Bigfoot visits Evergreen Elementary School

Cave Junction, OR

On Monday, Team West traveled to southern Oregon to work with students at Evergreen Elementary School in Cave Junction, OR. Each classroom that we visited was very enthusiastic about learning Leave No Trace. Pictured above, students from the first and second grade class, pose with their hang tags and their new fuzzy friend, Bigfoot!

The fifth grade students we worked with will be going to Siskiyou Field Institute, a partner of Leave No Trace, for an overnight campout in about two weeks. We introduced the principles of Leave No Trace to the students as they prepared for their night under the stars.

Also visiting the school that day was the program Farm to Market. This program educates students about fruits and vegetables, whole grains, farm animals, and how to make good healthy choices in their diet. For lunch, students helped themselves to an A-Z salad bar, which included fruits and vegetables starting with every letter of the alphabet. We were lucky enough to join them for lunch in between classes.

A special thank you to Sherri Graham at Siskiyou Field Institute for setting up our visit and working hard to bring Leave No Trace to southern Oregon!

Explore Responsibly...Kate & Trace

Teaching in Treehouse Paradise

Last week we held a five hour workshop at one of the more unique and magical venues we have had the opportunity to train at. Vertical Horizons Treehouse Paradise is a bed and breakfast located in southern Oregon near the Redwoods, Oregon Caves National Monument, and the beautiful coastline. This oasis is a retreat worth checking out. Each guest stays in a private treehouse (we stayed in the one pictured below) and is treated to a gourmet breakfast each morning! Guests can come and relax by the campfire, climb trees, play disc golf, play with Cosmo and Sadie (the friendly "guard" dogs), go fishing, and enjoy the beautiful scenery, all without leaving the property. We highly recommend getting "High Up In The Trees" at Vertical Horizons! A SUPER HUGE thank you to Jodie Cowan and her family for their hospitality during our stay.

Community is very important to Vertical Horizons Treehouse Paradise and the surrounding area. Staff from the Siskiyou Field Institute and the Oregon Caves National Monument joined us at the treehouses for a day of Leave No Trace training. The morning session was devoted to our PEAK Program, while the afternoon session focused on educating adults about Leave No Trace skills and ethics. Tracy leads a lesson on Minimizing Campfire Impacts, pictured below.