Improving the 4-season community trail at Albany School required school kids of all ages, community volunteers and school support, and local cedar provided by Goodridge Lumber. An awesome collaboration on a NorthWoods project, funded by a grant from Seventh Generation.
On August 24th, 43 first-year students and their instructors from Lyndon State College completed a service project to help NorthWoods get ready for the seasons ahead. Working alongside NorthWoods staff, volunteers cleared brush and performed maintenance on NorthWoods' Leadership Trail, stained the entrance deck, and stacked more than three cords of firewood to fuel our new energy-efficient wood boiler. Thank you, LSC! We wish you a great year. Also at LSC, eighteen lucky students will study the Wilderness Mind this fall, under the guidance of Adjunct Faculty member and NorthWoods' Trails [Read More...]
Every summer camper has a favorite spot around the NorthWoods campus. We have yet to take an official survey, but I would guess our Pond would be the highlight. It is spring-fed, and at 18 feet deep in the center, it offers a surprisingly cold, refreshing dip for kids who would rather spend all summer adrift than on land. And of course, there is the Pond’s Edge, home to tadpoles, frogs, crayfish, caddisflies, water boatmen, and a host of other macroinvertebrates in various stages of metamorphosis. We introduce these in a formal pond study at the [Read More...]
While the early signs of Fall are emerging around the NorthWoods campus, there are some glaring absences for those of us who make our home or have a habit of visiting here. I have been looking everywhere for flip flops tossed aside by Anika in a barefoot pursuit of some natural wonder, and I've been straining my ears to hear the notes of a ragtime tune played by Tim on his way through the lodge. In August, Tim and Anika completed their two year terms, representing the 18th [Read More...]
We are excited to have received a letter from US Senator to Vermont, Bernie Sanders, recognizing and thanking NorthWoods and the Conservation Corps for twenty years of service to the environment. Thanks Bernie! Check out the original, or read the transcript, below. Dear Ross and the Conservation Corps Team: I would like to offer my congratulations to the Conservation Corps on the reception of the Governor's Award for Environmental Excellence from Governor Peter Shumlin. This award signifies the outstanding work that the Conservation Corps has done to provide Vermont's youth with [Read More...]
It is mid July and the NorthWoods summer campers have been exploring some pretty cool spots in the Northeast Kingdom so far this summer. This week, Nature Day Campers have trekked on Brousseau Mountain and Mount Pisgah. We've worked on our stealth-walking skills, tracking snowshoe hare and garter snakes through the meadow, woods, and rocks of NorthWoods. We've spent countless hours in and around the pond, cooling off, testing crayfish pinch power, and becoming one with the pond life we have been investigating. We've learned about the unique adaptations of owls, and [Read More...]
NorthWoods Stewardship Center and Memphremagog Watershed Association will host a canoe tour of the Upper Clyde River Wetlands complex -- home to over 100 species of birds and rich flora -- on Friday, July 25th, from 9am to 1pm. With fifteen years' experience mapping the natural communities of the wetlands and working to control invasive species there, naturalist and NorthWoods Forest Stewardship Institute Director Jayson Benoit will lead the paddle, helping participants to identify wetland plants, including notable carnivorous and rare-to-Vermont species. "There are only a few other places in the state where [Read More...]
Neither rain, nor wind, nor mosquitos could keep the Burke Town School 7th Graders from enjoying their end of the year trip down the upper reaches of the Connecticut River. After a day of paddle instruction and expedition planning at NorthWoods, the group was ready to brave the elements and travel the CT River, launching from Colebrook, New Hampshire and taking out 15 miles downstream in Bloomfield, VT at the confluence with the Nulhegan River. A giant rainbow trout was caught by a 7th grade angler at Lyman Falls, and by breakfast the [Read More...]
NorthWoods Stewardship Center in East Charleston, VT is pleased to announce that they will be participating in the Summer Food Service Program for Children funded by the USDA. The program is designed to ensure that children who rely on free or reduced price meals during the school year continue to have adequate nutrition during the summer. NorthWoods hosts summer camps with an emphasis on nature and science inquiry, team building, nature crafting, outdoor play and exploration, recreation and primitive skill-building and connections to the unique natural resources of the Northeast Kingdom. NorthWoods will continue to provide homemade [Read More...]
Memphremagog Watershed Association is supporting NorthWoods' environmental education programs again in 2014 with a $500 education award to be used to subsidize local schools and students participating in NorthWoods programs that focus on the watershed. NorthWoods education staff has the opportunity to connect local youth with their backyard watershed in a variety of ways from an introduction to water quality, to invasive species removal. In 2013, MWA offered the first education award. This was used, in part, to support the Canoe Club at Troy School as NorthWoods staff facilitated a program on [Read More...]
