On January 14th, the M.Ed graduate students of Cohort 16 (C16) welcomed students and staff from Islandwood and Wilderness Awareness School to North Cascades Institute Environmental Learning Center for the first of three gatherings that make up the annual Instructor Exchange. Every winter, this exchange offers instructors the chance to meet others in the environmental education field […]
2017 Instructor Exchange
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Time Along the Skagit: Eagle Watching With Kulshan Creek Neighborhood Youth Program and Latino Outdoors
January can be warm on the lower Skagit and this late January Saturday was no exception. As Becky Moore, Alexei Desmarais and I arrived at the Howard Miller Steelhead Park on the Skagit River in Rockport, WA, we looked to see if there were any Bald Eagles present around the river. As graduate M.Ed. students […]
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What is a Leadership Track?
As a current graduate student in the M.Ed. residency program at North Cascades Institute, I and the rest of my cohort, will soon celebrate the end of our spring quarter here in the North Cascades. Our residency at NCI has engaged us deeply with the natural and cultural history of the area through place-based and experiential […]
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Who Cares About Beavers? We Do!
By Melissa Biggs, graduate student in the Institute’s 16th cohort. Everyone, meet Chompers! In October 2016, during the fall natural history trip, my cohort helped the Methow Beaver Project volunteers to release the last 3 beavers of the season. So much fun! We carried the beavers for several miles and released them at Beaver Creek. […]
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The Great Fisher
By Smokey Brine, graduate student in the Institute’s 16th cohort. A warm summer wind funnels down the Skagit River, blowing wisps of brown hair in front of my eyes. I shift my head to regain sight of the river channel and spot a green canoe cutting the water in front of me. The three passengers […]
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Takin’ Care of Beesinus: United States Native Bee Facts, Threats and Conservation
By Becky Moore, graduate student in the Institute’s 16th cohort. Nearly everyone is familiar with the image and idea of a bee. The black and yellow character from Honey Nut Cheerios perhaps, happily making honey in buzzing hives. However, what most people do not realize is that there is a vast, diverse and complicated world […]
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The Birth of Curiosity: Through the Eyes of a Raven Part I
By Jennifer O’Toole, graduate student in the Institute’s 16th cohort. Curiosity is born from one of the most unlikely of places: boredom. I used to fight the feeling of boredom, as I had been trained to do by the media with its constant barrage of entertainment, the internet with its never-ending information and by my […]
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Animal Natural Learning Tendencies: Through the Eyes of a Raven Part II
By Jenny O’Toole, graduate student in the Institute’s 16th cohort. Read Part I – The Birth of Curiosity: Through the Eyes of a Raven here. Like human babies, ravens are highly curious of all objects upon first leaving the nest. Fearless, they get into everything that’s in front of them and, accompanied by parents who […]
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In the Era of Fire Lookouts: Fire Suppression in the North Cascades
By Adam Bates, graduate student in the Institute’s 15th cohort. Fire lookouts have captured the imagination of the American public for over seventy-five years. The notion that one could spend a summer atop a mountain in solitude and seclusion holds a certain romanticism that was perpetuated by numerous authors, poets, artists and backcountry enthusiasts. Therein […]
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Eating Snow: Climate Change, Snowpack and Agriculture Water-Use Policy in the Methow Valley
By Annah Young, graduate student in the Institute’s 15th cohort. I wedged myself between two boulders on the summit of Silver Star Mountain in Okanagan County, Washington and peered out over the North Cascades range. It was May 1, 2016. Mount Baker was crystal clear some 100 miles to the west across the snow cover […]
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Urban Foraging: A back-country approach to front-country living
By Rob Healy, graduate student in the Institute’s 15th cohort. Somewhere at the murky crossroads of a lifelong passion for preparedness and survival, the excitement of days spent hunting, fishing and foraging, and the soul crushing reality that is the ratio of time spent in front versus back country, I hatched a plan. Whether famine, natural disaster […]
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A Natural and Cultural History Guide to the Blue House
By Angela Burlile, graduate student in the Institute’s 16th cohort. During our Place-Based Learning in the North Cascades course this past summer, I discovered the power of place and the role that place has on our sense of self and the development of our ecological identity. A sense of place can be developed when one […]
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Animals in the City: Encouraging Children to Get to Know Their Nonhuman Neighbors
By Sarah Clement, graduate student in the Institute’s 16th cohort. Transference is a concept that often comes up in discussion among environmental educators. How do we, as educators, help our students make connections between their experiences with us in “nature” and their daily lives? We teach out students about the North Cascades ecosystem, but we […]
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Stories of Change: Storytelling as a Means of Climate Communication
By Hanna Davis, graduate student in the Institute’s 16th cohort. There are various facets to graduate life at North Cascades Institute: taking classes, a teaching practicum, work study positions. And throughout every aspect, nearly every assignment of my residency this past year, a common theme has appeared: climate change. Specifically, how do we, as environmental […]
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Place-based Learning Course: Paddling the Skagit River
In August, my cohort and I began our 7-quarter educational journey of earning our Master of Education degree. We are the 17th Cohort of students in the Graduate M.Ed Residency program through the North Cascades Institute and the Huxley College of the Environment at Western Washington University. Before beginning our year-long residency at the Learning Center, we engage […]
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Welcome New Graduate Students!
We are a new generation of environmental leaders. We are the 17th graduate cohort at the North Cascades Institute, ready to immerse ourselves in learning and work within the greater community. One of my new tasks, as a fully-integrated community member, is to produce blog posts for your enjoyment. So, hey! I’m Montana, and below […]
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Welcome New Graduate Students, part 2
This is part two of graduate student introductions. You can find part one here. The goal of this series is to welcome the Class of 2019, and learn more about why they chose the Master of Education degree program through the North Cascades Institute. Below are the reasons folks are here, and what they hope to […]
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Welcome New Graduate Students, part 3
This is part three of graduate student introductions. Here is part one and part two of the series. The goal of this series is to welcome the Class of 2019, and learn more about why they chose the Master of Education degree program through the North Cascades Institute. Below are the reasons folks are here, and […]
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Weekly Photo Roundup: December 8 2017
Every weekend I will post photos collected from various NCI graduate students and staff. Please enjoy this glimpse into our everyday lives here in the North Cascades. To start things off, here’s some life advice from the mushroom above: Be down-to-earth Know when to show up Sprout new ideas Keep a low profile Stay well-rounded […]
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What Gives Life to the Wild Ginger Library?
Libraries have long served as places of refuge from the world, where enlightenment and knowledge surround one in the form of books. They are a place to exercise our minds as thinking beings, and to contemplate the words of great authors within the comfort of a cozy, hushed building. Here, within the walls of brightly-colored […]
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More Pages to Explore .....
