Spring Naturalist Series: Botany & Nature Awareness

This series is designed for individuals, college age and above, at any skill level that are interested in having fun outdoors learning about PNW plants, wildlife, tidepools, bogs, natural history, foraging, and a bit of photography.

Each class will incorporate hands-on experience and photo prompts to deepen your awareness of the natural world and augment your curiosity.

Overall, we will be moving at a slow pace during each outing as we focus on our surroundings, have mini lectures, or engage in activities.

Expect some gentle to moderate hiking, and some kneeling or squatting.

Each class will build on the previous one. For more details, keep reading!

Day 1: Spring Equinox
Sunday April 21st
1:00pm to 5:00 pm
Bellingham adjacent

Whatcom County, WA
(Details on location will be sent in April to registered participants only).

Spring foraging and plant ID 

What to expect:

Hands-on plant ID activities to help you remember names and uses of various species.

• Nettle Foraging

• Botany

  • Photography of spring flowers

    • Intro to Botanical Vocabulary

    • Using hand lenses to photograph small structures.

  • Field Journaling

    • Drawing and labeling

    • Leaf and flower pressing (optional)

• Nature Connection

  • Self-led exploration

  • Upland taxonomy scavenger hunt

  • Ethnobotany

  • Foraging opportunities

Day 2: Spring Snowmelt and Queen Bog
Sunday May 19th, 2024
1pm to 5:00 pm
Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest (1 hour east of Bellingham)

Whatcom County, WA
(location will be revealed in May to registered participants only).

Walking along an old logging road in the national forest that is bursting with montane plant biodiversity. May is the perfect time to go because the spring flowers are blooming, the ferns are unfurling, and the snowmelt causes dozens of waterfalls to cascade out of the forest above us and into a natural basin I like to call “Queen Bog”.

What to expect:

• Roadside plant and waterfall photography and appreciation

• Botany

  • Incredible biodiversity of plants to discover.

  • Part II of Botanical Vocabulary

  • Ferns: alternation of generations mini lecture

  • Barefoot sphagnum bog exploration and appreciation

    • Photography and plant ID

    • Fascinating plant adaptations

    • Human impacts and ethics discussion.

• Nature Connection

  • Silent enjoyment (30min to 1 hour)

    • Nature journal prompt (optional)

    • Forest or bog wandering (optional)

Day 3: Summer Solstice
Sunday June 23rd, 2024
11:30am to 5pm
Anacortes, WA

Skagit County, WA
(Location details will be sent in June to registered participants only).

The full moon in June and the full moon in December have the biggest influence on the tides. Learn why that is plus so much more on this unique outing during the full moon and summer solstice in Anacortes, WA. Expect a bit of walking, but not strenuous hiking.

What to expect:

• Coast Ecology

  • Tides and the protected waters of the Salish Sea

  • Beautiful creatures living in the tidepools: ID & life history.

  • Seaweed appreciation, ID, and edibility ranking

• Botany

  1. Incredible coastal bluff plant biodiversity

     1. Fungi-Plant interactions

  2. Fun quizzes to test the skills you’ve gained throughout this series.

  3. Photography

     1. Part III Botanical vocabulary

• Nature Connection

  • Hands-on exploration

  • Ethnobotany

  • Recap thought-storm of all the habitats we explored in this series.

  • Nature Journaling prompt (optional)

Registered individuals will receive details in an event-reminder emails a few days prior to each event.