For a Limited Time: Wild Whatcom T-shirts Available!

It's Raining, It's Pouring, Let's Go Exploring...

Have you been wanting a Wild Whatcom t-shirt, but weren't sure how to get one?

Now is your chance!

From today through July 4, 2016, we will be making them available for sale. Quantities are limited.

Youth and Adult (Men's and Women's) T-Shirts

High-quality, sport tech fabric

  • X-Small to Large (Youth Long-Sleeve: S & M only)
  • Blue, Gray, and Classic Wild Whatcom Forest Green
  • Short-Sleeve: $15 each
  • Long-Sleeve: $20 each
  • Cash or checks only (payable to Wild Whatcom)

For questions or to order, contact Rachel Budelsky: rachel@wildwhatcom.org

Boys Explorers Club - Spring 2016 Season Wrap Up

BEC group meeting lakeside during spring 2016 season

Dear Boys Explorers Club Families,

On behalf of the Boys Explorers Club (BEC) mentors, we thank you for a wonderful spring season full of exploration and growth. With 15 groups and 163 boys in our cohort, we are a vibrant, genuine, and powerful force within our community.

Families, your Explorers gave 608 volunteer hours at our Connelly Creek Service Site. Our Four Shields Program participants volunteered 75 hours as Explorers Mentor Apprentices, and our Adult Volunteers gave over 30 hours on outings! The BEC would like to thank Nooksack Salmon Enhancement Association (NSEA) and the City of Bellingham Parks Department for all their help facilitating our spring service project. 

Our mentoring team is appreciative of all the support and encouragement we receive from families, and we are grateful for all the time we get with your Explorers. Our staff work hard to bring your children thoughtful and intentional programming. Although there is a great deal of planning that goes into the Explorers Club experience, we find that it's more often our participants' interactions within the natural environment, interpersonal dynamics within the group, and long-term experience with a consistent Explorers Club culture that provides the major lessons and takeaways on our outings. 

As mentors we work to create the space and to hold the container of safety for these experiences to occur. Stan Crow, a mentor, wilderness guide, and former director of Rite of Passage Journeys, described this mentoring style beautifully when he said, “The work of a mentor is in the present moment, exploring actions, behaviors, and feelings in real-time, and always highlighting the power of choice that the youth has in the moment”.

Our aim, much like Stan Crow's, is to be fully present with our explorers while on outings. We seek to empower our mentees when we see moments of character growth and strengthening leadership in them, and to walk along side and encourage them as they overcome challenges and aim beyond the target. 

This spring our mentors witnessed this cohort of emerging males becoming deeply connected with one another in constructive and genuine ways while being firmly rooted in their connection to and stewardship for the land. 

Spring 2016 - Season Highlights

Throughout Whatcom County's lowland forest and shoreline our younger groups:

  • Played games
  • Made group decisions
  • Learned to recognize bird calls and navigational clues
  • Rambled
  • Traversed as they immersed themselves in the diverse landscape from Clayton Beach to north Lake Whatcom

Celebrating the abundance of spring they learned to make nettle tea, feasted on salmon berries and thimble berries, collected cottonwood buds for salves, and harvested cedar and alder for carving wood.  

Our elder Explorers Club groups ventured out to further locations like Lizard Lake, North Lake Samish Trail, and the Deming Eagle Preserve. Here their endurance and backcountry skills were put to the test. These locations provided opportunities for the boys to engage in complex crafts like fire by friction, plaster casting, and tarp shelter work. These boys also gathered beta on a few first time outing locations. Driving up Cleator Road, they explored the upper reaches of Chuckanut Mountain on the Rock Trail. Explorers navigated a massive sandstone ridge line down to Lost Lake, and they found quiet spots along the shore to sit and take it all in. These groups also took time to pioneer the Lookout Mountain Forest Preserve. Climbing high up into the logging lands, the boys explored part of Bellingham's watershed, finding beautiful cascading falls and ample space to work on skills. 

Bringing our spring season to a strong finish, The Daredevil's Club celebrated their time as an BEC group with a graduation camp out at Racehorse Falls while our Four Shields Program ventured out along the Baker River to sleep under the stars nestled in the deep valley between Anderson Butte and Mt. Shuksan.

BEC Spring 2016 season highlights

Announcements

Mark your calendar! The 2016-17 Boys Explorers Club season starts Saturday, August 27! Registration for the 2016-17 season is open for returning Explorers Club participants. This priority window for returning participants runs through Friday, July 15. After that, space will open to children on the Interest List.

New for 2016-17 - In response to feedback, we are switching to a full academic-year registration cycle for Explorers Club and have added an additional outing. This means you’ll now need to register only once for an expanded series of nine (9) Explorers Club outings, running from late August to mid-June. We are continuing with our two-tier tuition option and have both payment plans and financial assistance available. Information about payment plans and financial assistance are available during registration. Please note Explorers Club financial assistance requests are due by Friday, July 15. 

LIBK - Please let us know if your son won't be joining us for our 2016/17 season. Families have always shaped the directions of Explorers Club – we truly want you to LIBK (Let It Be Known) so that we can collaborate more effectively on raising stellar stewards of self, others, and human and natural communities. If you haven't done so, please take a few minutes to fill our parent and youth surveys and have your Explorer do the same. Thanks so much for taking the time to LIBK!

Don't forget! Sign up for our seasonal Wild Connections newsletter. 

Explorers, thanks for a great season!

On behalf of the BEC Mentoring Team,

Steve, Tim, Peter, Brian, Greg, Conor, & Bobby

 

Ms. Holly's Famous Granola Bars

Ms. Holly's Famous Granola Bars

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line 9" x 13" pan with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, mix the following ingredients:

1 or 2 mashed bananas, depending on size of banana

1/2 cup nut butter or sunflower butter

1/2 cup sugar or maple syrup

Dash or two of sea salt

1-3 Tbs of cinnamon

Add these ingredients:

1/2 cup shredded unsweetened coconut

1/2 cup raw sunflower seeds

1/2 cup pepitas (raw pumpkin seeds)

1/2 cup ground flaxmeal

1/2 cup dried fruit (dates, cherries, apricots, raisins...)

1/2 cup chocolate chips

2 Tbs of chia seeds

3 cups rolled oats (not quick)

Mix all ingredients together until fully incorporated and batter is thoroughly moistened. Spread evenly onto parchment paper, pressing batter firmly into pan for best results. Bake at 325 degrees for 25-30 minutes. Cut when cool and store in an airtight container.

Enjoy on a trail near you!

Exploring with the Governor! Wild Whatcom wins grant to launch EdVentures

We have been buzzing like bees! Washington Governor Jay Inslee recently visited Bellingham to present Wild Whatcom with a $20,000 grant award from the Washington State Recreation and Conservation Office for the new No Child Left Inside program. Over $940,000 in grants were awarded for programs in 15 counties statewide to help get kids outdoors to connect with nature and their communities. With only 19 out of 122 applications selected for funding, we are honored to be among the recipients of this competitive grant. A shout out to our friends at North Cascades Institute, the only other Whatcom County organization to be selected!  

“These grants create opportunities for kids who don’t get to visit parks and other natural places. When children connect with nature, it improves their health and their grades. It also can help them appreciate their communities and instills in them the importance of our state’s natural resources. Investing in these programs helps all Washingtonians.”
Governor Inslee

EdVentures, a partnership between Wild Whatcom and the Bellingham School District with support from the Whatcom Community Foundation, will begin this fall with a series of four sequential field outings during the 2016-17 school year for second graders, from the district’s six Title 1 elementary schools (with plans to expand to all schools as soon as possible, dependent on additional funding). Students will explore nature first-hand, enhanced by pre and post learning sessions at their schools.

“Thousands more children will get outside because of No Child Left Inside, educating them about the splendors of our incredible natural resources and beginning a lifelong love of the outdoors and outdoor recreation."
Sen. Kevin Ranker (D-Orcas Island)

In addition to Governor Inslee, Dr. Greg Baker (Bellingham Schools Superintendent), Senator Kevin Ranker (D-Orcas Island), and Don Hoch, Director of Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission helped deliver the exciting news. After the presentation, Governor Inslee and special guests joined the kids and field staff from our Neighborhood Nature class at Northern Heights Elementary in the woods to learn and explore. That doesn't happen every day!

Our hearts are full of gratitude for our Governor, Superintendent Greg Baker, and the legislators who understand the importance of fostering connections to the outdoors and are committed to providing access to nature for all children. This short video produced by the Governor’s office provides a great snapshot of the celebration. Additional media coverage was provided by the Bellingham Herald.

 

 

 

Wild Whatcom Receives State Grant; Governor Inslee to Present Award in Bellingham

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Local Non-Profit Receives State Grant; Governor Inslee to Present Award in Bellingham

BELLINGHAM, WA, April 23, 2016 - Wild Whatcom, a local outdoor education non-profit organization, has been awarded a $20,000 grant from the Washington State Recreation and Conservation Office to provide a linked series of outdoor learning opportunities to more than 200 area second graders. Washington Governor Jay Inslee will visit Bellingham on Monday, April 25 to launch the new No Child Left Inside grant program and make the award announcement. "It's an honor to receive this grant and to hear the news from the governor himself,” said Executive Director, Emily Highleyman. “We are thrilled that Gov. Inslee recognizes the vital need for kids to spend time in nature."

EdVentures, a partnership between Wild Whatcom and the Bellingham School District with support from the Whatcom Community Foundation, is scheduled to begin this fall and will include a series of four sequential field outings during the 2016-17 school year for second graders from the district’s six Title 1 elementary schools. Students will explore nature first-hand, enhanced by pre and post learning sessions at their schools.

Governor Inslee’s trip to Bellingham will include a visit to Northern Heights Elementary where he will explore and learn about nature with a group of kids participating in Wild Whatcom's after-school program, Neighborhood Nature.

Photo Opportunity

Monday, April 25, 2016

4:00PM

Northern Heights Elementary (school entrance)

4000 Magrath Road, Bellingham

For more information about the No Child Left Inside grant visit: www.rco.wa.gov/grants/ncli.shtml

About Wild Whatcom

Wild Whatcom is a non-profit, outdoor education organization located in Bellingham, Washington. Established in 2004, Wild Whatcom fosters lifelong connections to nature and community through outdoor exploration and service. The organization serves over 800 kids and adults in a variety of year-round nature programs. In 2013, Wild Whatcom was named one of the top five summer camp experiences for children by Outside Magazine. For more information, visit www.wildwhatcom.org. Connect with us: Facebook/wildwhatcom and Twitter/wildwhatcom.

Media Contact:

Laurel Peak, Program Manager

(203) 470-2710, laurel@wildwhatcom.org

Wild Whatcom

(360) 389-3414, info@wildwhatcom.org

 

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Wahoo! Wild Whatcom has a New Website

Hello!

Thank you for visiting our new website! Inside days for many of us at Wild Whatcom over the past months have been busy, busy with LOTS going on including work on this new website. We are looking for reviews and feedback and would be so appreciative if you could take a moment to poke around and let us know what you think - both an overall first impression of the whole site as well as specific feedback. We are looking for fixes (bugs) first, and features (wishlist) second.

Specifically, here is feedback we are looking for:

  • Overall review from a content standpoint. Do you understand who Wild Whatcom is and what we do? Reading level - too high, too low, just right? Are we missing any important details/info?
  • Any typos, incorrect grammar, punctuation, etc.
  • Any broken or missing links.
  • Wish list of other features to consider.

Please note that some areas of the site are still under construction and that, as with any website, it is a work-in-progress with on-going maintenance and updates part of the daily mix. Please note:

  • The homepage is still being polished
  • Some of the Summer Adventure offerings are still TBA.
  • Winter Outings are just winding up, but we will house previous year offerings on the site so families can view what we typically offer any time of the year. Winter 2016 offerings will be back up soon.   
  • The Events and Press pages are still under construction as we figure out the most efficient way to use these options in addition to the Blog.

Please send your comments (in email body or as an attachment) to: info@wildwhatcom.org.

When sending your comments, please also let us know the following:

  • Device used to review the site (mobile, tablet, laptop or a mix if you used more than one)
  • Browser(s) - both name and version. You can check that here: http://www.whatsmybrowser.org/.

Here is a link to the new site (not live): https://wild-whatcom.squarespace.com

For reference, here is a link to the current site: http://wildwhatcom.org/

Thanks in advance for your time and support!

With gratitude,

All of us at Wild Whatcom