hiking

Join us for free urban nature adventures every third Wednesday, February through November!  April theme:  Ethnobotany!  Travel back in time as you embark on a short guided hike at Columbia Springs to learn some of the ways different native plants have been used as food, medicine, and tools for thousands of years!  This hike is best suited for students aged 7-77 and is not wheelchair or stroller accessible.  We can accommodate twenty people maximum on a first come first served basis.

Instead of taking flowers to mom this Mother's Day, why not take her to the wildflowers? Join Metro naturalist Dan Daly for a leisurely stroll to see and learn about common wildflowers. Enjoy the serenade of nesting songbirds and views of the Willamette River and historic Canemah cemetery.

Ages: 6 and older

Join master storyteller Cleve Friedman for an entertaining and educational tour through the arboretum. Meet at the Visitor Center; registration is not required.

Learn about the nature and culture of your local area while making friends and getting outdoors! Join us for a fun and engaging four-day naturalist training to explore topics in wildlife, history, and Chinookan Culture.

Be the friendly guide that connects people of all ages and backgrounds to the land. Work with us this spring and summer on projects with the public, connecting people of all ages and backgrounds to the outdoors while enjoying a unique natural area.

No experience needed! Volunteers do the following and more...

• Exploring trails with students during field trips
• Welcoming and orienting visitors to two Refuges in the area
• Connecting people to local culture in the Plankhouse
• Engaging people in learning during special events

We will meet four Fridays in April at both Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge (Ridgefield, WA) and at Steigerwald Lake National Wildlife Refuge (Washougal, WA). Training is 10 am to 3 pm on April 8th, 15th, 22nd, 29th.

Contact Park Ranger Josie Finley at 360-887-4106 or by email at Josie_Finley@fws.gov to learn more about this training series and other ways you can get involved.

We would like to invite you to this month's Rewilding Skill Series. The Rewilding Free Skills Series is a class & networking event that happens monthly, that usually occurs (but not always) on the last Saturday of the month. It is a place for social networking where people make new friends and hang out with old friends learning skills to connect us with humanity's ancestral past and more local and sustainable future. We ask for a $5 - $10 suggested donation with no one turned away.

This month's theme is Natural Movement. Most people these days in first world countries like the United States grow up with their feet firmly planted in shoes, walking on hard, flat ground. We sit in chairs, hunched over a keyboard (as I am right now), for hours on end. This isn't what our Gene's have in mind for the way in which our bodies are meant to interact with the world, and in nature. So how do we move naturally? We'll be looking at animal movements, MovNat techniques, and other aspects of how humans have moved, and still move today, without the aid of shoes, in rough and wild terrain. Come learn what our bodies can really do, and share what you may already know!