August is here and so is the second session of Cascades Climate Challenge!
As summer temperatures begin in earnest, the intrepid second session students have arrived and are getting set to head out into the field. After meeting at Seatac airport, we spent our first few days getting to know each other and our surroundings.
Oh, to be young and wild and free. That common saying, which most of us recognize, is wholly applicable to the wilderness of the North Cascades and of the youth adventures carried out by the first two trips of this summer’s North Cascades Wild program.
After spending 12 days exploring North Cascades National Park (NOCA) by boat and boot, through canoeing and backpacking, 17 students and six instructors, each divided into two trips, had quite the journey to recount.
(Title) Canoeing is a core component of the youth program North Cascades Wild (Above) Trip 1 dressed to impress at Ross Lake Resort
Trip 2 goes wild for NC Wild at Ross Lake Resort
Guest post by Lilly Nash
The first session of the Cascades Climate Challenge (CCC) is in full swing right now, with over 20 students from communities throughout Washington and Oregon learning about climate change and many interconnected over an intensive month of field studies in the North Cascades. Here’s an update on some of what they’ve been studying….
The CCC students learned early on about bear behavior, first in an amazing exploration of forest ecology, fire, habitat, mutualism and even interstellar dust with Mike Brondi at the Environmental Learning Center, and then again from Anne Braaten, a wildlife biologist for North Cascades National Park. She drew gigantic bear prints in the dirt on a hike up Thunder Knob, as you can see here:
The next day, the students climbed like mountain goats up Sauk Mountain, reaching snowfields and stopping at a ridgeline. We were fortunate to be joined by Don Mann, an incredible naturalist who helped us identify many flowering plants, including some wild edibles like glacier lilies. From our birds-eye view, students discussed the confluence of the Skagit and the Sauk rivers and what they could tell about the rivers from their riparian zones:
That evening we did an exercise on the sandy shore of Baker Lake, where students emulated glaciers, shuffling their feet back and forth across sand to embody the movements of lateral moraines:
The next day, our group divided up, with one half focusing on an amphibian lesson at Baker River (flat terrain, humid, replete with caves, snakes, Pacific Giant Salamanders and a toad):
and the other on a glacier lesson at Mount Baker with National Park Service geologist John Riedel tracking glacial melting rate in the North Cascades (steeper terrain, powerful water crossing experience, snowfields, visible moraines)
The next day, the two groups swapped locations. Many people went beyond their own expectations for the more difficult hike and confidence was gained. Both days were palpably fun.
After our return from Baker Lake, the group did laundry, took showers, made telephone calls and packed for future adventures. We also prepared to teach Kulshan Creek Neighborhood Project kids next week by sharing games techniques and ideas. Next up: one group is setting out for canoeing at Ross Lake and the other group will be hiking Boston Basin.
It is beautiful where we are—to some extent, a reflection of these CCC students’ very fine hearts.
Top photo by Rick Allen; all other photos by Lilly Nash.
The North Cascades Institute Staff and Graduate students have spent weeks packing food, preparing curriculum, shuttling canoes, calling students, organizing camping gear and finalizing lessons in preparation for the first of two Cascades Climate Challenge Programs. On June 29th twenty students from around the Pacific Northwest met for the first time at Sea-Tac Airport to began their three week journey through the North Cascades.
The first few days have been full of nerves, laughs, smiles and lots of questions as the group prepared for their first camping experience with their new community. Already these students have learned how to set up camp, use different types of media to capture their experience, explored trails on their own, and met with North Cascades National Park scientists and rangers focusing their attention on the impacts of climate change on this alpine ecosystem.
» Continue reading Introducing the 2010 Cascades Climate Challenge Team!! (Part 1)
Summer is officially here, despite the gloomu weather’s persistence otherwise, and North Cascades Wild is near. With training and packing behind us, this summer’s crew leaders embarked upon our recon trip giving us a taste of what adventures the future holds.
We set out Monday with the help of the Cascade Climate Challenge folks and a few happy NCI employees. Loaded down, we paddled all the gear and food – enough to feed one person for two years – to the base of Ross Dam. After walking our canoes up the emerging replacement road we settled down for a snack while waiting for our friends at Ross Lake Resort to portage and taxi us up to Ross Lake. Once our food was stored and tucked away we headed off in the direction of Big Beaver campground. With help from the wind we made excellent time and arrived at camp for Gallo Pinto – a traditional Costa Rican meal – and our evening meeting before dusk.
How big is your social network? Use your e-powers for good and help Cascades Climate Challenge win a grant! Go to the Brighter Planet Project Fund and vote up to 3 times. If we get the most votes, we win $5000.
The money will be used to buy new tents (our current ones aren’t going to make it through the summer), school bus fees (many school districts don’t have field trips because they can’t afford to hire the buses) and supplies for the students (we supply everything the students need for the summer—socks, long underwear, boots, water bottles, raingear, warm fleece, hats—you name it.)
Voting closes June 15, so please spread the word to everyone you know!
As spring slowly transitions to summer in North Cascades National Park, reminders of the adventures that await North Cascades Wild (NC Wild) participants are everywhere in the landscape. But before embarking on the 12-day backcountry journeys, these students must be prepared.
Thanks to the third and final day trip of the 2010 spring season, eleven of the 54 high school youth that will be participating in this year’s NC Wild trips are now better prepared in both canoeing and service work.
On Saturday, May 22nd, participants from Skagit and Whatcom counties traveled to the North Cascades Institute’s Environmental Learning Center on Diablo Lake to spend a day with NC Wild instructors Amy Brown, Kelsi Franzen, Mike Parelskin and Corey White, and North Cascades National Park Volunteer Coordinator, Mike Brondi.
» Continue reading NC Wild pulls weeds & plants seeds of excitement
From sea to shining sea . . . Well, okay, not that far, but North Cascades Institute has been traveling far and wide recruiting students to join us for service learning, field science, leadership and fun in this year’s two Summer Youth Programs for teenagers!
Representatives from North Cascades Wild and Cascades Climate Challenge have been tirelessly traveling across the Pacific Northwest meeting with students, teachers and club leaders, encouraging youth to challenge themselves and the norms of high school life by applying for these transformative programs.
With the season of fresh beginnings overtaking the physical landscape of the Skagit Valley and North Cascades, the mindsets of those apart of this year’s North Cascades Wild program from North Cascades Institute, North Cascades National Park and the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest are brimming with excitement for a season of new life, new experiences.
North Cascades Wild‘s first of three spring day trips, held on several Saturdays throughout April and May for Skagit and Whatcom county-selected participants, commenced on April 17th at the North Cascades National Park Ranger Station off Highway 20 in Marblemount. Eleven students, representing towns within Whatcom and Skagit counties, joined North Cascades National Park’s Volunteer and Youth Programs Coordinator, Mike Brondi, native Nursery Manager, Cheryl Cunningham, and Institute instructors Amy Brown, Kelsi Franzen, Martine Mariott and Rebecca Ryan, for a day of connecting to their place and each other through learning and service.
(Title) The North Cascades Wild crew goes “wild” for wetland grasses at the nursery (Above) Karla, a NC Wild participant, examines plants in the greenhouse
As anyone in the Skagit Valley may recall, this past Saturday wasn’t as bright and dry as some of the days previous. However, as stories like these usually begin, the weather was unsuccessful in deterring a group of enthusiastic kids from the Kulshan Creek Neighborhood Project and some equally enthusiastic adults from the US Forest Service and North Cascades Institute from partaking in a day outside learning about and observing the birds of the Samish Flats.
Our adventure began on Saturday, February 27th in the morning at the Kulshan Creek Community Center in Mount Vernon. As the students trickled in, they were met with hot chocolate—provided by a generous parent—and snacks. Lee Whitford, outreach naturalist for the Forest Service, and Orlando Garcia, of the US Forest Service, and I helped get the students situated and the day rolling.
Before we headed out onto our field trip, Don Gay, a wildlife biologist with the US Forest Service, gave a great presentation about the life history and migrational patterns of the Trumpeter Swans that temporarily inhabit the coastal farmlands of the Skagit River Valley. “Ooohs and ahhhs” were murmured throughout the room when Don explained that if a Trumpeter Swan was turned on its side with its wings out, it would have a wingspan that could reach from the floor past the ceiling of the room we were sitting in.
