Chattermarks

In cultures around the world, oral tradition plays an important role in teaching people about the world around them. Through storytelling, elders can warn listeners of potential dangers, teach the medicinal uses of native plants and the importance of ecological balance, explain cultural norms and portend consequences of breaking mores.

This tradition exists at North Cascades Institute as well, in the form of natural history presentations from one graduate student cohort to another. Cohort 10 has been living and learning in the North Cascades for over a year now, and its members have become knowledgeable naturalists and skilled educators. Cohort 11 students began classes in Bellingham in June, and will begin their yearlong residency with North Cascades Institute in late August. The overlap between cohorts in the summer is one of the biggest strengths of the graduate program, as it allows time for each of the “elders” in Cohort 10 to share knowledge with the incoming students. While each student had a particular natural history topic they chose to teach, through the design of their presentations, they also shared teaching techniques, inspirational stories and sage advice. Perhaps more importantly, they helped connect the incoming students to this place through their passion to live, learn and teach in the North Cascades.

» Continue reading A meeting of minds, a sharing of ideas

by Bill Dietrich

I’ve led a double life, writing about Nazis, pirates, and Napoleonic generals in my fiction but drawing on my newspaper experience to teach environmental journalism. I just ended a five-year stint of such teaching at Huxley College of the Environment at Western Washington University, and my swan song was completing work on the just-published: Green Fire: A History of Huxley College.

This was an in-house book, of course, aimed at alumni and students, but it also turned out to be an ambitious and complicated project that I hope will be of wider interest to those involved with environmental education. From start to finish took three years and involved at least 20 different contributors.

The 185-page book has my narrative history of one of the first (arguably, the first) dedicated environmental colleges in the United States, which was controversial when founded and has been pioneering and experimental ever since.

It also has profiles of 40 Huxley alumni that provide environmentalists with 40 wide-ranging examples of how to lead one’s life. The grads have ranged from organic farmers and a zen monk to high-powered attorneys and environmental activists. They are saving the tiger, climbing mountains, reforming high school education, running an airport, cleaning up toxics, coaching composting, rehabilitating salmon streams, mediating disputes, the examples go on and on. The book has about 170 illustrations, all on recycled paper, naturally.

It was very much a collaborative effort. Most of the profiles were done by a team of nine recently-graduated students who had been editors on the college’s undergraduate Planet magazine I advised, and it’s gratifying to make them published authors. Some of the photos came from students as well, and the book was given a lovely design by recent graduate Avela Grenier of Bozeman, MT. I’m always impressed what college-age students can do if given the opportunity.

Other parts include a brief biography of Thomas Henry Huxley, “Darwin’s Bulldog,” from which the college takes its name, and an environmental timeline of the last 40 years. As noted, Huxley’s history parallels modern environmental history: it was founded in 1970, the same year as the first Earth Day and the creation of basic U.S. environmental laws and agencies.

Since Huxley Development Director Manca Valum managed to raise the money necessary to produce the book, all proceeds from its sale will go directly to student programs, which is very gratifying. I also hope the book will increase Huxley’s own self-awareness (it is a modest place, to an extreme), interest future students and donors, and encourage a dialogue with other environmental colleges.

The book is $30. It’s available through Village Books in Bellingham, Washington and the bookstore at Western Washington University. If you know of folks interested in environmental teaching, give them a heads up: I think they’d find “Green Fire” provocative and intriguing.

Back row, left to right: Jacob Belsher, Elise Ehrheart, Sarah Bernstein, Mollie Behn, Susan Brown, Katie Tozier, Kiira Heymann, Erin Soper, Ashley Kvitek, Alex Patia. Front row, left to right: Emmanuel Camarillo, Colby Mitchell, Jess Newley, Christen Kiser

On June 21^st, fourteen new students in North Cascades Institute’s graduate residency program started their first quarter of classes at Western Washington University. In late August, they will move to the Environmental Learning Center to start a one-year professional residency, working towards a Master of Education in Environmental Education and a Certificate in Leadership and Nonprofit Administration.

The three courses that students take the first summer are all taught by professor John Miles, creating a cohesive summer block that is a combination of classroom time and field excursions to local public lands. During their first week of classes, students explored the Lower Skagit River and the Puget Sound. During the second week, students journeyed to the Environmental Learning Center to study the Upper Skagit River.

» Continue reading Exploring the Upper Skagit

Despite the fact  it seems like we just said goodbye to the final fall Mountain School group only a few weeks ago, the spring season is fast approaching. Staff and graduate students at the North Cascades Environmental Learning Center  began spring Mountain School training on February 28th to share new ideas for programming, reacquaint ourselves with fun logistical details, and immerse some new team members in the curriculum.

The snow we have been blessed with over the last few weeks—though unfortunately intermixed with rain most days—has added an interesting element to the training.  Our first group of students will arrive in a week, and there is a possibility that snow could be on the ground–which could take some of our Mountain School lessons to a whole new level.

» Continue reading Finding Our Inner Child

Last summer, during the first quarter of our graduate program, our professor John Miles had us read several excerpts by author Kathleen Dean Moore, a philosophy professor at Oregon State University. One of the first articles was “The Truth of the Barnacles: Rachel Carson and the Moral Significance of Wonder” from the journal Ethics & the Environment. The article was the perfect start to North Cascades Insitute’s M.Ed. in Environmental Education, as it gave us a perspective to view the art of naturalizing that we worked to perfect throughout the summer. One of my favorite quotes from the article was:

“Meanwhile, Earth turns, birds fly north or south, fish rise or sink in the currents, the moon spills light on snow or sand. And we, do we think we turn the crank that spins the Earth? A good dose of wonder, a night of roaring waves, a faceful of stars, the kick in the pants of an infinite universe, the huge unknowing these remind us that there is beauty that we didn’t create.”

» Continue reading Poking Around in Wonder

When I signed up for North Cascades Institute’s M.Ed. Gradute Program, I knew it would be an incredible opportunity, but I did not fully anticipate the diversity of experiences I would have. Based at the North Cascades Environmental Learning Center, the winter quarter is a quieter time, primarily focused on group projects for our non-profit and curriculum classes.

These class projects, combined with research on a natural history topic which we are passionate about, comprise the bulk of our academic work. Luckily, our schedules also allow for outdoor learning adventures to explore other places and natural events in our region. Cohort 10 recently returned from our three-day winter naturalist retreat where we experienced some of the incredible assets that western Washington has to offer.

» Continue reading Grad Retreat: Exploring Heather Meadows to Samish Flats

Has it really been two months since the start of our fall Mountain School season? It seems like just yesterday I was welcoming my very first group of fifth graders from Carl Cozier Elementary. I’m certain that I was much more nervous than they were. The four years that have elapsed since I was a summer camp counselor had distorted my memory of what it is like to hang out with eight or nine ten-year-olds all day. As it turned out (contrary to my fears), fifth graders are the perfect age. They are old enough to understand concepts like photosynthesis, the rain shadow effect and watersheds. Yet still young enough to enthusiastically immerse themselves in a funky orange fungus, a mountain-building contest or a game of camouflage. Which worked out well for me as my inner child is around ten years old, too.

One of the primary goals of Mountain School is to spend as much time as possible in the natural world, which usually means some rainy days in the North Cascades during the fall season. However, we lucked out this year, as most Mountain School groups got to wallow in some fall sun while learning about glaciation, predator-prey interactions and ecosystems. Many of my favorite moments from Mountain School were times when my students were grouped around the base of Sourdough Falls or the shore of Diablo Lake, quietly sketching their surroundings.

» Continue reading Mountain Schooling

This is a time of transition.

The warm summer season is changing as rapidly into a drenching autumn as is my progression from the residency with North Cascades Institute to the academia of Western Washington University. As the leaves of vine maples alter their hues from green to orange, I find myself pulled from the slow-paced grandeur of North Cascades National Park to the fast-paced flurry of the city of Bellingham.

It seems as if during these transitions there is no definitive line that is crossed from one season to the other, no time to look back, only to move forward into the next, into another.

But even as the final two quarters of my graduate residency are about to commence and, in only a matter of six months, conclude themselves as well, I find myself already looking back, gazing out onto the memory-scape of this landscape, of this past year’s journey when I called the North Cascades my home. Here, I came full circle.

(Title) Waving goodbye to my North Cascades home (Above) Welcoming Bellingham

» Continue reading Coming full circle in the North Cascades

What is a summit experience? For the 10th cohort of graduate students,  in NCI’s residency program, the 9-day backpacking trip that culminated their first quarter of graduate school was a summit experience, both literally and figuratively. This year the cohort split into two groups, with six students and one instructor with each group. Team veg started on the East Bank Trail of Ross Lake, climbing Desolation Peak on their fourth day. Team bourbon started on the west side of Ross Lake, hiking through old growth forests and over Big Beaver Pass. On the 5th day, Gerry Cook of the National Park Service met us with the MULE to transport each team to the other side of the lake. Team bourbon then hiked Desolation Peak and backpacked out along the East Bank Trail.  Unfortunately, an injury on team veg necessitated an evacuation. The team decided to stick together and continue learning about the North Cascades through front-country camping experiences in the Methow Valley. While the two groups had very different experiences, all students finished their trips elated, exhausted and in desperate need of showers! Here are reflections from each student about the experience….

» Continue reading Summer’s summit

Most of the current North Cascades Institute graduate class – “C9” – participated in another year of the Bellingham Ski to Sea race over the Memorial Day holiday weekend.

The competition between the staff member team and the graduate student team has grown since last year. Some would even go as far as to call it a rivalry. Putting aside all the pre-race build up, the friendly competition between the teams made for an amazing race.

Being a graduate student myself, I won’t let the cat out of the bag about which team prevailed. Let’s just say, there’s always next year. By far the most amazing part of this event was the teamwork.  With seven legs consisting of cross country skiing, downhill skiing, running, road biking, canoeing, mountain biking, and sea kayaking, group cohesion was essential. Both staff and grads rose to this tremendous challenge. Congratulations to both teams, and to everyone who participated in this wonderful event. On behalf of the graduate class, I want to thank all of those who let us borrow gear, assisted us with transportation, and cheered us on.

(Title) The graduate student team takes on Ski to Sea (Above) The mass start of the cross country leg

» Continue reading Taking on the Ski to Sea