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north cascades institute The Kirlin Charitable Foundation believes that North Cascades Institute is one of our regions most important assets. For an ecologically enlightened, literate, and effective citizenry to evolve, it is essential that we connect with our children’s open and imaginative minds during their early school years. NCI has proven to be a significant force in this respect. The Kirlin Charitable Foundation has supported the professional development of teachers connecting with this program to ensure the creative and effective delivery of the NCI children’s curriculum. Please read on, and visit their website. Better yet, find a way to support this important work, and see what it does for your heart. North Cascades Institute is the Northwest's premier natural history education organization. Its mission is to conserve and restore Northwest environments by building an ecologically literate and engaged public.
The Institute believes that intimate contact with the natural world should be an essential part of everyone's learning. To that end, the defining features of all its programs are:
A model of energy-wise, environmentally sound architecture, the Learning Center includes:
Prior to the Learning Center's opening, the Institute is moving swiftly to create new educational programs tailored for the facility and its technological links to the larger world of study and research. The Learning Center will enable the Institute to serveaudiences ranging from urban schoolchildren on both sides of the Cascades to graduate students from across the country. The residential campus will complement its camping and facility-based programs throughout the region. Contact Information North Cascades Institute |
Since 1986, the Institute has served more than 50,000 children and adults in school programs, natural history seminars, teacher workshops, intern and volunteer training and a new graduate program in environmental education. From the tidewater of Puget Sound to ancient forests and alpine glaciers to the sagebrush desert of the Columbia River Basin, its programs emphasize hands-on discovery and stewardship of the North Cascades, one of the wildest, most biologically diverse landscapes in North America.
In 2004, the Institute opened the North Cascades Environmental Learning Center in partnership with Seattle City Light and the National Park Service. Located in the heart of North Cascades National Park, a two and a half hour drive northeast of Seattle, the Learning Center is a hub of discovery amid 11 million acres of wildlands along the US-Canada border, in North Cascades National Park.
Born from the relicensing agreement for the Skagit River dams, the Learning Center unites the resources of a private nonprofit organization, a federal agency and a public utility. Other key partners include the North Cascades Conservation Council, Office ofthe Superintendent of Public Instruction, Sauk-Suiattle Tribe, Swinomish Indian Tribal Community, Upper Skagit Tribe, USDA Forest Service and Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.