Chattermarks

Last weekend, North Cascades Institute partnered with North Cascades National Park and Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest to offer the North Cascades Youth Leadership Conference, “A Confluence of Young Leaders” Nov. 12-14 at  the North Cascades Environmental Learning Center. The conference included students from nearby communities such as Seattle, Mount Vernon and Concrete, Wash., as well as representatives from as far away as Wenatchee, Wash., and Pendleton and Astoria, Oreg. All of these students have participated in a program on public lands such as Cascades Climate Challenge, North Cascades Wild, International District Housing Alliance WILD, or Youth Conservation Corps. Many of the student leaders are first generation Americans, born in places like Bhutan, Cameroon, Eritrea, Ethiopia, India, Mexico, Nepal, the Philippines and Somalia. All of them were motivated by the power of the North Cascades environment and came to this conference to further develop their leadership skills so that they can help protect this special place. I went hoping to inspire the 48 high school students to become even stronger environmental leaders, and I left inspired by their hope and leadership.

» Continue reading A Confluence of Young Leaders

September 25th marked a special day for North Cascades Wild.

It was a day of reconnection—seeing the friends that were made over the past summer’s 12-day trips in North Cascades National Park and Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest. It was a day of remembering—recalling the beauty of the locations visited, the dedication of the people met, the laughing at silly photos. It was a day of reestablishment of a sense of place—reminding each other of the value of remaining stewards of our public lands and giving back, whether it be a Wilderness or a public park.

The 2010 North Cascades Wild Reunion was held at Seward Park in Seattle on a beautiful fall weekend day. Students from Skagit and Whatcom counties, Shoreline, Seattle, and Tukwila all gathered together at the Seward Park Audubon Center with the intention of connecting, yet again, but in a new time and setting.

» Continue reading North Cascades Wild’s service in Seattle

To explore your own backyards and expand your sense of place—this was the central goal of the 2010 North Cascades Wild’s (NC Wild) first fall day trip, held on Saturday, September 18th.

Sense of place. What is that? Ask any of this year’s students of NC Wild and they would be quick to tell you an answer. As one of the four core themes we emphasize in NC Wild, sense of place is embodied by a student’s increased awareness of and appreciation for the history—both through nature and culture—of a landscape. And the landscape of choice for September 18th’s day trip was that of Blue Lake and Dock Butte, in the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest.

Easily bypassed for the more popular Mt. Baker National Recreation Area at Schreiber’s Meadows, tucked away among Pacific silver firs and Mountain hemlocks, Blue Lake and Dock Butte afford amazing access to subalpine flora and fauna, geology and hydrology, and astounding views of the North Cascades with only minimal effort.

(Title) Mt. Baker as viewed from the road ascending to the Blue Lake and Dock Butte trailhead (Above) Which way to chose? You can access both Blue Lake and Dock Butte from the same trailhead

» Continue reading NC Wild begins fall exploration

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

» Continue reading Young, WILD and free

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.

» Continue reading North Cascades Wild Recon 2010

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!

Photo (Above) Two Climate Challenge students enjoy Baker Lake in July.

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.

» Continue reading Summer Youth Roadshow

My dreams within Environmental Education are like that of the Skagit River’s watercourse.

From its headwaters, my dream begins in the tiniest of raindrops, collecting in glaciers perhaps and trickling down to alpine streams. The dream builds to a river, solidifying as do the sturdier banks supporting the way of the water. Weaving out and around, the dream’s course is composed, at times, of rapids raging, then pooling in softer shallows. It exits the mountain peak domain to enter a gentler, more gradual flow—that of farmland and forest—though still bringing with it reminders of the lessons learned in higher places. The channel widens, as does my dream’s scope, the hint of salt in freshwaters. As river converges with ocean, a chorus commences. Ideas, like nutrients, swell. Life is rich, vibrant. Just as the Skagit River feeds the Salish Sea, so the sea replenishes the river.

» Continue reading From headwaters to sound

What happens at Mountain School does not just stay at Mountain School.

With winter’s silence embracing the landscape up at the Learning Center, the laughter of Mountain School students seems all but a distant echo, fading as the Skagit flows down valley. The excitement, the energy, travels wherever the students fare. And where they fare is their respective home grounds.

The first few weeks of December mark post-trip visitation time to participating schools of the fall season’s Mountain School. Several of North Cascades Institute’s graduate students have traveled north to Bellingham to visit Carl Cozier Elementary, Geneva Elementary, Wade King Elementary, Larrabee Elementary, Happy Valley Elementary, Whatcom Hills Waldorf School, and Birchwood Elementary. Others have traveled south to Bellevue and Bothell to check-in with the Eton School and Evergreen Academy.

» Continue reading Bringing Mountain School back home