As Fall Comes To A Close

On September 17th, the first Mountain School group of the fall season arrived at the North Cascades Environmental Learning Center. It was a bright, warm, cloudless, sunny day. The mountains were still snow-free and the ground was parched from the summer drought. Now, eight weeks, approximately 779 students, and more than 15 inches of rain later, we have just watched the last group drive away in their yellow school bus.

What’s ahead for the Learning Center folks now that our usual Monday through Friday commitment is gone? For the full-time staff it’s time to hunker down and start planning for next year, for the seasonal staff it’s time to head off on new adventures, and for the graduate students it’s time to put the “student” hat back on.

Before all that happens, however, it's time to reflect on the past few months. And to celebrate.

Some of the students, teachers, and parent chaperones from Fidalgo Elementary enjoying the beautiful fall day

As I sat down and tried to reflect on this whole season, I found myself thinking about how much I've grown and changed as an educator these past two months. I thought about the ownership I feel over the curriculum, a feeling that has allowed me to switch up how I teach the lessons and how I convey certain concepts. I started thinking about next spring, after which I probably won't come back to Mountain School. In that moment, I found myself both happy and sad, excited and nervous about new adventures yet to come.

Entering the Rainy Season

October ended with a wet and cloudy Mountain School session. Students from Columbia Elementary in Bellingham donned raincoats and ponchos before venturing onto the dripping trails at the Learning Center.

A student working on a reflection activity on the final day of his Mountain School session

The nearly two inches of rain we got on Tuesday didn't keep us from spending time outside, though. On the contrary, our instructors used the weather as an incentive for improvising and trying out new lessons and ways of teaching.

Andrea did a tracking activity that she learned from one of our seasonal instructors. Using a long sheet of butcher paper and a pan of water, she had her students step with their bare feet into the water and then walk on the paper. They talked about length and width of stride and how you can estimate how big an animal is based on where its feet land.

Kim used the rain as inspiration to focus her teaching on water.

Lauren, one of our education interns, discovered the challenges of teaching in the rain this week. "I think the depth of the lessons suffered a little because the kids were uncomfortable and their journals got soaked," she said, adding that she used excerpts from an essay by Saul Weisberg in Impressions of the North Cascades to set the stage and help her students learn to appreciate the weather:

Rain is the signature of the North Cascades; it makes the land. Glaciers, mountains, rivers, and the inland sea we call Puget Sound are all molded by its wet embrace. If you come here you are going to get wet.

[Learning in the wilderness] requires listening to the voices of the land. If we listen well, the land will change our lives. It has changed mine. Rain is one of the essential ingredients of place. The basic tenet of ecological truth in teh Pacific Northwest is that the land is the way it is—in shape, smell, texture, sound—because of the rain. It sings sweetly to the cedars. Our job is to listen to its song.

Leading photo: A spray of yellow-leafed Vine Maples on the Diablo Lake Trail. All photos by Ryan Weisberg.

Students Conduct Carnivore Studies at the Learning Center

On a sunny fall day, 56 sixth through eighth grade students conducted field studies on carnivore habitat in the area around the North Cascades Environmental Learning Center. What makes this group of students different from all the other middle-schoolers who have done similar studies at Mountain School? These kids attend Evergreen Montessori—in Colorado.

This school recognizes that time spent outside the classroom walls is just as valuable as time spent learning in the classroom. Because of this, all students go on field trips once a month, sometimes venturing to other states or climbing to the tops of Colorado mountains!

The carnivore variation of our long-standing Mountain School program is an inquiry-based curriculum that allows students to come up with their own research question, hypothesis, and study methods. At the end of their time here—we offer both three- and five-day programs—each research group presents their findings at a symposium.

At this point you may be wondering how we are able to pull off real scientific studies with 12 to 14 year olds in such a short period of time. The magic answer is that we get them excited about science.

Celebrating Another Wonderful Mountain School Season!

Fall is turning quickly into winter here in the mountains as we reflect on another wonderful Mountain School season this fall. We are grateful to all of the students, teachers, and chaperones who journeyed up the Skagit to visit us and spend a few days in the North Cascades over the past three months. Here are a few highlights from teachers on their Mountain School experiences. Thank you all!

Students from Darrington dance and learn about the water cycle at the beach with Pyramid Peak in the background.

"The greatest value of Mountain School was getting to see kids make new friends, grow as learners, and bond as a group. I love the chance to get to know my students outside of the classroom!"

"I saw my students in a special light. Those who find traditional classrooms confining were able to learn with few physical restrictions - so much joy!"

"I feel like the world really got bigger for some of the kids."

"This program gets kids out to the wilderness who would otherwise never have that experience. For those kids who already have a connection to the park, it strengthened their affinity for nature and helped put learning into such a real world context."

"The greatest value of Mountain School is spending so much time outside. There is no better teacher, especially with motivated, wonderful leaders modeling respect for nature, fitness, and learning."

Photos by Zach Montes. 

Friday Harbor Students Find Creepy Crawlers

by Alex Patia.

Friday Harbor 6^th grade students arrived Wednesday last week to a chilly but beautiful late autumn day here at the Environmental Learning Center. The big leaf maples (Acer macrophyllum) are mostly bare now and their bright yellow leaves now decorate the ground covered with leopard-like dark dots created by tar spot fungus (Rhytisma punctatum). Whenever the clouds clear the surrounding mountains Sourdough, Ruby, Pyramid and Colonial become visible and reveal a snow line creeping lower and lower in elevation. It feels as though it shouldn’t be too long before the snow finally sticks down here too and the Lake Diablo area is transformed into a winter wonderland with snow coated Douglas firs and white hills.

My trail group, the Lynx, were already making great observations their first day, noting changes from dry Lodgepole pine forest up by Bust Brown field down to the comparatively lush riparian forest alongside Deer creek. During an “Each-One, Teach-One” lesson students learned from and taught each other about various types of water quality tests, environmental factors that effect riparian health and how numbers of macroinvertebrates (animals without backbones visible to the naked eye) can tell us about water quality by whether or not they are pollution tolerant or pollution intolerant.

Students started off their second day developing a question related to water quality, using the scientific method, which they could research out in the field. My group was interested in finding whether or not dissolved Oxygen (DO) and pH were tied at all to how many benthic macroinvertebrates could live there. Their method involved each student looking under 5 cobble (fist sized) rocks to find and collect macroinvertebrates, or as we dubbed them “macros”. After looking at a map of the area students decided to conduct research at Fawn and Sourdough creeks.

A trail group at work on Fawn Creek. 

At Fawn creek students were having trouble finding macroinvertebrates at first, but upon closer inspection many of the rocks they had collected had some well-hidden macroinvertebrates moving about. The most visible were little worm-like creatures that inched about like leeches, which made some of the students a little uneasy about reaching into the water, but the arrow-shaped creepy crawlers turned out to be planarian or flatworms (Class Turbellaria). Students were puzzled by some mysterious empty cases made up of very tiny pebbles, and as they wondered where they came from some students noticed that when probed a creature’s head would wiggle out one end of the case and wave it’s legs as if to complain about the disturbance. Using the dichotomous key in their field journals the students came to the conclusion that these were the case-building larvae of Caddisflies (Order Trichoptera). The pH test showed the streams water was a neutral 7 but the DO test did not end up working, too many air bubbles may have been the problem.

Trail groups examine macroinvertebrates using ice-cube trays for collection. 

At Sourdough the only macroinvertebrates collected were Caddisfly larvae, which once again were difficult to spot looking like just tiny clumps of gravel at first and about half the time these cases were no longer occupied. Part of this lack of macroinvertebrate diversity could likely be that just a few weeks ago this creek was completely dried up. Once again the pH turned out to be neutral and students opted to skip the seemingly fickle DO test.

Back at the microscope lab students took a closer look at the macroinvertebrates they had collected. One macroinvertebrate collected from Fawn creek was too small to identify earlier but under the microscope turned out to be a Fishfly larva (Order Megaloptera), a predator with a menacing pair of mandibles- when viewed through a microscope. Students were curious to see if this Fishfly larva would try to eat a flatworm so we placed them in the same dish. The Fishfly did indeed try to bite the flatworm but the much larger flatworm pushed the larva out of it’s way after a brief albeit dramatic struggle.

Poking around looking for various creepy crawlers from amphibians to macroinvertebrates has always been my favorite past time. Most people I hike with quickly grow tired of waiting as I search under each and every accessible rock or log trying to find these seldom seen or appreciated creatures, but the students from Friday Harbor were just as excited as I was to find out what was lurking under each rock. Thank you Friday Harbor students for being willing to get cold, wet and muddy in the name of science and exploration! I hope you will visit the North Cascades again but don’t forget there are many places to explore right in your own backyard where there are rock and logs with all sorts of creepy crawlers hiding under them waiting to be found!

Photos by Jessica Newley. 

Mountain School Stewardship

by Julie Stone.

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 Learning Center, explore the nature in their backyard, and learn about their role as stewards of the forest. So far, we’ve had trips with Whatcom Hills Waldorf and Lowell, both with great fall weather, a lot of hard work and lots of fun. Here is an update from our latest trip with Lowell.

First and foremost, I want to thank our grads, Kiira, Susan, Matt and Ashley for coming. They did an amazing job organizing the kids, keeping track of their groups, doling out little educational tidbits, and keeping the kids motivated while pulling blackberries and mulching. I think they deserve the “making blackberry removal fun” merit badge. Its a skill. Plus, they’re just plain cool. Thanks again you guys! We’ve also been working with Rae, the Volunteer Coordinator with Bellingham Parks and Recreation. She has invaluable tips of the trade, like how to doggy-dig mulch into a bucket and how to drive a pickup filled with blackberry vines with the equipment for 35 volunteers stacked on top. She’s amazing. Join us next time for when she saves the world!

Matt works with students to figure out which blackberries to tackle next. 

Rae's truck loaded up after our workday.

Our first class arrived on a frosty morning at Lowell Park after a cold walk from their school. I start out by getting the kids talking about Mountain School and reminding them what a plant needs to survive. We played an invasive plant game that I aptly named “Invasive Invasion.” Its nearly impossible to say, I spent the whole day trying. The game emphasized the lessons the kids learned about what plants need (air, sun, water and soil), while letting them run around like crazy people. I introduced the idea of stewardship and our role in the fight to keep our native plants alive, which they accepted with the gusto only children can muster for clipping blackberries. Ah, the magic of youth…

Rae split the kids up into work groups and we tackled the huge patch of blackberries in front of us. The groups worked together to clear around native plants that had been planted in previous years. Each graduate student had their own work group and area to work in. We had two overlapping classes, with about 60 kids throughout the day. All those hands made for light work while we cleared over 200 square feet of blackberry. Both classes had a great time, happy to be outside and see their Mountain School instructors. At the end of the day, we were all proud of the amount of progress we had made. Way to go Lowell!

 Lowell park before all of our work.

 The park after all of our work!

Thanks again for supporting Mountain School and all of our programs at the North Cascades Institute. Look for us in a park near you!

This article is cross-posted on the Chattermarks Blog. 

Watershed Explorations with Soundview School

Soundview students present their field investigation findings at the Water Symposium.

by Chris Kiser.

The past week of Mountain School was full of Watershed and Water Quality Studies! 23 Soundview students from Lynnwood grades 6th - 8th arrived Monday morning ready to explore and study the streams and water bodies in the Upper Skagit River watershed around the Environmental Learning Center.

Learning on the first day centered around developing an understanding of watersheds and the various biological, chemical, and physical dynamics that contribute to overall water movement and stream health. Students were introduced to the idea of inquiry and scientific field investigations, spending solo time carefully observing, recording, and comparing lifezones with different water influences in their field journals.

Students spent the entire second day developing questions about various aspects of watershed dynamics in the North Cascades ecosystem and conducted their own field investigations in order to draw conclusions from their research. Using a variety of field tools, Soundview students tested such chemical parameters as pH levels, dissolved oxygen, water temperature, or turbidity. Some student groups chose to focus their research on exploring the populations of benthic marco-invertebrates living in different stream habitats, while others conducted observational studies exploring the riparian vegetation, canopy cover and overall stream and sedimentation flow.

On the third day, students gathered together to share their findings in a public symposium on Water in the North Cascades. All groups demonstrated a remarkable understanding of the inter-relationships between a variety of different parameters affecting water movement and quality, evaluating their findings and suggesting ways to improve their studies in the future. 

All student data was added to a comprehensive database compiling Mountain School student research in conjunction with long-term Park Service data of the area. Thank you Soundview students for your eager scientific inquiry into the watershed dynamics of the North Cascades and for contributing to Park research in this important field!

Understanding Connection and Community

by Colby Mitchell.

On a dreary September morning a team of 6th grade students from Seattle's Westside School upend cobble in Deer Creek while searching for macro-invertebrates - living clues in the mystery of this habitat's health and the quality of the water cascading downstream. Their giddy grins and eager body language belie the soggy impediments to learning that characterize Pacific Northwest weather this time of year.

Weeks later, on a crisp October afternoon, seven 5th grade students from Bellingham's Happy Valley Elementary grapple with the concept of a watershed while scanning the snow encrusted peaks which ensnare Diablo Lake. Narrating the life of a raindrop, they trace its course from cloud to ground to river and eventually the sea. Participants delight in the chance to imagine water flowing through their world and passing places they may never go.

As an educator and lifelong science enthusiast I am quick to assign my own value to these experiences and the concepts they explicate. For one, these are classroom lessons come to life. I can recall cartoonish diagrams illustrating watersheds projected from transparencies onto my 5th grade classroom wall, but these children skip rocks on the water of Diablo Lake and then, when they leave, gaze out the window of their bus at the same water as it runs the Skagit River toward Puget Sound. Similarly, the 6th grade students from Westside School will spend an afternoon chasing dragonfly nymphs around with a microscope lens while my memories of macro-invertebrates, like the memories of many youth, are seen through the warped glass of a specimen jar.

Apart from the transformative nature of these place-based experiences, there is a deeper value in the concepts that we, as instructors, strive to impart to participants. Ideas like watersheds and ecological connectivity are stepping-stones to the broader skill-set of systems thinking. Understanding a place and its connection to other places is a mental exercise whose resultant fitness is transferable to an ever broadening set of challenges looming large on our shared horizon.

On the last day of each Mountain School session participants engage with the big ideas of Community. By this point the concept is far from foreign, as each individual has already explored the complexity of Northwest foodwebs and other interdependent systems. What separates this culminating foray into Community from previous learning is the place of the Individual within the system. The question of where and how you connect to the larger world is one each of us wrestle with in our lives and, in many ways, how we answer shapes the way we create identity for self and community.

There are many laudable audience transformations we strive to make during a single Mountain School session. Participants leave with a deeper knowledge of the ecosystem, more comfort in spending time outdoors, and stronger science literacy, but I personally ascribe the deepest value to an individual leaving with a newfound ability to see the connections between things which, until then, seemed so far apart. This is the seed from which deep understanding and lifelong stewardship will grow.

This article is cross-posted to the Chattermarks Blog. 

Leading photo by Jessica Newley. 

What was the most exciting part of Mountain School, Carl Cozier Elementary?

Carl Cozier Elementary School in Bellingham came to the North Cascades from September 19-21. After three days full of bear sightings and waterfalls, students shared these thoughts on the most exciting parts of Mountain School with instructors Mollie Behn and Elise Ehrheart during a recent post-trip visit to their school. Thanks Carl Cozier!


What was the most exciting part of Mountain School?

"The trees that can get so big but they don't fall down."

"Learning how to get left over food and make it dirt!"

"The time that we saw the tree that has bear claw marks on it."

"Hearing nature - like the birds!"

"All of the plants and animals that I never knew about, so I could help them."

"I especially liked how we all worked together as a community!"

"Seeing Lily and her cubs and seeing my favorite plant, the lady fern."

"Getting closer to nature."

"Learning that if one of the animals gets taken out of the food chain it makes a difference."


Leading photo by Rick Allen. 

A Smashingly Good Time with Happy Valley and Ranger Carolyn

by Ranger Carolyn.

Some of my favorite moments at Mountain School happen because students ask fascinating questions. My trail group from Happy Valley Elementary School had questions about everything we saw, whether abiotic or biotic. While we were hiking, some students noticed interesting rocks near the trail. We each picked one up to see if we could figure out how it was formed. One of the questions they asked was “What is inside this rock?” Some of the students remembered that their teacher, Mr. D’hondt, has special rocks in his classroom. “They’re the kind with crystals inside,” was how one person described geodes. So, we decided to save some of our rocks to see if we could find out what they had inside.

The next morning I borrowed a rock hammer, one of the tools the geologists use when they’re learning about where rocks come from. Ms. Bean, another teacher from Happy Valley who had past experience breaking rocks open, did us the honor of smashing our samples to see what was inside. We all protected our eyes with funny looking blue goggles and stood far away so we wouldn’t get hit with flying pieces of rock. Each time Ms. Bean shattered a rock, we all ran up to see what had happened.

We didn’t find any geodes, but what a great experience we had! Not only did we get to use a rock hammer, but we also used another new tool – a hand lens – to look closely at our rocks. We saw different types of crystals that show up really well when a rock is freshly cracked. We noticed that some rocks are harder to break than others. We also learned that some rocks look the same color on the outside, but are actually a different color on the inside.

As a trail leader at Mountain School, I usually make a plan for what activities my group will do, but this one wasn’t in the plan. If it hadn’t been for these inquisitive students from Happy Valley, we never would have had this exciting experience with our rocks. Thanks to all of the Mountain Schoolers, past and future, who are interested enough in their ecosystem to ask thoughtful questions. 

Leading photo by Rick Allen. 

Impressions of the North Cascades from Westside School

Westside students share their Impressions of the North Cascades back at their home classroom. 

Westside School fifth graders, from Seattle, joined us at Mountain School from September 26-28. Students participated in our Ecosystems Exploration and Water Quality Investigation programs that had them both hiking on our trails and turning over rocks in our streams. During a post-trip class visit, students composed these "Impressions of the North Cascades." Thanks for sharing your beautiful thoughts on this special place, Westside!

"In the North Cascades, it was often cold and chilly, but for the most part, I was warm bundled up in my clothes. I could hear the rain falling on the leaves and it sounded like music. The streams tumbled and flowed smoothly through the forests full of moss and different trees. It smelled of cedar and the mountains rose into the sky like big giants. Bright white snow was visible in some places on the mountains, coating them like sugar."  - Annika

"In the North Cascades there are rich, tall, majestic trees. The birds call out. The trees sway, as if dancing in a breeze. The clouds give way and rain pours down. Animals hide in warm, mossy homes. Mountains feel like friendly giants, reassuring forms in the background. We hike up a trail, coming to rest at a lake. It gently rocks and flows as rain patters. Slowly, slowly the sun comes out. It warms the earth. Everything is warm and welcoming."  - Jordan

"The North Cascades were one of the most beautiful places I have ever been to. The mountains were so tall you could think they go on forever. The forest was so lush, green, and wonderful it was almost magical. It was so peaceful, with only the birds chirping and the water running."  - Anna

"When I come into the forest, I feel at peace. I can't hear anything except the birds and the mountains. It makes me feel like I am in my home away from home. The trees, the cool fresh dirt, the hiking. I sometimes even want to live in the North Cascades forest. I just love it."  - Greta


Leading photo by Rick Allen. Other photos by Jessica Newley. 

Notes from Spruce Street School

We had a wonderful time with Spruce Street School during their September 14-16 session of Mountain School. Instructors received these beautiful notes from the students. Thank you Spruce Street!