Sign scrawled and prominently posted in San Francisco’s venerable North Beach bookstore, City Lights – ‘Stash your sell phone and BE HERE NOW.” – Lawrence Ferlinghetti, sometime in the 1990’s -

Flash forward, Moab, Utah. It’s the dawn of the year 2025. I’m at the Canyonlands Field Institute offices with Michele Jordan Johnson, executive director, and CFI’s grant writer, Shelby Rockelein.

The times have changed, but the theme, in 2025 more compelling than ever, lives on in the hearts and minds of the dedicated crew at CFI.

At age 40, CFI is Moab’s longest-living nonprofit, and arguably a flagship of sorts. Founded in 1984 by Robin Wilson and Karla Vander Zanden, it’s been through many changes but has never abandoned the stated mission: to inspire connections to nature through river running, hiking, educational retreats and seminars for denizens of the Moab Valley and visitors alike.

As the CFI website puts it, “…we encourage people of all ages to experience wild nature directly. We reject increasing technological connection in favor of emotional connection and stride toward our roots as humans, pursuing the core of who we are.”

In other words, disconnect in order to connect --
For the past year Michele Jordan Johnson and her core staff have been working long and hard to perpetuate and deepen that vision. New models are literally being pursued in order to open up the programs to more diversity and equality, endeavoring to make CFI programs available to those who could not otherwise afford them.

Michele took over the CFI leadership a year or so ago and embraced her new position with a multitude of ambitious intentions, shifts in programming, a proposed renovation of the “Field Camp”, all within the atmospheric dissonance of an increasingly technological, not to mention still traumatized post-pandemic world. In dire need, may we conjecture, of the exact forms of connection that CFI is pledged to provide –
“I was so worried,” Johnson says. “There were so many pieces to the puzzle. I would ask ‘what’s urgent.’ But everything is urgent!”

It’s a new century and an ever-changing world. Jordan Johnson points out that we have had wars, a digital revolution (as opposed to the industrial revolution at the turn of yet another century) and, of course the aftermath of a pandemic. Michele and Shelby note that students who have known nothing other than digital connections are experiencing a kind of “existential dread.” Says Shelby, “They need a sense of belonging, where they can just be and learn to connect to both themselves and one another.”

As grant writer, Shelby’s task is to tell the story so potential donors will see that the challenges CFI is trying to address are worthy of their funding: “CFI requires the kids to leave their phones but it’s built into our cultural lexicon,” Shelby tells me, adding that 66 percent of kids asked for feedback said they enjoyed the experience. Some of the refrains -- “It was nice to connect with people. It was nice to not be stressed out about it” -- speak poignantly to the huge impact an educational journey into nature with experienced CFI guidance and stewardship can have.

This is an evolving story about a nonprofit experiencing a watershed moment. Hopefully there will be more stories as the plans unfold and hopefully Nonprofit Happenings will continue to follow them. For the moment, CFI is looking toward a renovation of their Field Camp, a 35 -acre site In Professor Valley. Twenty miles down the “River Road” from downtown Moab, the camp is a wide expanse surrounded by mountains, mesas, sandstone towers and blue sky, there is a classroom yurt, tipis for sleeping, and yes, a river runs through it.

The renovation means CFI will not run Field Camp-based programs this summer – to fill the gap, they are emphasizing their other programs, with a special focus on river-based programming. CFI is seeking funding to hire more staff and buy extra gear “to help outfit our participants and achieve our mission of creating inclusive pathways to the outdoors.”

To help purchase the flotation devices, whitewater helmets, tents, rafts, canoes and other items on the “gear wish-list” and to support CFI in this transitional year, be sure to take a look at their website: cfimoab.org.
And be sure to mention you read about it in Moab Happenings.