Chattermarks

The celebration of my 28^th year happened over the second half of the Instructor Exchange last weekend. For those unfamiliar, Instructor Exchange is a fun-filled, long weekend with our fellow environmental education instructors from Wilderness Awareness School (WAS) and Islandwood. We hosted the first half of the Exchange in January and now it was our turn to visit them.

The Exchange stated with a sunny and beautiful early morning drive. When we arrived at WAS we were greeted by a gang of smiling instructors who seemed happy for the company. Wilderness Awareness School is a woodland community of environmental instructors who focus on community building, survival skills, awareness, education, appreciation of nature and are, by far, the most skilled naturalists of us all.

To start things off, we commenced in Malalo Yu Chui – The Lair of the Leopard – for a ceremonial fire and story telling. After hearing the yarn of the school’s founders, we were given our nature names.  I am now known as Destroying Angel in some circles of friends. We departed Malalo to a trickster transformer series of lessons demonstrating diverse teaching styles on fire making, bird talk, tracking, and animal signs.  The highlight of the first evening was a wild and locally-inspired pasta dinner, which included salmon and a pasta sauce made of dandelions and stinging nettles.

(Title) All instructors participate in a bow drill exercise, Photo by Martine Mariott  (Above) Introductions were held at Malalo Yu Chui at Wilderness Awareness School, Photo by Erin Fowler

» Continue reading Our visit to Wilderness Awareness School and Islandwood

Tuesday morning found Cohort 9 at the Bagelry in Bellingham getting provisions for an all-day snowshoeing adventure to Artists Point from the Heather Meadows lot of Mount Baker Ski Area.

Blue skies and copious sunshine beckoned overhead as we headed up Koma Kulshan Highway. On our way to the ski resort, we stopped to stretch our legs and investigate some remnant old-growth Douglas-fir trees. Even as we crossed the North Fork Nooksack River, snow was scarce, leaving us concerned about possibly being over-equipped. All of our fears, however, were laid to rest several miles further up the slope as we met head-high snowdrifts along the road. Megan was able to successfully drive in the snow for the first time, quite a milestone for this native Floridian.

(Title) The group snowshoeing toward Artists Point, Photo by Kelsi Franzen (Above) Cohort 9 “C9″ rocks the old growth, Photo by Kelsi Franzen

» Continue reading A snowshoeing we will go

After finishing our first week of classes following winter break, the graduate students and staff at the North Cascades Institute had a fun and busy weekend, hosting instructors and staff from two other environmental education centers. The 4^th Annual Instructor Exchange included IslandWood, Wilderness Awareness School and North Cascades Institute.

When everyone had arrived on Saturday, graduate students led a tour of our LEED certified buildings, giving the visiting students a chance to compare our classrooms, lodges and living spaces with their own. A social hour before dinner gave everyone time to start getting to know each other. Following dinner, we gave an introduction to our programs by sharing the Parks Climate Challenge video. Later, our Program Director, Laura Busby, shared more information about our adult and family programs, summer youth programs, and a little bit about Mountain School and the graduate program. We ended the evening with a trivia game, designed to test participants’ knowledge of the natural history of the region, as well as test their skills as environmental educators. Some of the challenges included identifying quotes from well known environmentalists, writing mission statements for ridiculous non-profits and composing and performing a new campfire song.

» Continue reading Sharing our place