More than 800 schools added outdoor education to their curriculum this year, bringing outdoor skills straight to new students. And nearly 2,000 schools are still waiting to join them.
Outdoors Tomorrow Foundation announced that its Outdoor Adventures program added 804 schools and more than 60 school districts in 2026, the largest expansion in the program’s history. Participation has grown from roughly 210,000 students at the beginning of the year to approximately 270,000 students across all 50 states and Canada.
The curriculum includes 40 units and 360 lessons covering fishing, archery, hunter education, orienteering, wildlife identification, camping, Leave No Trace principles, and other outdoor skills. Most of that instruction happens during the regular school day through physical education classes.
The size of OTF’s waitlist suggests schools want considerably more of it.
A $600,000 Grant Added Roughly 800 Schools
A $600,000 grant from Safari Club International Foundation and SCIF Sables funded much of this year’s expansion. It was the largest single donation OTF has received and allowed the organization to bring Outdoor Adventures into roughly 800 schools that had already expressed interest in the program but couldn’t afford to implement it.
Those additions included schools in New York City, Charlotte, and Jacksonville, and communities across Texas and California.
In 2025, OTF had 2,358 schools registered for Outdoor Adventures but not yet enrolled in the program. This year’s expansion dropped that number to 1,221.
It didn’t stay there long. OTF says another 600 to 700 schools have since requested the program, bringing the waitlist back to roughly 2,000 schools.
Outdoor Skills Are Part of the School Day
One of the more interesting pieces of Outdoor Adventures is where it fits into a student’s schedule. This isn’t primarily an after-school club or optional outdoor program. Schools can incorporate the curriculum directly into physical education and other classes.
“The beauty of this program is that it isn’t an extracurricular activity; it is actually scheduled into the school day,” OTF Executive Director Keith Tidball said in a press release.
For students who don’t have someone at home teaching them to fish, shoot a bow, read a map, or identify wildlife, this can offer an introduction they otherwise might not get.
The curriculum also teaches the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation and includes state-recognized hunter education. In Texas alone, OTF says 19,000 students earned hunter education certifications through Outdoor Adventures in 2025. OTF says more than 1.25 million students have participated in Outdoor Adventures since the program began.
OTF Wants to Reach Entire School Districts
OTF expects Outdoor Adventures to be offered in more than 2,800 schools by the end of 2026. Its next expansion effort will focus increasingly on school districts rather than individual schools.
“Our goal is to shift from adding more schools to adding more school districts,” Tidball said.
OTF says its long-term goal is to establish active programs in at least 6,000 additional school districts nationwide. The organization plans to launch its Rock the Schoolhouse campaign at the SCI Convention in Nashville in January 2027. The campaign will allow donors to fund Outdoor Adventures across an entire school district. OTF also plans to launch a monthly giving program to support continued expansion.
Adding 804 schools in a year took a $600,000 grant. Even after that expansion, OTF still has roughly 2,000 schools waiting. There doesn’t seem to be a shortage of schools asking for outdoor education. The question is how many OTF can afford to serve.
