So, with help from friends and environmentally minded acquaintances, she developed the Sierra Nevada Deep Ecology Institute. Kaiser is executive director of the nonprofit institute, which offers classes that blend deep ecology theory, wilderness experience and hands-on restoration work. The class will be based at the 1,200-acre Cottonwood Ranch. The ranch grazes cattle on 12,000 acres of federal land and keeps them moving, which actually helps restore grass, Kaiser said. The institute will hold similar classes in Nevada County, Kaiser said.
College students can get independent study credit for attending the institute's classes.
The institute is launching a Sunday speaker' program this Sunday with a talk by Dr. Sherman Swanson, an associate professor in the Department of Environmental and Resource Sciences at University of Nevada at Reno. Kaiser's clients spend one to three days alone in the wilderness, looking inward for solution to problems. The institute's advisory board includes one of Kaiser's old professors, Robert Greenway, wilderness psychology professor emeritus, Sonoma State University. Another adviser is George Sessions, a leading deep ecology philospher. Students haven't yet signed up for any courses , but Kaiser expects to recruit them from schools including Sierra College, University of California at Davis and University of Nevada at Reno.