community clubs
Get together, expand your knowledge of the natural world, meet other folks, and have a good time!
Tracking Club and Nature Book Club meet monthly, are free, and are open to all.
Tracking Club and Nature Book Club meet monthly, are free, and are open to all.
Tracking Club
Tracks and body of ten-lined June beetle found at recent club meeting.
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Next Meeting Sunday, September 25th: Spiders and Invertebrates |
Join us as we explore along the Sandy River for signs of wildlife!
The floodplain at Oxbow Park hosts a diversity of wildlife. Some of the tracks and signs we've encountered there have been left by mountain lion, coyote, bear, deer, toad(!), mink, beaver, otter, and more! You never know who you might find.
The floodplain at Oxbow Park hosts a diversity of wildlife. Some of the tracks and signs we've encountered there have been left by mountain lion, coyote, bear, deer, toad(!), mink, beaver, otter, and more! You never know who you might find.
Last Sunday of every month, 9am-12pm
Where: Oxbow Park. Meet at the Floodplain, which is the first parking lot on the left after you enter the park.
Cost: Free - but $5 entrance fee to Oxbow Park per vehicle.
Where: Oxbow Park. Meet at the Floodplain, which is the first parking lot on the left after you enter the park.
Cost: Free - but $5 entrance fee to Oxbow Park per vehicle.
Tracking club is open to everyone. Whether you're an experienced tracker, completely new, or somewhere in between. Led by two Cascadia Wild Tracking Leaders, this is an informal gathering where you can practice your tracking skills and learn from each other. It is a space for people to get together, learn and share knowledge, encourage each other along our journey, and have fun.
Not only is tracking a skill you can enjoy no matter your experience level, this is also a great activity for many ages and levels of physical ability. Much of the time is spent at a casual pace as we look for tracks and sign, or spent huddled over something interesting! The terrain at Oxbow is relatively flat and is a mix of sand and grass floodplain, with a few (usually dry) channels to walk across. The shore of the river is sloped and has some river rocks in the wet sand or mud. There is a bathroom facility at the meeting area. Wear sturdy shoes if you need them and always dress for the weather.
Each month will have a different theme to inspire exploration of different aspects of tracking and to welcome different parts of our community.
Not only is tracking a skill you can enjoy no matter your experience level, this is also a great activity for many ages and levels of physical ability. Much of the time is spent at a casual pace as we look for tracks and sign, or spent huddled over something interesting! The terrain at Oxbow is relatively flat and is a mix of sand and grass floodplain, with a few (usually dry) channels to walk across. The shore of the river is sloped and has some river rocks in the wet sand or mud. There is a bathroom facility at the meeting area. Wear sturdy shoes if you need them and always dress for the weather.
Each month will have a different theme to inspire exploration of different aspects of tracking and to welcome different parts of our community.
Nature Book Club
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Next Meeting Tuesday, September 27th:
Swamplands: Tundra Beavers, Quaking Bogs, and the Improbable World of Peat by Edward Struzik In a world filled with breathtaking beauty, we have often overlooked the elusive charm and magic of certain landscapes. A cloudy river flows into a verdant Arctic wetland where sandhill cranes and muskoxen dwell. Further south, cypress branches hang low over dismal swamps. Places like these–collectively known as swamplands or peatlands–often go unnoticed for their ecological splendor. They are as globally significant as rainforests, and function as critical carbon sinks for addressing our climate crisis. Yet, because of their reputation as wastelands, they are being systematically drained and degraded to make way for oilsands, mines, farms, and electricity.
In Swamplands, journalist Edward Struzik celebrates these wild places, venturing into windswept bogs in Kauai and the last remnants of an ancient peatland in the Mojave Desert. The secrets of the swamp aren’t for the faint of heart. Ed loses a shoe to an Arctic wolf and finds himself ankle-deep in water during a lightning storm. But, the rewards are sweeter for the struggle: an enchanting Calypso orchid; an elusive yellow moth thought to be extinct; ancient animals preserved in lifelike condition down to the fur. Swamplands highlights the unappreciated struggle being waged to save peatlands by scientists, conservationists, and landowners around the world. An ode to peaty landscapes in all their offbeat glory, the book is also a demand for awareness of the myriad threats they face. It urges us to see the beauty and importance in these least likely of places. Our planet’s survival might depend on it. |
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Next Month's selection- Nature's Body: Gender in the Making of Modern Science by Londa Schienbinger
This club is a great way to keep up on your nature learning, meet new people, read new books, and participate in discussion about the ways nature writing shapes our experiences and relationship to the natural world.
New folks are always welcome to join!
Fourth Tuesday of each month, 6:00pm-7:30pm
Where: Online, contact us for the meeting link
Cost: Free
This club is a great way to keep up on your nature learning, meet new people, read new books, and participate in discussion about the ways nature writing shapes our experiences and relationship to the natural world.
New folks are always welcome to join!
Fourth Tuesday of each month, 6:00pm-7:30pm
Where: Online, contact us for the meeting link
Cost: Free
Check the calendar for upcoming meeting dates and the books that will be discussed.
