Chattermarks

Tuition Free High School Opportunities in the North Cascades

Christen Kiser — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 17:00:00 +0000

North Cascades Institute is pleased to announce Summer 2012 Applications are available online for high school students interested in the Cascades Climate Challenge or North Cascades Wild programs. Both programs are tuition-free and focus on leadership, community, stewardship, outdoor skills and connection to the natural world through wilderness experiences in North Cascades National Park and Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest. A CCC student [...]

North Cascades VIPs: Highlighting Institute Superstars

Special Guest — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 16:00:30 +0000

Written by guest contributor Deb Martin, the North Cascades Institute Registrar. Happy New Year! As our Silver Anniversary comes to an end, we want to move forward in our 26th year by recognizing the strong connections we have with our participants and partners. We would not be where we are or who we are today without [...]

A Snowy Exchange with Environmental Educators

Ashley Kvitek — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 16:00:17 +0000

“We need someone to plan the second portion of our three part Instructor Exchange with the graduate students and teaching apprentices from IslandWood and Wilderness Awareness School immediately after winter break.” Um, okay. In less than two months, three novice event planners would host a group of 60 environmental educators at their secluded home in the [...]

Experience the Second Annual Youth Leadership Conference

Special Guest — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 16:00:52 +0000

By Andrew Pringle, Skagit District Interpreter, North Cascades National Park Complex The second annual Youth Leadership Conference, hosted by North Cascades Institute, North Cascades National Park Complex and Mount Baker-Snoqualamie National Forest at the Environmental Learning Center in North Cascades National Park took place November 11th-13th, 2011. The event brought together more than 60 diverse [...]

Latitudinal and Longitudinal Explorations of Natural History

Christen Kiser — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 15:30:12 +0000

As much as we love North Cascadian landscapes, we here at the Institute are still called to visit and experience other amazing places on our planet. We publish accounts of the places Institute staff and graduate students visit in our Road Trip series. As graduate students immersed in developing a sense of place within the [...]

New Institute video! “The High Ridge: Celebrating 25 Years in the North Cascades”

Special Guest — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 16:00:37 +0000

North Cascades Institute is very excited to finally share with you a multimedia piece made in celebration of our 25th anniversary. “The High Ridge: Celebrating 25 Years in the North Cascades” was created by three staff members from our marketing/communications department — Christian Martin, Jessica Haag and Amy Wilcox — in partnership with Benj Drummond [...]

New Tracks at the Environmental Learning Center: Winter Mountain School

Kiira — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 20:56:18 +0000

Middle school students from Lopez Middle School sit excitedly on the wooden benches of the amphitheater for Mountain School orientation. Mittens and gloves fly into the air with eager answers when students are asked what they have seen driving in the school bus up-valley that morning – waterfalls, mountains, more waterfalls. Orientation continues, skits about [...]

Poetic Visualizations of the Winter Season

Christen Kiser — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 17:00:30 +0000

They say it is winter here in the North Cascades. With the shadowed days and the sting of cold to cheeks as you step outside, one might even believe it is true. But missing from this crisp landscape is also the white beauty of snow. While it is easy to lament the bare ground in [...]

Graduate Students Attend Environmental Education Conference

Kiira — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 15:00:51 +0000

Students in the M.E.d Graduate Program celebrated the start of winter break with the Strait Talk, Sound Ideas Conference on Bainbridge Island from December 11th through 13th. As part of a series of three Instructor Exchanges aimed at sharing ideas and experiences between Environmental Education graduate programs in Washington, this conference kicked off the set [...]

Reflections on the Upper Skagit: Ross Lake by Boat and Boot

Christen Kiser — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 16:00:26 +0000

Written by Special Guest Blogger Elisabeth Keating. On a cool Thursday evening in late July, a group of adventurers gather at the Environmental Learning Center for the 24th (and possibly final) year of one of North Cascades Institute’s most popular courses: Ross Lake By Boat and Boot a three-day exploratory workshop on the people and [...]

Thanksgiving Shopping for the Environmental Learning Center

Shelby Slater — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 16:00:11 +0000

[We are excited to publish the second piece in our Foodshed Series, with monthly updates from the amazing chefs working so hard to provide program participants and staff at the Environmental Learning Center with sustainable, seasonal, and deliciously fresh food. In an age where the production and consumption of food are heavily disconnected, we work hard [...]

A Weekend of Warmth and Snow

Special Guest — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 16:00:11 +0000

Written by North Cascades Education Intern, Matt Kraska. It’s hard to believe it has already been two weeks since Thanksgiving. As many North Cascades Institute staff said their goodbyes and left to spend Thanksgiving with family and friends, others were saying hello as they arrived at the Environmental Learning Center for the Thanksgiving Family Getaway. [...]

Sharing My Love of the North Cascades

Special Guest — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 14:00:53 +0000

Written by former NC Wild Student and Remarkable Young Leader, Kassandra Barnedt The North Cascades – untouched, wild, remarkable, friendship, beauty, but most importantly life changing. Every trip to this mystical place is unique, but somehow these trips bring each one of us back to the same place. My journey with the North Cascades National [...]

Recounting the 2nd Annual Youth Leadership Conference

Mollie Behn — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 15:30:50 +0000

Psychologist Warren G. Bennis once said, “Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality.” Sixty-three high school and college students and fourteen conservation organizations did just that November 11-13th for the second annual North Cascades Youth Leadership Conference. Brought together by common goals to improve their leadership skills, learn about future opportunities, and reconnect after [...]

Snow & Spire: Flights to Winter in the North Cascade Range

Christian — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 15:00:59 +0000

EVENT INFO: Join North Cascades Institute for a book release celebration for John Scurlock’s Snow & Spire: Flights to Winter in the North Cascade Range. November 30, 2011 7-9 pm. Skagit Station Meeting Room, 105 E. Kincaid St, Mt Vernon. Free! John Scurlock makes his living working as a paramedic for the Bellingham Fire Department, [...]

Rock On, Gerry!

Special Guest — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 17:30:13 +0000

Gerry Cook caps 44 years of service with the US National Park Service with a beautiful retirement party at Eagle Haven winery Story by special guest Elisabeth Keating. On a sparkling October evening at a winery in the foothills of the North Cascades, over 300 friends and family members gathered to celebrate Gerry Cook’s 44 [...]

Mountain School Stewardship

Julie Stone — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 03:08:33 +0000

Hello friends of Mountain School! If you haven’t yet heard, we’ve started a new Mountain School Stewardship program in Bellingham. After a class has come to Mountain School, we meet them at a city park within walking distance of their school to do a service project. The students revisit what they learned at the Environmental [...]

Swimming with the Salmon

Jess Newley — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 18:00:36 +0000

“I think we’re going to the moon because it’s in the nature of the human being to face challenges. It’s by the nature of his deep inner soul… we’re required to do these things just as salmon swim upstream.” ~ Neil Armstrong In the fall, the Skagit River is flooded with dying salmon. I have [...]

The Pacific Crest Trailside Reader

Special Guest — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 17:00:51 +0000

Pacific Crest Trailside Reader series Co-Editor Rees Hughes will be doing a reading from his new book Saturday,Â November 12 beginning at 7 p.m. at Village Books in downtown Fairhaven. Exploring the people, places, and history of the Pacific Crest Trail as it ranges 2,600 miles from Mexico to Canada, The Pacific Crest Trailside Readers bring [...]

NC Wild: Fall Experiences Build on Summer’s Past

Codi Hamblin — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 17:00:05 +0000

With the start of a new school year, autumn is often a time of new beginnings. For North Cascades Wild participants, the season is a chance to reconnect and continue building on experiences from the past summer. From June through August, 50 high school students from Whatcom, Skagit and King counties spent 12 days canoeing, [...]