Chattermarks

Starting Out Hot!!

Megan — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 02:27:34 +0000

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. [...]

Welcome graduate cohort 10!

Tanya — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 16:11:19 +0000

Summer has finally arrived at the Environmental Learning Center! Diablo Lake has regained its characteristic green color, peregrine falcon fledglings are learning to hunt near the dam, a new fawn is sporting spots around campus, and the tenth cohort of graduate students have begun their academic journey. Cohort 10 at Diablo Lake. Field journaling with [...]

Young, WILD and free

Kelsi — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 19:10:03 +0000

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) [...]

Cascades Climate Challenge update, week 2

Special Guest — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 14:00:51 +0000

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 [...]

Road Trip: The Olympic Peninsula

Christian — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 17:07:37 +0000

As much as we love North Cascadian landscapes — and with over 7,000,000 acres of protected public lands in Washington and British Columbia, there will never be an end to options for explorations — we here at the Institute are still called to visit and experience other amazing places on our planet. We’ll publish accounts [...]

AP: Mountains Inspire in North Cascades Art Courses

Christian — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 22:15:54 +0000

Watercolors and wildlife: North Cascades Institute courses offer arts and outdoors By SHANNON DININNY The Associated Press DIABLO, Wash. For their 10th wedding anniversary, Kori Crane’s husband handed her a check and told her she could only spend it on an art class. Not just any art class. Crane designed and painted silk scarves in [...]

Introducing the 2010 Cascades Climate Challenge Team!! (Part 1)

Aneka — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 03:26:37 +0000

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 [...]

North Cascades Wild Recon 2010

Martine Mariott — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 21:25:28 +0000

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 [...]

An Institute ode to summer

Special Guest — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 04:25:36 +0000

The transition from spring to summer has been a long awaited and hopeful one to those of us living in the Pacific Northwest this year. This past week, our hopes have finally been fulfilled as the summer sun no longer conceals itself from behind overcast skies and the snow so prevalent upon the high peaks [...]

Visit the Institute’s new retail sites

Christian — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 16:00:18 +0000

Jim Alt, Institute naturalist, and Jan Healy, retail manager, at the Institute’s new store inside the Newhalem Visitor Center. When you plan your next trip into the North Cascades, be sure to visit the retail sales areas located in NPS visitors centers in and around North Cascades National Park. Thanks to a new agreement with [...]

Taking on the Ski to Sea

Justin McWethy — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 14:00:43 +0000

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 [...]

From the Cascades to the Olympics

Mike Parelskin — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 19:00:58 +0000

Spring is here and it was time for the North Cascades Institute cohort-ions of the ninth - C9 graduate students - to take our spring retreat on Sunday, May 23rd through Tuesday, May 25th. With itinerary in place, gear packed and risk managers appeased, it was time for our departure and to get peninsular at Olympic National Park. [...]

We need your click to help!

Megan — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 17:08:41 +0000

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 [...]

NC Wild pulls weeds & plants seeds of excitement

Kelsi — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 04:36:01 +0000

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 [...]

Summer Youth Roadshow

Aneka — Wed, 26 May 2010 20:14:30 +0000

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 [...]

Painting a Washington spring portrait

Kelsi — Fri, 14 May 2010 14:00:45 +0000

All over Washington, the earth is reawakening. Can you see it? In a period of only a few weeks, spring has come – a monumental paintbrush caressing the landscape, stirring it back to consciousness. Dabs of bright white, pink and yellow compliment deeper streaks of lavender, red and orange, all placed upon a backdrop of [...]

Going solar: panels on Institute building will cut energy costs

Christian — Tue, 11 May 2010 14:00:07 +0000

Byron Odion of Clinton installs solar panels March 10 at the Mount Baker/Snoqualmie National Forest and North Cascades National Park headquarters. Photo by Scott Terrell. Published in the Courier-Times on March 23, 2010 by Ralph Schwartz SEDRO-WOOLLEY — The Park and Forest Information Center sits on prime real estate, near the intersection of Highway 20 [...]

Reflections on “The Circumference of Home”

Special Guest — Fri, 07 May 2010 15:23:56 +0000

Kurt Hoelting, seen here at our Sedro-Woolley office in 2008 in the midst of his “yearlong experiment in car-free local living”, will be at the North Cascades Environmental Learning Center May 15-16. More details and registration on our Sourdough Speaker page. By Kurt Hoelting May 3, 2010 My new book The Circumference of Home: One [...]

Migratory Shorebird Festival at Padilla Bay

Erin Fowler — Wed, 05 May 2010 14:00:39 +0000

The Migratory Shorebird Festival at Padilla Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve was attended by a diverse audience including high school students who will be attending a North Cascades Wild (NC Wild) backpacking trip this upcoming summer, children from the Kulshan Creek neighborhood, and seniors from the International District Housing Alliance. The goal of the day [...]

Graduate M.Ed. class of 2012

Christian — Sun, 02 May 2010 17:09:30 +0000

Do you know anyone who is seeking a graduate program in Environmental Education? North Cascades Institute is seeking qualified applicants for our Master of Education residency program. This seven-quarter program includes twelve months of residency at the Institute’s Environmental Learning Center, located in the heart of North Cascades National Park. Course work includes natural and [...]