The Outdoor Stewardship Institute (OSI) is a stewardship training and support program operated by Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado.  OSI offers the following services to the larger stewardship community in Colorado and beyond: 

Training - OSI provides high quality outdoor stewardship training to volunteers, land management agencies, and other stewardship organizations in Colorado and around the country.  Volunteers and staff from any agency can take advantage of OSI’s low-cost training courses to learn new skills and prepare for leadership roles.  OSI works with experts in the field to develop and teach in-depth curriculum covering topics such as:

• Conservation leadership/crew leading
• Trail building, maintenance, and restoration skills
• Ecological restoration
• Volunteer project management
• Working with youth

OSI courses are open to anyone.  We can also customize training for specific agency needs. View the OSI 2010 training calendar. 


Volunteer management - OSI offers a volunteer management website, www.VolunteerOutdoors.net, which organizations can utilize for volunteer recruitment, registration, and communications. 


Technical assistance – OSI offers assistance to organizations and agencies looking to build their volunteer management capacity.

For more information about OSI programs, contact Sue Anderson at 303-715-1010 x119 or This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

OSI History
The Outdoor Stewardship Institute (OSI) was formed through a merger between Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado (VOC) and the Colorado Outdoor Training Initiative (COTI) in 2007.   OSI is advised by partners in the stewardship community who share a commitment to building volunteer stewardship capacity.