Ecological studies that examine how organisms interact with their environment provide a particularly useful backdrop for high school students to both quantitatively and qualitatively explore the natural world. In Hot Springs, South Dakota, the authors of this article developed a module that integrated modern ecological theory within an American Indian cultural framework. In this weeklong field ecology course, Lakota Sioux high school students explored woodpecker habitat selection and fire ecology. This module is presented in this article, and can be modified to correlate with regular semester coursework as well as different cultures.