Discovering Biodiversity: Seeing the Forest and the Trees
Event Details
Close your eyes and imagine yourself deep in a North Cascades forest in mid-May—birds are singing, trees are leafing green, and the breeze is fresh with the promise of summer.
Over this spring weekend based at the North Cascades Environmental Learning Center, together we will walk trails, sit under old trees, listen to bugs and birdsong, and feel the warmth of a fire as we explore many answers to a common question: What makes forests special and how do they work?
Our guide will be Ed Grumbine, a Bellingham resident who has shared his love and knowledge of natural history with many people over multiple decades. He taught his first seminar in the North Cascades in 1979 and was a "co-dreamer" of North Cascades Institute along with Saul Weisberg, Tom Fleischner and others in the early 1980s! He is interested in how people work to protect nature; he has been a backcountry ranger in North Cascades and Olympic Parks and is an expert on US land management.
Together on the trail, we will identify trees and birds, shrubs and stones, find fungi underground, uncover the story of ice shaping the land, and more. We will learn how to best use natural history field guides and share our common pool of knowledge about nature to enrich our experience together.
Over this weekend, you will be immersed in nature and learn to see how the past, present, and future of forests are right in front of you, waiting to be discovered!
Tuition includes two nights of comfortable lodging, seven delicious meals made from local and organic produce and foods and interesting evening programs.
Minimum age to attend is 18. Scholarships and Student, Military and Disability discounts are be available for most in-person programs. Call (360) 854-2599 for more info!