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North Cascades Institute
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Learning Center & Field Programs
Learning, adventure and community in the heart of the North Cascades
Join us at the North Cascades Environmental Learning Center and sites throughout the Pacific Northwest for hands-on instruction from the Pacific Northwest’s finest naturalists, artists, scientists and writers.
In addition to world-class educational opportunities on topics ranging from birds to watercolors to Cascade carnivores to digital photography, classes at the Learning Center offer registrants comfortable accommodations in our guest lodges, healthful and delicious meals made from local, organic ingredients in our lakeside dining hall and all kinds of naturalist-led activities in the Diablo Lake neighborhood. We'll also be guiding field excursions to Mount Baker, the Methow Valley, the San Juan Islands, the lower Skagit River, Seattle and elsewhere in 2012.
Peruse the following current offerings, or call our registrar at (360) 854-2599 for personal assistance in finding the right program for you! Scholarships, student discounts, clock hours and academic credit are available for most classes.
Citizen Science #1: Nest Watch
Learn the secrets to finding nests and unobtrusively monitoring them in order to take part in Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s NestWatch project -- free, call to register.
Hands to Work: Stewardship Weekend
Instructors: Institute staff
join National Park Service Volunteer Coordinator Mike Brondi and Institute naturalists to tend to our native flora and the habitat surrounding the Learning Center.
The Poetry and Culture of Fishtown
North Cascades Institute is thrilled to partner with the Skagit Poetry Festival to celebrate the poetry, culture and lore of the lower Skagit Valley.
In the Company of Corvids
Visit Skagit forests, Methow meadows and the passes in between in search of ravens, jays, magpies and other corvids in their native habitats.
Wild Eats From Land To Sea
When experiencing our natural surroundings, it is helpful to engage all of our senses for a fuller sense of presence.
Pacific Northwest by Brush: Watercolors in the North Cascades
Learn an entire repertoire of techniques to capture the North Cascades with a medium that seems designed especially for the Pacific Northwest: watercolors!
Summer Birding by Sight and Song
Join longtime Institute instructor Libby to survey summer bird life in the North Cascades region as our feathered friends display fascinating breeding behaviors and share their melodious songs.
CyberTracker Conservation Wildlife Tracking Certification
Learning tracks and sign will open your eyes to a whole new world of wildlife activity. Earn a Level 1 Track & Sign Certification from Cybertracker!
Paintings in Motion
Join Edison-based artist Todd Horton to learn new techniques that will give your art a sense of movement and momentum.
Citizen Science #2: Cascades Butterfly Project
This free volunteer training will teach participants how to identify alpine butterfly species and implement the research methods for this long-term monitoring project. Free, call to register.
Northwest Naturalists Retreat: Climate Change, Forest and Fire Ecology and Storytelling
Come to the North Cascades for our annual gathering of naturalists in the mountains and learn more about the natural wonders of the Pacific Northwest.
Dragonflies Across the Cascades
Join Dennis Paulson, the Northwest’s foremost authority on odonates, to investigate landscapes and waterways across the North Cascades.
Digital Wildflower Photography with a Pocket Camera
Join Mark Turner to learn and practice techniques for photographing wildflowers in their natural environment while gaining new knowledge about how to get the most out of your pocket digital camera.
Adaptation of the Wild: Cascades Canivores and Our Changing Climate
Nature lovers across the Pacific Northwest collectively cheered in 2011 when we learned of wolves naturally repopulating Washington State and the first documented grizzly bear photograph in the North Cascades in several decades.
Citizen Science #3: Pikas and Marmots Alpine Exploration
Join Institute Science Coordinator and wildlife biologist Jeff Anderson to participate in research efforts aimed at gathering information on these high elevation denizens.
Creative Arts Retreat: Weaving an Artistic Basket
As the Cascadian summer winds down in to the subdued pleasures of autumn, recharge your artistic inspiration at our annual retreat for aspiring and experienced artists.
Creative Arts Retreat: Drawing and Painting the Wild Journal
As the Cascadian summer winds down in to the subdued pleasures of autumn, recharge your artistic inspiration at our annual retreat for aspiring and experienced artists.
Creative Arts Retreat: The Artful Map: A One Page Journal
As the Cascadian summer winds down in to the subdued pleasures of autumn, recharge your artistic inspiration at our annual retreat for aspiring and experienced artists.
Diablo Downtime
Instructors: Institute staff
Named for the picturesque, glacier-fed lake that laps the wooded shore of the Environmental Learning Center, Diablo Downtime offers you the opportunity to explore our wild and scenic neighborhood at your own pace.
Street Smart Naturalist in Seattle
Explore Seattle's wild side with David Williams, author of Stories in Stone: Travels in Urban Geology and The Seattle Street-Smart Naturalist: Field Notes from the City
