Field identification of native plants, including trees, shrubs, and cacti, is stressed. Students learn how plants adapted to survive in the desert climate. Also, students learn how humans, living in the desert, depend on these plants. Cowboy artists, local musicians, or storytellers perform in song and prose that sets an atmosphere of friendship and sharing 'round the campfire. This program is excellent either as a first night get-acquainted or as a final closing ceremony.
Students learn about the relationships that insects have with their habitats.
Proper field collection procedures are taught as well as field observation methods. The grounds house officers' quarters, enlisted men's quarters, and a hospital, of adobe or stone construction. It was very common for an officer to bring his wife and children to live in the isolated region while he served at the fort. Programs can focus on Buffalo Soldiers, frontier medicine, Native American life, architecture, and family life at the fort. Davis Mountains offer a spectacle of topographical landmarks to complement the program.