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george holmes

Mountain School at Home “ACHOTUS” Ep2: George Holmes

Mountain School at Home “ACHOTUS” Ep2: George Holmes

Nov 18, 2020North Cascades Institute

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Inspiring environmental stewardship through education, exploration and connection since 1986.
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Did you know #BirdArtWeek starts Monday January 18

Did you know #BirdArtWeek starts Monday January 18?

🎨🦅 #BirdArtWeek is a mini art challenge on Instagram lasting only a week. @cornellbirds invites guest artists to share their work and allows the bird-enthusiast community to follow along with a series of creative prompts celebrating birds. Some past prompts include: drawing birds courtship dance moves, illustrate some of your favorite bird nests and our favorite, draw an alpine bird that you would be willing to climb a mountain and see.

🎨🦅 Art can be such a powerful way to process nature, learn about a landscape, immerse yourself in the environment and have fun!

🎨🦅 Plein air, French for in the open air, refers to the act of painting outdoors. How does art play a role for you when you go outside and what is your favorite medium? Are you a water color wizard, colored pencil curator, pen and pencil painter?

🎨🦅 Bonus question because we love the prompt so much. What alpine bird would you be willing to climb a North Cascades mountain to see?

Visit @cornellbirds for more information and how to participate.

And if you need more birds in your life visit ncascades.org/classes, to check out bird related classes North Cascades Institute is offering this month.

📸: @cornellbirds

First week of 2026 completed!! ⁣ How did the first

First week of 2026 completed!! ⁣
How did the first week of the New Year go? Inside with some couch comfy and cozy times, outside in a winter wonderland or somewhere in between?

📸: @thenomadicartist

The bald eagle is a bird of prey found near large

The bald eagle is a bird of prey found near large bodies of open water with an abundant food supply and old growth trees for nesting. Their winter migration to the North Cascades provides an opportunity to observe & photograph them in groups, feeding along riverbeds or roosting in trees in numbers that only occur from December to February when they come from as far as Alaska to feast on carcasses of salmon that have spawned, then die along the upper Skagit River. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⁣⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
To see eagles up close: ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
🦅 Use a telescope, binoculars, or a telephoto lens⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
🦅 Keep noise low and your movements slow ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
🦅 Don’t drive and bird, pull over whenever possible, stay in your car and use it as a blind from which to photograph eagles.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
🦅 Stay away from the river’s edge & gravel bars where eagles are feeding, especially in the morning ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
🦅 Use public areas along rivers and be courteous to local land owners. Do not walk across private property. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
The Skagit Eagle festival takes place every weekend in January- mid February. For more info, check out the Skagit River bald Eagle interpretive center website: Skagiteagle.org⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

📸: @pnw.bolton.photography

‘‘Tis the last day of 2025. Happy New Year! Wish

‘‘Tis the last day of 2025.

Happy New Year! Wishing you a year of peace, joy and amazing moments in nature. May it bring many adventures, big and small. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⁣⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

📸: @thenomadicartist

As we approach the end of the year, we invite you

As we approach the end of the year, we invite you to make an investment in learning that lasts. Your year-end gift helps ensure that transformative experiences in nature remain accessible to youth, families, and communities in the year ahead.

There’s still time to close the year with impact. Together, we can turn moments in nature into lessons that last a lifetime!

🌲 Visit ncascades.org/donate to make your year-end gift by December 31

As 2025 draws to a close, take a moment to reflect

As 2025 draws to a close, take a moment to reflect on your year, especially your year in nature.

🥾 What was one of your favorite hikes this year?

👯‍♀️ Who are some of your favorite people you got to spend time outside with? Tag them in the comments to let them know you love adventuring with them.

🏔️ Did you climb any mountains (literally, metaphorically) this year, what was your favorite or which are you most proud of?

🧘‍♀️ Did you slow down and take in the view?

📸: @haleygoeshiking

“ 'You breathe like a dragon.' As a far person, I

“ 'You breathe like a dragon.' As a far person, I have heard a lot of disparaging comments throughout my life, but this particular one has always stayed with me. It made me want to hold my breath. When I reflect on all the gifts the outdoors has given me, providing solace during times of trauma and the space to grieve, breath is an essential component of my relationship with nature. If something is on my mind—anger, frustration, sadness, grief—I release it. I consciously exhale to let go of those feelings. Being outside and breathing has always helped me work through those emotions that hold on to me so tightly. Nature is the place I could expel my grief, an understanding solidified through the loss of my brother, Jason." - Tasheon Chillous

Through outdoor sports, recreation, conservation work and more, nearly everyone finds a way to get outside. Author and photographer Tommy Corey brings 101 individual stories to life on the page in moving detail in "All Humans Outside". This new book is a reflection of the ways people's lives are changed in and by nature.

Learn more about Tasheon's story and this inspiring new title from Mountaineers Books at https://blog.ncascades.org/odds-and-ends/all-humans-outside-stories-of-belonging-in-nature/

📸: Tommy Corey

[This feature is part of a five-part series, sharing stories of identity, resilience and empowerment in nature, from "All Humans Outside". Stay tuned!]

The last weekend of the year is here! Heading out

The last weekend of the year is here! Heading out of 2025 has felt much like climbing a mountain complete with tears, fear, hard work, taking moments to breathe, pretty much all the feels. But making it to the summit, taking in the view & feeling the joy is such a reward for all the efforts. ⁣

What are you looking forward to in 2026?⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

📸: @erin.hikes.pnw

Put a bird on it. 🦆 During the winter months ten

Put a bird on it.

🦆 During the winter months tens of thousands of snow geese, trumpeter swans and waterfowl grace the skies and fields of the Skagit Valley.

🦆 Skagit Valley farmland provides food and habitat for approximately 10,000 trumpeter and tundra swans, 100,000 snow geese and thousands more mallards and other ducks.

🦆 As well as providing food and habitat for migrating birds, Skagit Valley farmland provides sustainable and locally grown food for programs held at the Environmental Learning Center.

📸 : Video 1: @lucymaestonecarver1
📸: Photo 2: @cedarbrookstudio
📍Ancestral homelands of the Skagit, Swinomish, Coast Salish & Stillaguamish people

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