by Mt. Adams Institute | Oct 23, 2019 | Land Stewards
The following are potential hazards that a wilderness backcountry ranger on the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest might face on a daily basis. This is not an attempt to scare anyone away from spending a season in this position, but serves as a list of some of...
by Mt. Adams Institute | Oct 23, 2019 | Land Stewards
The purpose of this blog is to inspire anyone who is interested in a Public Lands Stewards AmeriCorps position with the Mt. Adams Institute (MAI), but has yet to fully commit. This specific blog is oriented towards the Wilderness Ranger position in the Methow Valley...
by Mt. Adams Institute | Oct 23, 2019 | Land Stewards
My one person tent and the Alpine Lakes Wilderness have become my home and I am not ready to let either of them go. These past few months have been a whirlwind of adventures. There are only a dozen or so lakes that I have yet to visit and only a few trails that I have...
by Mt. Adams Institute | Sep 10, 2019 | Land Stewards
Upper Lyman lakes in the Glacier Peak Wilderness area is a truly sublime glimpse into Washington’s high alpine. As little as one hundred years ago, these lakes were nonexistent, and instead were covered by the Lyman glacier, now almost completely receded onto...
by Mt. Adams Institute | Sep 6, 2019 | Land Stewards
Water is Life May, water is abundant Meandering through channels and Man-made ditches It comes up to your chest Don’t top! July, water is disappearing Forced to a stop By the disputes of men Mud and duck tracks are reminders Of what once was Some strongholds remain...
by Mt. Adams Institute | Sep 6, 2019 | Land Stewards
It has been barely over a month since I began the internship with Mt. Adams Institute. After spending a winter in Bozeman, MT, I became accustomed to so many luxuries that I didn’t realize how detached I was becoming to the natural world around me. I slept in a...
by Mt. Adams Institute | Sep 6, 2019 | Land Stewards
My first month at the Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge began with lots of training and learning. For the last couple of weeks I have been surveying at Wapato Lake for two main invasive species – Lythrum salicaria (purple loosestrife) and Iris...
by Mt. Adams Institute | Sep 6, 2019 | Land Stewards
I am stationed on the Entiat Ranger District of the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest as a backcountry ranger. Due to training and the terrain of my district, I have been loaned to the Chelan Ranger District for my first two tours. Lake Chelan, the main...
by Mt. Adams Institute | Sep 6, 2019 | Land Stewards
Conboy Lake is not really a lake. Mice can maneuver into the inside of cars and eat emergency ramen rations. Use one hand to catch bullfrogs. Toads breed in hordes. Bring a plank for crossing streams. And lastly, unless you’re over 50 years old, don’t even try to play...
by Mt. Adams Institute | Sep 6, 2019 | Land Stewards
The sun shines high above the Pacific Crest Trail. Spinola Creek tumbles through basalt rock worn by millennia of meltwater. A northern harrier hawk crests over Cathedral Ridge looking to make a meal of a vole. It is noon – and like the predator above, I search...
by Mt. Adams Institute | Sep 6, 2019 | Land Stewards
The first time I crossed over Highway 20 and into the Methow Valley I was in a strangers truck hitchhiking from Bellingham, WA to Glacier National Park. Our driver pulled off the road at Washington Pass where Liberty Bell, Early Winters Spires and the Needles...
by Mt. Adams Institute | Sep 6, 2019 | Land Stewards
It’s a quiet June evening here in the Methow Valley and I’m slowly soaking in the last few days off before heading back out into the Pasayten Wilderness. This hitch I’m headed out with a few members of the trail crew to put my newly earned crosscut certification to...
by Mt. Adams Institute | Sep 6, 2019 | Land Stewards
About two months in and every day is still unique, keeping me on my toes. I have predominantly been helping the Cle Elum Ranger District’s Trail Crew by clearing out trails in the front country. I had not been on a single trail in the Cle Elum Ranger District before...
by Mt. Adams Institute | Sep 6, 2019 | Land Stewards
I am serving in the Mt. Adams Institute’s Public Lands Stewards program in Eugene, OR with the Willamette Resources and Educational Network (WREN). WREN is part of the West Eugene Wetlands partnership and we work out of a shared office space, the Red House. The...
by Mt. Adams Institute | Nov 12, 2018 | Land Stewards
I am currently in the final month of this internship and I couldn’t have asked for a more adventurous summer. Emily and I have been thrown multiple curveballs this summer, from our manager having part of his finger cut off in a non-work related accident, to the...
by Mt. Adams Institute | Nov 12, 2018 | Land Stewards
It is now October and Conboy Lake is painted with beautiful hues of orange, yellow and red as the quaking aspen leaves change to their fall colors. The wildlife is in full force; I can barely sleep through the sounds of elk bugling and owls hooting through the night....
by Mt. Adams Institute | Nov 12, 2018 | Land Stewards
I recently had a lengthy conversation with my Dad about the future; my plans for it, my goals and expectations. I told him I was planning on staying in the Methow Valley for the winter and was applying for 2019 seasonal positions with the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) in...
by Mt. Adams Institute | Oct 10, 2018 | Land Stewards
We are entering our final month of the Public Lands Stewards program and I am stunned at how quickly the time has gone. I remember my first few weeks, when I was still getting my footing and there was still snow on the ground. Now there is snow once again, but it is...
by Mt. Adams Institute | Oct 10, 2018 | Land Stewards
On one of our very first patrol trips, my partner Emma and I headed up to the Pyramid Mountain Trail. You access the trailhead via Shady Pass, a steep, gravel road that takes you from my home district, Entiat, up over the mountains and down the other side to the...
by Mt. Adams Institute | Oct 9, 2018 | Land Stewards
September cast a sharp visible distinction on the color wheel of the alpine basin where I’ve spent a good portion of my time as a Wilderness trails ranger intern for the Chelan Ranger District. Fields of bear grass in the meadows above Lyman Lake slim their bulbous...
by Mt. Adams Institute | Sep 28, 2018 | Land Stewards
It has now been four months since I left my home to travel to Brookings, Oregon to start my AmeriCorps volunteer internship with Oregon Parks and Recreation and it has been such an incredible journey! Over the last several months I’ve had the opportunity to meet and...
