Field Notes: A Stinky Sponge, a Frozen Beaver, and a Camera

Jocelyn Akins knows her audience. “Wanna bust your balls all day in the field with me tomorrow slinging frozen beaver?” This is the text I receive. Entirely out of the blue. Entirely unsurprising, given who it’s coming from. Jocelyn Akins (Dr....

SOP 12: Native Bees of the Gorge

Event Details Where: Click here to watch the recorded lecture. Additional Resources:  Plants that attract native pollinators year round   Oregon Bee Project - Bee Atlas  What you can do in our backyard to help save the bees! Lecture Description: The Columbia River Gorge is buzzing with spectacular...

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SOP 12: Debris Flows from Mount Adams and Mount Hood

Event Details Where: Click here to watch the recorded lecture. Lecture Description Debris flows are rapidly moving, water-saturated masses of rock and sediment that occur naturally on volcanoes like Mount Adams and Mount Hood. Small, storm-triggered debris flows occur routinely and commonly go...

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SOP 12: Rare Carnivores of the High Cascades

Event Details Where: Click here to watch the recorded lecture. Additional Resources: Check out this podcast on wolverines Lecture Description: Two rare carnivores roam the high-alpine regions of the Washington Cascades. Wolverines were once eliminated entirely from Washington, but eventually began...

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SOP 12: The Unusual Mushrooms of Cascadia

Event Details Where: Click here to watch recorded lecture. Additional Resources: Mycomatch.com & mushroomsofcascadia.com Lecture Description: Virtually every habitat found anywhere in the entire Cascadia Region, from southern Alaska to Central California and from the ocean to the west slopes...

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You Just Have to Take a Leap

You Just Have to Take a Leap

When the pandemic hit, I was living in Minneapolis, MN and working as a corporate copywriter in the healthcare industry. I slowly realized that I needed a change. A year and a half later, my life could not be more different. I never thought I’d be working in the outdoor education industry with...

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Ice Cave Explorers

Ice Cave Explorers

During the last day of the eight- to twelve-year-old camp, Outdoor Explores, we took the Campers to the Ice Caves nearby campus. Taking a large group of this age group into a pitch-black cave with slippery ice as flooring, meant we had to be absolutely positive that everyone had all the necessary...

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Table Full of Laughter

Table Full of Laughter

This summer I truly feel like I’m the lucky one - I get to go to camp all summer long!After a very isolating past year filled with many uncertainties, I feel very grateful to be constantly surrounded and supported by a cohort of fantastic co-educators and campers. Getting to temporarily call Trout...

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Easing Back into the World

Easing Back into the World

Although this is my second year serving as an AmeriCorps intern at Mt. Adams institute, this is my first experience working here at the camp, in-person with the campers and fellow counselors. I began my time with the program last summer, right in the middle of the pandemic. In-person summer camp...

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From Texas to the PNW

From Texas to the PNW

Howdy! In late May, I packed up nearly all of my belongings and traveled 2,200 miles to the Pacific Northwest. Little did I know that I could flourish and challenge myself in this new environment to develop different strategies to help campers get a better glance at our big, beautiful, and...

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