Happy Equinox!

Thank you for your support and being a part of the community! As the joy of the summer programs and kids' laughter in rivers, lakes and oceans transition to our Fall programs at schools and exploring forests, I would like to congratulate you for your belief in Glacier Peak Institute. In the last year we have offered 360 programs, up from 214 the year before. Wow!

We are looking forward to running even more programs in the years to come as we expand programs in Darrington, mirroring programs in Concrete, and growing to support new organizations such as a camp with the Korean Community Service Center, hikes with Project Girl and outings with Kulshan Creek in Mount Vernon. Our workforce programs have grown from 68 to 84 days. The National Forest Foundation, Mount Baker Snoqualmie National Forest, and WSU Snohomish County Extension have supported our workforce programs for the past 5 years. This past year, we have developed new partnerships with Skagit Fisheries Enhancement Group (restoration), the Snohomish County Conservation District (clean air and fire safety), and The Wilderness Society (park access) that we are excited to use to support career and workforce development in the community. These opportunities did not exist before GPI. We are grateful for you. We have achieved what is possible due to community and partners. This is true for the volunteers who have invested in us.

As we look to the future, GPI is looking to grow from 1 full time permanent staff to 4 in the coming year. To accomplish this next step, volunteers on a development team are needed to help us increase our resources. We also need volunteers to help on programs, construction (of steps and platforms), electrical, gear maintenance and more! This will require 100s of hours more of work. If you are able to give a few hours of this, please consider reaching out to Oak@glacierpeakinstitute.org

– Oak Rankin, Executive Director

GPI News and Upcoming Events

Wild Wednesdays are back! Check the schedule below for our October offerings. Parents and guardians – make sure to fill in a waiver form for the new school year so that your child can attend!
Glacier Peak Institute is happy to once again be running the Cash for Cones program in partnership with Silvaseed. You can earn $30 for a bushel of Douglas Fir cones – $60 for a whole sack! To pick up some sacks and get a permit to pick on Forest Service land, come by the GPI office Monday-Friday anytime between 9:00 am and 5:30 pm.
Join Glacier Peak Institute for our Fall Partnership Breakfast in Marysville on Tuesday, November 8, 2022. We'll be sharing updates on our summer programs and plans for the school year alongside a delicious buffet breakfast featuring upriver ingredients prepared by local Darrington chef Amy Belknap! Click here to get tickets to attend!

Looking forward to the school year

After a fun-filled summer, GPI is looking forward to returning to the classroom! Continuing from last year, every class at the Darrington Elementary School will participate in a combination of forest and greenhouse programs. On top of that, we will be continuing our partnership with North Cascades National Park in providing a field trip for the fifth grade class and high schoolers.

In our first week of classes, students shared what they enjoyed from last year, and what they are looking forward to this year. Learning with the students is a joy, and we cannot wait to see all we discover this school year.

Darrington Elementary School youth participate in one of our in-school class activities last spring. We're looking forward to working with the teachers of Darrington to provide great outdoors education for our local youth.

New faces at GPI

In the last month, the Glacier Peak Institute team welcomed two new members – Lauren and Dalton! Be sure to say hi if you see them around!

Dalton will be working to implement programs in the Darrington School District - both in the greenhouse and the classroom. He has a background in social work and is passionate about trauma-informed care and empowering youth to lead happy and fulfilled lives.

Lauren will be helping out with Glacier Peak Institute's grant seeking and fundraising efforts to make sure that all of our programming and projects are sustainable over the long term. She has a background in history and loves to learn about new places and tell a good story.

To get to know them a bit better, we asked Lauren and Dalton a couple of questions about their time with GPI –

What are you most looking forward to during your time with Glacier Peak Institute?
Dalton: I am excited to learn about creative ways to center the needs of the youth in our community in our programming, while remaining mindful of the relationship between the youth and the environment in which they live and learn.
Lauren: I am looking forward to learning about the unique needs and perspectives of rural communities and how to become an effective advocate for them in the nonprofit ecosystem.

What's been your favorite part of working with Glacier Peak Institute so far?
Dalton: My favorite part of working at GPI so far has been the opportunity to learn from members of the communities we serve about topics and issues important to each community. As someone who is new to this region, their insight and perspective has been invaluable for me.
Lauren: I have loved being able to get outdoors and appreciate the beauty of Darrington and its surroundings.

Wrapping up the summer season

As summer turns over into fall, we wanted to take this space to reflect on all of the amazing local partners and youth that we were lucky enough to work with this summer. Thank you to all of our volunteers, staff, supporters, and everyone else who helped to make this summer a blast!

Glacier Peak Institute was happy to once again host our summer Forestry Institute Crew. Here is what participant Taylor Ledford had to say about her time this summer –

"This past summer I worked with the Forestry Crew and my favorite project that we did was clearing out the picnic table areas at the Whitechuck overlook. We cut down new small growth trees and used a pole pruner for the hard to reach limbs for a better view of Whitechuck from the road. My favorite part of working with the Forestry Crew was the beautiful views that we got to experience while working. We got the opportunity to brush the Circle Peak trail and all the way up was such amazing views, we were able to see all of the mountains that surrounded Darrington. Something I learned from working was how to work with a group of people to restore hiking trails for generations to come."

At Glacier Peak Institute are lucky to have so many great partners across Washington! Here are some pictures from two of the many partner programs that we hosted this summer. Introducing new communities to the outdoors is part of GPI's mission and we hope to continue to maintain and grow our partnerships in the coming year.

This summer, Glacier Peak Institute launch the new Trailhead Ambassador program in partnership with the Forest Service. The goal of this program is to meet people at the trailheads and provide them with information about responsible recreation. Our summer Ambassador Steven Colson shared some reflections on the work that he and our volunteers performed this summer –

"With the onset of COVID, countless people took to the outdoors to escape cabin fever. This introduced many to the beauty of the natural world. Mountain Loop Highway and its recreational opportunities have experienced heightened traffic as a result of this. The Trailhead Ambassador Program was established this summer with the hope of teaching the new people on Mountain Loop Highway how to respect our wilderness, as well as how to be safe and prepared for what they might encounter while outdoors.

We worked with the Forest Service, Washington Trails Association, National Forest Foundation, and many volunteers to kick this project off. Throughout the summer, I met a volunteer from the Mountaineers, and through them, even more volunteers were available for the program. We reached over a thousand people at the Lake 22 Trailhead, and learned a lot for future years."

The Glacier Peak Institute Trail Race returned this August to the White Chuck Bench Trail in the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest. We were happy to welcome dozens of racers to this annual outdoors fundraiser for youth empowerment and education. Thank you to all who participated and helped to make this event a success, particularly our wonderful volunteers!

*Campers get ready to enjoy some kayaking in the Cornet Bay of Deception Pass State Park.*

In July, Glacier Peak Institute held our second annual Military Teen Adventure Camp (MTAC) – a two-week summer camp for youth from military families held in partnership with Washington State University Extension. GPI camp staff Dan had this to say about our time with campers this summer:

"Being involved with MTAC again this summer was great! We had a lot of returning people from 2021 and it was great to see how much they had all grown since last year. It was wonderful to be able to connect with all of our returning volunteers too. Chef Amy cooked delicious meals as always! We were lucky to hold the camp at the Cornet Bay Retreat Center which is the site of an old Civilian Conservation Corps camp from the 1930s. Overall, the camp was a great success and we're already looking forward to next year!"

This summer we were able to offer many programs for Darrington youth both in town and in surrounding areas! All of our summer programs tie into Glacier Peak Institute's STrEaMs (Science, Technology, recreation, Engineering, art, Mathematics, and skill-building) curriculum. Teaching youth valuable skills and exposing them to new places and experiences outside of school is incredibly rewarding work, and we are already excited for next summer!

Get Involved!

Interested in volunteering with us? Want to support programs and GPI events? Email us at info@glacierpeakinstitute.org or click here for more information!

Want to donate to support Glacier Peak Institute? Click here!