January 2019 Photo Round-Up!

Each year, after the mid-winter blizzards comes a night of thaw where the tinkle of dripping water is heard on the land. It brings strange stirrings, not only to creatures abed for the night, but some who have been asleep for the winter.

— Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac

While dangerous cold has gripped the Midwest and East Coast recently, Washington has been unusually balmy for mid-winter. Sunny weather and above freezing temperatures has been the norm, and while the alpine has received near-average snowfall, the Environmental Learning Center has remained relatively snow-free this month.

While the snow-cloaked peaks of the North Cascades give the illusion of a sleepy winter wilderness, there is still plenty of activity unfolding at the North Cascades Institute. Graduate students began their winter quarter, Mt. Baker Snow School kicked off the 2019 season, and the Learning Center was buzzing with new faces as we opened our doors to the Remote Medical International EMT Course this month. Additionally, the extra doses of Vitamin C has given us all another reason to get active. From playing in the snow and paddling the lake to just taking in the grandeur of our majestic home, January has been host to some unforgettable moments. Take a few minutes to see what we’ve been up to!

Staff and Graduate Students from the C18 Cohort returned to the Environmental Learning Center in early January after a much needed Winter respite to a few inches winter whitening along the shores of Diablo Lake. The early month’s snow was unfortunately short lived, but that didn’t stop graduate students from venturing to the high slopes of Mt. Baker Ski Area for some winter alpine adventures with incredible views of our beautiful backyard.

When they weren’t on the high slopes of Mt. Baker, the graduate students took some time after class to get out on the lake for some winter canoeing!

C18 also engaged in nonprofit seminars and a curriculum design course, as part of the their residency course work.

While the grads busied themselves with work and play, the 2019 Mt. Baker Snow School got into full swing with a new cast of instructors and students eager to experience the joys of winter themselves, some for the first time!

While Snow School students were getting deep with snow science, our Youth Ambassadors also kicked off their 2019 season with some great land stewardship work. Read about it here.

Just in case you missed it, there was some new developments on the phenology front. Graduate Student Nicola Follis observed the first Indian Plum buds breaking free on January 22nd, a sure sign that spring is on the way!

Of course, The only thing more amazing than all of our adventures was the spectacular landscape we had a pleasure to have them in. As we send off January and welcome the new month it time to pay our respects to the land that makes it all possible. Enjoy!

Finally, a special thanks to everyone who submitted photos for this month’s round-up. We had so many fabulous photo submissions, it was really hard to narrow them down! Hope you enjoyed seeing them as much as I did. As always, be sure to check out our Flickr page.

Thanks for viewing, and stay tuned for our February round-up coming next month! If you have any great pictures you’d like to see in an upcoming photo round-up, please email them to me! matt_ferrell@ncascades.org