Outdoor Education

NorthWoods provides an ideal setting for both group-challenge and recreation programs as well as environmental education.

Our 1500-acre campus rises gently away from the upper Clyde River valley, into a generation-old experimental red-pine plantation, through a mixture of softwood and hardwood forests to the edge of Echo Lake. Both groomed and backcountry hiking and skiing trails, an interpretive nature trail, a newly renovated challenge course, and a small pond are all filled with clues as to how both humans and wildlife have lived in this habitat over the course of hundreds of years.

Discover the wonder of local geology at a nearby glacial erratic, and then ponder the human and animal force that pulled glacial remnants into an astounding turn-of-the-century round barn foundation. As facilitators, we encourage students and teachers to open their senses to the lessons of this land. We hope you will use NorthWoods as a resource to broaden the scope and depth of your classroom activities.

Oberon the Barred Owl is one of our most esteemed and longest-serving NorthWoods employees. Early in their life as a wild bird, Oberon suffered a head trauma, resulting in a loss of balance and damage to their eyesight. They were nursed back to health by the wildlife rehabilitators at the Vermont Institute for Natural Science (VINS), but due to their injury was unable to be released back into the wild, and instead came to live with us. For many years, Oberon traveled to schools and programs throughout northern Vermont. Now, they are retired from traveling and remain on campus, serving as an ambassador to their species, and teaching visitors about the wonders of our northern wildlife.