and riparian communities.
Weekly topics include:
- Natural community concepts
- Evolution, place-based ecology
- Botany (trees, shrubs, forbs, and grasses)
- Zoology (birds, mammals, reptiles, and insects)
- Human history and archaeology
- Creative expression through the arts
Natural history practices include observation, description, and interpretation through the practices of structured naturalist field journaling (including writing and illustration), creating species accounts based on life histories of organisms, compiling of systematic species lists, and related interpretive arts pursuits. Participants will engage in regular weekend field trips and ongoing mentored practice throughout the field season.
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What will this program look like?
This program consists of two successive seasons, spring and fall. Each season spans three months and includes 60 contact hours and 60 hours of independent practice. Each of the two seasons begins and ends with an in-person naturalist retreat to frame the season’s learning.
After the opening retreat, participants attend extended weekend events, which include a Thursday evening lecture followed by two days of related field trips. Participants should expect to spend an average of 7-8 hours per week on related assignments and activities including readings, field journals, species accounts, and species lists. In addition to opening and closing retreats and weekends, we will meet weekly on Wednesday evenings for a practice circle focused on written work, readings, and ongoing mentorship. See the detailed schedule in the tab section below.s.
Key Program Information
Delivery Method
In-person
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Participants will develop:
- A deep connection to nature, place, and community through the practice of natural history
- A sense of place in the Mogollon Highlands region of the American Southwest
- Participants develop fluency with identification and understanding of life histories of the flora and fauna of the region
- Field observation and identification techniques
- Description and interpretation techniques through the regular practice of structured natural history field journaling
- Further interpretation techniques through illustration and related expressive arts
- Documentation skills including the creation of species accounts and systematic species lists
Participants will be able to:
- Identify five distinct natural community types within the Mogollon Highlands, including conifer forest, evergreen woodland, chaparral, grassland, and riparian
- Identify dominant woody vegetation in the above community types
- Identify dominant bird species of the region
- Identify the major rock types of the region and their characteristic landforms
- Demonstrate the ability to conduct secondary research and create a series of structured, high quality species account sheets complete with illustrations, descriptions, habitats, ranges, and life histories
- Demonstrate the ability to conduct primary field research through the application of identification, description, and interpretation techniques and document this process through a series of mentored Grinnell-style field journal entries
- Demonstrate a growing capacity for emotional and aesthetic connection to place through mentored practice of expressive arts
120 contact hours total
60 hours of direct instruction
60 hours of practice and reflective process
(equivalent to 4 lower division academic credits)
SPRING SEMINAR: Mid-March through May 2026
Each seminar blends retreats, field experiences, and community practice. Participants may join individual weekends or complete a full season’s seminar.
The season begins and ends with a full day retreat for full season seminar participants. Wednesday evenings weekly are practice circle and class sessions for full season seminar participants. Throughout the season, every other week there is a thematic Thursday evening speaker series presentation, followed by weekend field trips. Full season seminar participants select four out of five weekends to participate.
The Mogollon Highlands Naturalist Certification includes opening and closing retreats, eight Wednesday evening practice circles/class sessions, and four of five special topics weekends.
March 14: Opening retreat (full season seminar participants)
9am-5pm Natural History Institute and Field
Introduction to natural history and practice
Introduction to the Mogollon Highlands
Field trip
David Gilligan, Jennie Tutone, Tom Fleischner
March 18: Wednesday evening practice circle/class session 5-6:30pm NHI
David Gilligan
March 19: Thursday evening speaker series 7-8:30pm Natural History Institute
Interpreting the Geology of the Mogollon Highlands
TBA
March 21-22: Weekend feature field trips 9am-5pm locations TBA
Geology topics
TBA
March 25: Wednesday evening practice circle/class session 5-6:30pm NHI
David Gilligan
April 1: Wednesday evening practice circle/class session 5-6:30pm NHI
David Gilligan
April 2: Thursday evening speaker series 7-8:30pm Natural History Institute
The Place at the Center of the World: Biogeography of the Mogollon Highlands
David Gilligan
April 4-5 Weekend feature field trips 9am-5pm locations TBA
Mogollon Highlands Natural Communities
David Gilligan
April 8: Wednesday evening practice circle/class session 5-6:30pm NHI
David Gilligan
April 15: Wednesday evening practice circle/class session 5-6:30pm NHI
David Gilligan
April 16: Thursday evening speaker series 7-8:30pm Natural History Institute
Art, Expression, and Interpretation
TBA
April 18-19: Weekend feature field trips 9am-5pm locations TBA
Art, Expression, and Interpretation
TBA
April 29: Wednesday evening practice circle/class session 5-6:30pm NHI
David Gilligan
April 30: Thursday evening speaker series 7-8:30pm Natural History Institute
Birds of Arizona
TBA
May 2-3: Weekend feature field trips 9am-5pm locations TBA
Birds of Arizona
TBA
May 6: Wednesday evening practice circle/class session 5-6:30pm NHI
David Gilligan
May 14: Thursday evening speaker series 7-8:30pm Natural History Institute
The Practice of Natural History
Tom Fleischner
May 16-17: Weekend feature field trips 9am-5pm locations TBA
Topics TBA
TBA
May 20: Wednesday evening practice circle/class session 5-6:30pm NHI
David Gilligan
May 30: Closing retreat (full season seminar participants)
9am-5pm Natural History Institute and Field
David Gilligan, Jennie Tutone, Tom Fleischner
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