Education in the Wild

This winter Fernie Nature Tours is stepping into a new phase of social responsibility. Fernie Nature Tours has recently made the shift from an independently owned business to a social enterprise of the Wildsight Elk Valley Branch. A social enterprise applies an entrepreneurial approach to addressing social or environmental issues and creating positive community change.

Clothing company’s Explore Fund grant to help Wildsight deliver field trips

The North Face, a well-known outdoor clothing company, recently awarded a $2,500 grant to Wildsight to help children explore the outdoors. ... Read more »

"If everyone on Earth set out to live like a typical Kootenay resident, we'd need five Earths to get the job done," says Monica Nissen, Wildsight's Education program manager in Nelson.

"That's a whopping big eco-footprint." ... Read more »

More classes than ever learn the science of cold in a year of perfect winter weather ... Read more »

Grade 8 science students from six schools across the Columbia Basin were among the first to take part in Know Your Watershed, a new regionally-based water stewardship initiative of Columbia Basin Trust (CBT) and Wildsight. ... Read more »

Are you aged 14 to 18? Join Wildsight for a six-day guided wilderness adventure

School’s out and many kids are moving inside to play video games, surf the web and watch TV. Wildsight is offering Go Wild Youth Adventure hiking trips for youth aged 14 to 18 to help offset the trend. ... Read more »

“Youth are looking for something to believe in and that will inspire them.

To the 2009-2010 students of Beyond Recycling: ... Read more »

What really happens when we throw things ‘away’? Is there even such a place?

By ANNALEE GRANT

Wildsight's Go Wild summer program had its first hike of the summer, with another coming up on Aug. 23 to 28.

The first hike took place in July with 14 kids taking part.

"The kids had a fantastic time, they said it was a real positive experience," said Liz Hardwick, Wildsight's Go Wild program manager.

The attendees spent nearly a week in the Flathead Valley, covering not only over 30 kms of rocky mountain terrain, but the issues facing the pristine valley. The kids who  went along were far from experienced hikers.

Most of them had never climbed a mountain before," said Hardwick. Despite their lack of experience, Hardwick says the kids did extremely well.

"One kid said she could do a lot more than she thought she could do," said Hardwick.

Along the way the kids learned about packing light for hiking, maps and navigation and other stranger topics.

"A lot of them talked about learning how to go to the bathroom," said Hardwick

The 14 to 19 year olds had to camp and hike together, and Hardwick says they got along great.

"I think  one of the neatest things was seeing the support within the group," she said.

Hardwick says the hike scheduled to start Aug. 23 will "possibly traverse the Purcells from east to west," although the exact route is still being discussed.

"I like the idea of them experiencing a mountain range that kind of joins the East and West Kootenay said Hardwick. The trek is open to kids from both sides of the Kootenays.

Experienced mountaineers and Wildsight member Jenny Meens and Dave Quinn will be leading the August group.

For more information, or to register head to www.wildsight.ca or  call Wildsight at (250) 427 9325. The cost of the trip is $350, but subsidies are available to offset the cost. Ages 14 to 19 are welcome to participate.

From the Kimberley Daily Bulletin and Cranbrook Townsman, July 21, 2009.

By Tom Martin
Kimberley Daily Bulletin
July 10, 2009

June 25, Day 5.

OK. Day 5 of the Wildsight Go Wild 2009 expedition from Selkirk Secondary School was a tad anti-climactic. There's nothing like a three-hour drive on logging roads to kill the joy and connectedness we had experienced in the last five days. But it had to be done, and provided us with time to reflect on the trip. The observation in the headline was by one of the 14 grade nine students (Natalie) who I had the pleasure of accompanying on this trip to Akamina-Kishinena (AK) Provincial Park. I found her comment both humourous and informative.

The leaders all had interesting reflections. "The direct experience is the best way to learn," said 19-year-old co-leader Dan Moe. Selkirk teacher, co-leader and creator of the Go Wild program, Jenn Meens added "It's important to take kids to a place where they can be independent and respectful."

I know the words "independent" and "respectful" and "kids" don't often appear in the same sentence, but I was witness to this phenomenon and very pleasantly surprised.  The long drive deep into the wilderness may have helped create the respect that Jenn was talking about, as did the thorough preparation and training the kids received before the trip.

Extremely wild places like AK Park fulfill Jenn's interpretation of a place. "A place where there are natural consequences for their behaviour," she added. In urban life, some kids grow up in an environment where there are few consequences for any behaviour. I agree with Jenn that it is vital for young people to confront realities like physical discomfort, gravity, food, clothing, and shelter management, and the teamwork necessary to keep self and others safe and happy in a beautiful, but potentially hostile environment.

"The world is facing its greatest problems ever," said co-leader Liz Hardwick, "and the youth of today have the greatest capability to change it. But they are trapped behind a series of screens. Movie screens, computer screens, TV screens."

I agree with Liz that it's unhealthy to have so many young people so "plugged in" which paradoxically unplugs them from the beauty and rhythms of the natural world. I feel lucky to have been raised in a time when parents booted their kids outside with the only structure being "don't be home late for dinner or else!" We were otherwise free to explore and invent the world in our own ways. But as parents, my generation clearly does not take kids outside enough and we don't take them away from civilization long enough. But both Liz and I have hope that this younger generation will ultimately disconnect itself from the noise of modern life and seek to live in greater harmony with nature than recent generations have.

In this context trips like Go Wild and indeed many other kinds of field trips are of the utmost importance - more important even (and I know my students will find this hard to believe) than one of my soaring lectures on history or politics. Note to myself: talk with Wildsight about a portable, wilderness classroom (yurt?) for in and around Kimberley. Maybe kids would learn more if the setting they learned in were beautiful? Hmmmmm.

Another interesting observation I had was how diverse the ways were in which students connected to nature. There was a broad spectrum. Many of the boys, for example, saw the area for the outstanding hunting potential it contained while others on the trip were vegetarians.

But there was no animosity between anyone. The hunters respected the vegetarians and vice-versa. From my spot as a red meat eater, I found myself enjoying the hunters' perspective that obtaining meat from the wild lands is better than feed lot meat any day.

Some environmentalists see a contradiction between hunting and environmental protection, but I see them as mutually dependent. Ethical, intelligent hunting groups help buy land and lobby government for wilderness protection. Unfortunately even the hunters may not have enough clout to save the Flathead from destructive resource extraction industries. Most of the momentum in this debate seems to be with development, but a strong opposition is making their voice heard. I would rant some more about this, but I said my piece already in yesterday's article. Save the Flathead. Period.

I dropped the kids off at Selkirk around 6pm. Indy and I left them to clean up the last of their gear while parents gathered - looking relieved that their precious little ones had survived. For the next few days I found myself imagining the Go Wild kids telling story after story about the trip. There were likely a few that had to be told to stop talking about the trip after two or three days.

I know these kids were deeply touched by their experience. I know there are now 14 more people who have a deeper awareness of and appreciation for our ever-diminishing wild places. 14 more people who have a voice to use and stories to tell about their great trek deep into grizzly country, into Canada's largest intact, undeveloped wilderness.

"Totally legit."

By Tom Martin
Kimberley Daily Bulletin
July 8, 2009

Mt Rowe
June 24, Day 3.

In the first two days of our expedition to Akamina-Kishinena Provincial Park, the 14 Selkirk "Go Wild" participants had been given many lessons, which, had the trip ended there, would have resonated with them for a long time. But climbing Mt. Rowe on Day three would prove to be a day that would last a lifetime. My skill as a writer will not be adequate to describe the impact that this day had on me, let alone the students - many of whom had never reached the summit of any mountain before.

"When I looked at the mountain before we started," said grade nine student Brad Wright around a low-impact fire the next night, "I thought 'there's no way we can climb that in a day.' I still can't believe we did it." Indeed, from our base camp the peak looked a long way away and much too high to reach with a group of novice backcountry teenagers.

I can't overstate the skill of the leadership team as they guided the group towards the sky. Jenn Meens, Selkirk teacher and creator of the GoWild program (which Wildsight now delivers to schools throughout the Kootenays) had already lead a group of Selkirk students up Mt. Rowe in 2007, with Dan Moe along for the ride as a student leader. Liz Hardwick, Nelson resident and National Outdoor Leadership Trainer (www.nols.edu) was hired by Wildsight to co-lead this trip (and others in the area) after Jenn landed a full time outdoor education teaching position at Selkirk. Together, this trio demonstrated superbly professional guidance on what is, without being dramatic, a hazardous undertaking.

The summit bid began with a bush-whack along the cut line that is the border between BC and Alberta. No actual trail existed for this climb, and we did not descend along the exact same route we went up. Following the cut line was a thrill to some of the students, one of whom later said "I went to Alberta at least 40 times today!"

The cut line gave way to sub-alpine scrub and loose rock. Seeing that if the group stayed together those in the lead might kick rocks sown on those behind, the leaders decided to split into four smaller groups which would ascend parallel to each other. With students at the head of each of these smaller groups we moved in a long, slow line careful of each foot fall which could bring trouble.

We regrouped in the open shale above the tree line and had a snack. In one of the most dramatic moments of the climb, we walked shoulder to shoulder towards a ridge/cliff about 50 metres below the summit. As we approached the ridge, we were looking east to one of the most stunning views anywhere in the world. With the two Rowe Lakes below us, we lifted our heads to see the mountains of Waterton National Park give way suddenly to the bald, flat prairies of Southern Alberta. To use some modern, student vernacular to describe the view, it was "totally awesome," and "dece," and "completely legit."

Moments later we stood on top of the world. Below the summit to the south we could see glacier-carved valleys running parallel to each other and at the head of each were towering peaks with lakes at their feet: Cameron Lake, Forum Lake, Wall Lake.

Of course, at 7500+ feet above sea level, the wind blows constantly, making conversation difficult. But that did not matter because these usually social and gregarious teenagers were speechless anyway, mouths gaping at the wonderful world they inhabit.

Skillfully capitalizing on the students' momentary dumbness, the leaders separated them and had them take out their journals and just reflect for a while. The kids needed little coaxing to practice some solitude. Many were disappointed when we finally pulled them back together; they needed more time to chronicle the powerful moment they were experiencing.  Around the campfires of the next two nights they woudl re-visit the summit of Rowe again and again. The most common theme to emerge from their peak experience was a sense of genuine accomplishment - that they had done something special and noteworthy. But these are my observations. The students' words can say it better than I can:

"Nothing mattered that would matter in towns or cities." - Maria

"Embrace every moment. Time doesn't matter." - Natalie

"You don't need to have access to electricity to have a good time." - Jasmine

"Seize opportunities for whatever happiness they may hold." - Karina

"Gorgeous, breathtaking, relaxing." - Rowan