It's back-to-school time for outdoors enthusiasts. Outfitters and nonprofit groups offer programs to help everyone improve field skills and fitness while learning about our world. Here's a sample of what's available in coming weeks.

Paddling Providence

The Woonasquatucket River Watershed Council has scheduled a series of paddling trips in September and early October, beginning Sept. 4 at 5:30 p.m.

The first trip, in Providence, will start at the landing on South Water Street and go up the Woonasquatucket River to near Eagle Street before turning around and heading back down to South Water Street. The round-trip is a little over three miles of easy paddling.

"This trip will give you a new perspective on the city as we paddle past some of the mills that built this city as well as through Waterplace Park and past downtown Providence," according to the group's web site. "While this is definitely an urban river, we have seen red-tailed hawks, great blue herons, peregrine falcons and many other birds in this stretch of the river."

Naturalist Eugenia Marks, from the Audubon Society of Rhode Island, will talk about wildlife on the lower river and the challenges animals face there.

The council has boats to borrow for a small donation.

A full schedule of the group's events is available online at http://www.woonasquatucket.org/currentevents.htm.

Wild-plant paddle

Learn about native plants and get a little exercise with the Rhode Island Wild Plant Society (RIWPS).

Bring your canoe or kayak to venture a view of Bidens laevis -- tickseed -- in bloom Sept. 6 at 10 a.m. on Secret Lake in North Kingstown. Participants will feel like being in a meadow of sunflowers, except everyone will be floating. Sindy Hempstead is the leader. The fee is $5 for members, $7 nonmembers.

The wild plant society will offer a mushroom walk Sept. 16 from 2 to 4 p.m. in the Nettie Jones Preserve in West Greenwich. The preserve, with its variety of habitats -- from the mixed hardwood forest, streams and old fields -- offers a diversity of mushrooms to hunt. There will be no collecting on this foray. You are advised never to eat a wild mushroom unless you are positive of its species. Many mushrooms look alike, but some are deadly. Noel Rowe, an amateur mushroom enthusiast, is the leader. The fee is $5 for members, $7 nonmembers.

Register with the RIWPS office at 789-7497.

Kettle Pond programs

In Charlestown, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which runs the Kettle Pond Visitor Center, and the Audubon Society of Rhode Island, which owns the Kimball Wildlife Sanctuary, offer interpretive walks, lectures, films and other activities.

Just off the southbound side of Route 1, Kettle Pond Visitor Center opened in 2005, part of Rhode Island's network of National Wildlife Refuges. The visitor center building houses meeting rooms, natural-history displays, a gift shop, small theater and a children's area with coloring supplies and other activities. The building is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., daily.

Behind the building, a smooth, half-mile trail winds through the woods, ending at an overlook with a winter view of Ninigret Pond and East Beach. The Fish and Wildlife Service plans to build an observation tower there during the 2009-10 season so the beach will be visible year-round, even when foliage obscures the view from ground level.

On the other side of the property, three trails offer two quarter-mile hikes and a half-mile walk through parts of the wildlife sanctuary and Burlingame State Park

During the summer, the visitor center offers guided walks, paddling trips and "Wildlife Wednesday" programs with prominent naturalists.

"Stories In Stone," a new film about two families of Narragansett Indian stone masons, is scheduled to debut Sept. 26 at 7:30 p.m.

Friends of the National Wildlife Refuges of Rhode Island list events on their web site, http://friendsnwr-ri.org/events.htm

Outfitter's offerings

REI, the outfitting co-op with a store in Cranston, has a full schedule of brief workshops as well as full-scale outdoor schools in the Boston-Providence area.

One is designed for adults who never had the opportunity to learn how to ride a bike.

"If you feel shaky on two wheels, this is the class for you," writes Maura Camosse, director of the outdoor schools. "Our trained instructors will patiently teach you the basic skills of riding a bike, including how to balance, how to adjust the bike to your size, and how to shift and brake. We'll also teach you how to fall off your bike effectively."

Besides basic bike riding, there are schools on essential camping skills, hiking with children, rock climbing, outdoor photography and more.

The latest schedule for the Rhode Island store -- at 22 Chapel View Blvd., in Cranston -- is available online at http://www.rei.com/stores/110.

Wilderness women

Women's Wilderness Weekend of RI was one of several nonprofit groups to receive grants this month from REI, the outfitting co-op.

Women's Wilderness Weekend is a nonprofit organization offering programs where women join together to connect with themselves, each other and nature. The program is centered on 2,300 acres of woodland at URI's W. Alton Jones campus in West Greenwich. Its goals are to:

- Provide an opportunity for women's self-development through classes, recreation and fellowship.

- Offer a safe, noncompetitive, nurturing environment for women.

- Offer a variety of courses over the weekend that will educate, entertain and challenge the participants.

- Afford women the opportunity for self-motivation, empowerment and nourishment.

The next Women's Wilderness Weekend is scheduled for Oct. 18 and 19, and offers a variety of programs, from canoeing to crafts, as well as hiking, wine tasting and more.

A winter weekend is scheduled for Jan. 23 to 25.

More information is available online at http://www.womenswildernessri.com/index.htm.