Spruce Knob Blog

The Woodlands Homesteading Conference

2012-02-06T19:07:00.004-05:00

I (or Conference coordinator, Eva Gutierrez) could not have said it better. Take a look at this post on TMI's blog by friend of TMI and Homesteading Conference participant, Gracie Aghapour.

You can also click here: Reflections on the Woodland Homesteading Festival

Out In It

2012-01-16T20:50:00.004-05:00

There are many - truly uncountable - reasons why I love the Jeff Bridges movie, Crazy Heart and its tale of broken down country music legend, Bad Blake. The soundtrack is one of the best - a focal point of the picture. It's an interesting and always perfect for the moment combination of songs newly written by Ryan Bingham among others as well as classics by renegade country stalwarts such as Townes Van Zandt and Waylon Jennings. Beyond the music though, Crazy Heart simply resonates. From the moment Bridges's Blake is seen behind the wheel of his late 70's Suburban driving past the red rock cliffs of New Mexico with "Hold On You" floating through the speakers there's something about the movie that sticks.

It's a darn good film, of that there's no doubt. At minimum, check out the above link or put in a good ol' internet super highway search for it, but, of course, what you should do is see it. I'll leave the plugs there and let you all make the decision for yourselves. However, there is a part (just a short, simple scene) in the film that never seems to be far from the front of my mind, lodged within easy access at all times. Funny how that happens.

Bad Blake is in love and again driving the wide open western highways. On his way to a show in another small town, he stops to call his girl from a pay phone at the end of a another dirt road. He might be heading up towards her, up to Santa Fe and he wants to visit. She is happy to hear from him, wanting to know where he is. "Oh, out in it," Blake says. It's the place where he's standing, the man he's become, all of it, down to the inflection in his voice that carries much more weight than words describing a momentary location.

Out in it. We are aren't we? In the wide open by the red rocks or pushing our way through spruce trees, we're always out there, always making our way. Just as Bad Blake could have tried to explain where he was and just didn't need to, it seems that making our way is enough. It's never easy to explain where we are trying to go or anything that happens along the way, but do we really need to?

Now and Then

2011-12-13T12:38:00.002-05:00

The fall season was here and is now gone – certainly seeming much more gone than here at this moment as I sit next to the fire, snow surrounding the Woods Yurt. Not long ago, hundreds of young children were here, getting to experience if only for a few days a place much different than almost all others (those they have seen with their own eyes as well as those not yet glimpsed). And no matter how many places folks young or old have seen or imagined, Spruce’s unique feel is a fact. To prove this, one need not look much farther than the smoke curling from a yurt chimney into falling snow, the wind all around.

This place really does seem to live something of a dual existence with both being critical in their own right. Then – the fall, the season, the kids – is when the stream study, the habitat comparison, and “It’s All Connected” reign supreme. It is a time to teach and a time to open eyes, all the while showing young people the places and things they may have never seen before and might never again. This is important work and we do it gladly with boots on our feet and chalk in our hands. And Now – the winter, the off season, a few staff tromping through the snow – is when calm, slow thoughts make their way through nearly empty (and generally quite cold) spaces. To my way of thinking this is an equally important, albeit vastly different, phase in the yearly flow of Spruce. The busy seasons here are what get the press, generate the excitement and fulfill many of TMIs stated goals, but it is now during these short days and long nights that a few wool clad yurt dwellers get to fill a much different but still important role as the winter world surrounds. Rejuvenation. Rebuilding. Creation of excitement and energy for whatever might lie ahead – all of this can happen now, as the snow comes down, as all things seem to slow.

Now and Then. Both are good places. Both are where we need to be at the given time. I figure I don’t have many complaints about either and that’s a good place to be.

To the Spruce Bars

2011-11-02T14:26:00.003-04:00

It seems like the Spruce Bars were put there to impress me. Actually, impress is not sufficient as a descriptor; the hold that those trees have over me is such that further thought and further explanation are needed. Planted long ago (quite how long ago I can’t), it is always said that the Spruce Bars are the oldest planned windbreak in the country (state, county, universe?). As you can tell this is an entirely subjective entry without so much as a hint of a scholarly bent present. That is ok. This is simply an entry about the Spruce Bars and their singular ability to calm an unquiet mind. No matter my mood, the task at hand, or what is yet to come in a challenging day, that perfect arc of tree on horizon is absolutely what I should be viewing at that exact moment.

6:30AM. Only 5.5 hours of sleep to underpin my energy level and general ability to function in the midst of a final end-of-season push. Realizing that the printer really isn’t going to print my Google Maps directions, I grab the giant display board and box of brochures and newsletters I am to throw in the old Jeep (The Chief for those of you who know and care about such things) and lower my head for the overburdened walk to the rear hatch. None of this seems ideal and probably wasn’t until I finally looked to the east. Every color you can dream. The sunrise and the Spruce Bars.

It is doubtlessly true that innumerable cattle have been sheltered from the screaming winds of Spruce Mountain by the windbreak, but I still think that those trees may have been planted for me and mornings like that one.

Toeing the Starting Line

2011-10-21T13:28:00.003-04:00

There is something infinitely calm in that moment spent standing at the starting line just before the clock counts down to zero and all moves into forward motion. Breath is exhaled, tense muscles relax, and thought is distilled to a point usually reserved for the dedicated practitioner of meditation. This year’s Run for the Hills 5k starting line was the site of this rare and (for me) much sought after clean simplicity of thought. I felt ready to do my part to honor the 2009 performance of one Robbie Kimmich and bring home a win for TMI staff.

And fare well we did. It seems that one of the hiring criteria at the Spruce Knob Mountain Center may be love of the trail running as staff have done quite well in the races since the event’s inception three falls ago. Home trail advantage is not a bad thing to be sure, but staff up here in the high country put in the hard miles in preparation. Take a look at the results page here and keep an eye out for the following names: Clare Smith in the ½ marathon and Melinda Brooks, Lyle Coutts, Dylan Carolus, Stephanie Palmer, Rebecca Saunders, Klancy Nixon, and Chuck Whitney in the 5k.

As always the pig roast following the race was a tremendous hit, and it was mentioned more than once from participants that this was some of the best food they had ever seen at a race. Also in no way disappointing was the beer from Mountain State Brewing out of Thomas – runners were able to bask in slightly accentuated post race camaraderie and storytelling thanks to a keg of amazing IPA. Chicha, our composting pig, certainly went to a great cause and we all feel that her spirit was smiling down on the weekend. In fact, in an unprecedented push to make next year’s pig the happiest yet, TMI employees, David Young and Liz Guttierez, spearheaded a fundraising effort to build a palatial hutch for our animals to live in next year. An amazing rendition of a winged Chicha was created and a good bit of money was raised for what is certainly a worthy cause.

Plans are already in the works to make next year’s event bigger and better than ever, and if you haven’t come out to the races and roast yet, this will be the time. Bring the running shoes or focus more on the beer stein – whatever the case, we’ll see you out here next fall.

In case you missed them earlier, check out the results of the Run for the Hills and West Virginia Trilogy races here.

And for those who really want to get in depth here, check out this blog for the perceptions (possibly skewed by massive levels of fatigue) of a Trilogy runner.

The Randolph County Outdoor Education Program: A Staple

2011-10-17T20:39:00.002-04:00

Camp Pioneer is the place.

For over 10 years now, the Randolph County Outdoor Education Program (RCOEP), held at Beverly, WV's Camp Pioneer, has been a staple of TMI's yearly programming as well as a highlight of the fifth grade year for hundreds of West Virginia students. Combining local history, science, art, music, and technical skills, the program does exactly what outdoor education should: allowing kids to learn in a dynamic, surprising, and constantly evolving environment. Whether tackling an orienteering exercise or checking the PH levels of Tygart Creek, the participants in this program are combining classroom-style academic information with the hands on aspects you can only get when wading in a stream or tromping across a field. And when you factor in "Everybody's It" - a key RCOEP free time activity that is simply the greatest off shoot of Tag ever been created - you have something nearing perfection.

The local media agrees. Take a minute to check out this story. Sometimes the fact that you just might be having an impact somewhere down the line - be it near or far - is exactly what it takes to to push one to really commit to a project . Who knows which one of the fifth graders attending this year's program might end up on the board of directors of an environmental policy leader or a key member of a non-profit committed to showing kids that it's still worth getting outside and into the woods? You never know. And we at TMI will continue to do what we can to give kids a chance to discover the outdoors - through science, art, or music - making it something they will eventually focus on and grow connected to.

The Festival and Races Are Coming Soon

2011-09-29T08:51:00.005-04:00

The Woodlands Homesteading Festival (October 1 & 2) and our third annual race weekend (October 7 – 9) are at the forefront of all minds up here at the Spruce Knob Mountain Center. Giant army surplus tent s are being set up, hills are being run, and the kitchen is gearing up to turn out near record amounts of food. I could spend a bit of time here talking more about the specifics of what’s going on out here over the next couple weekends, but it’s already been done, and nobody is a fan of unnecessary repetition. To that end, please feel free to check out the fine entry in this very blog from a few weeks back. This is just a reminder my friends, just a reminder. Hope to see all blog readers out here in the land of falling leaves and cold mornings very soon.

Arrivals

2011-09-21T14:13:00.002-04:00

Working seasonally at TMI has provided me with many things, not the least of which is the opportunity to type the words you are about to read. As great as my current situation is the moments that stand out with real clarity as I ponder my comings and goings are the arrivals. Always filled with anticipation, energy, and a hint of nerves, that first drive up Sawmill Run to 18 Woodlands Way has also never failed to bring with it a touch of the unexpected.

In the fall of ‘08 I came with no expectations and apparently not much sense of direction. Soon after entering what I now know as our driveway, I meandered past the observatory and nearly to the Hawthorn grove at Backridge before wandering back down to what I was sure were the yurts. Little did I know at the time that Daniel Taylor’s was not the yurt I was looking for. Eventually I was greeted in the proper parking lot by Brett Bjorkman (who happens to be arriving again soon for another season - bringing things around in a full circle sort of way).

The spring of ’09 came and after arriving late the night before a course’s beginning I awoke to eight inches of freshly fallen snow covering the roof of my humble van home (also known as “The Whale”, a retired but still faithful early 80’s Ford Econoline). It was a wet and cold hike that day with a slightly astounded group of 5th graders, but the pictures of that snow-covered early morning still resonate.

Ah yes, the fall of ’10. I rolled up to the Earth Shelter to see a certain burgundy Toyota Tacoma’s rear axle hanging off the edge a rock retaining wall - some five feet off the ground and surprisingly supported by nothing more than the bucket of our newly purchased Kubota tractor. All was well in the end, and with the help of a come-a-long, several hi-lift jacks, and the ingenuity of nearly an entire staff, the Tacoma was restored to its terrestrial home.

The voyage can be good, the adventure itself memorable, and the departure sad, but for me - at this place - the arrivals will always stand out.

Here's To New Beginnings

2011-09-06T17:06:00.001-04:00

An introduction is in order I suppose. Readers should, in my estimation anyway, know who is typing the words that make their way to the esteemed pages of the Spruce Knob Mountain Center Blog. Nathan Hayes, Josh Nease, and, of course, the most recent contributor, Jeff DeBellis have all left their mark on these pages over the last handful of years, and now I’m excited to sidle up to the keyboard. Oh yes, an introduction was the goal here. Back to it.

Until the age of six I lived in a cabin in the northern Michigan woods somewhere in the range of 45 minutes from the nearest town (Vanderbilt, 200 strong). This is a place that I am lucky enough to get to visit quite frequently and every time I meander up the driveway I am reaffirmed in my desire to spend the majority of my time away from concrete and strip malls. Living in that cabin started me down a winding forest path that I have followed to this this day – a path that I am lucky to have stayed relatively close to through the years. High school and college came and went and I landed in western New Mexico where I began mountain biking and trail running – passions that have held to this day. (At this very moment my bike is actually awaiting the completion of this fine blog entry.) I have found myself at TMI on three previous, seasonal occasions, and now as the new Course Director and Communications Director I am lucky enough to call this mountain my year round home.

Needless to say I am looking forward to bringing random ponderings, solid updates, and possibly the occasional crazy tale to this blog. Basically, it will be as if Spruce Knob were right in your backyard (for those of you reading this in the Earth Shelter that will actually be true I suppose). Read on, friends.

Chuck Whitney

New Spruce Knob Postcards Available

2011-08-22T11:09:00.004-04:00

With the help of the folks at Fairmont Printing Company in Morgantown, we've made some beautiful new postcards. There are five scenes in all, each designed to capture something unique to Spruce Mountain. If you're interested in ordering a few, give us a call. We're selling them for 75¢ apiece.

Cultural Freezer Space

2011-08-19T11:24:00.005-04:00

One of the things I like most about long hikes with school groups is the chance to talk with other teachers about education philosophy - why they value experiential education, how it fits into their work in the classroom, and what they've learned from their time as educators. Often though, the conversation will find legs of its own and wander about.

Talking with a teacher from the East Harlem School last week, somehow our conversation drifted to language and he mentioned that in Colonial America, there was no such thing as th British accent as we know it today. The present-day American accent is much closer to how everyone spoke English in colonial times. Later on, British folks, especially in the upper classes, began intentionally changing their speech patterns and it caught on.

Like most Americans, I had assumed the British accent had been around forever. Once the colonies broke free, the American dialectic split from the British and took on its own form. The British accent was the original, and the American came later.

Once I got out of the woods, I did some quick research.

"Received (British) Pronunciation developed at the end of the 18th century, during the period of the American Revolution. At that time there was no pronunciation by which people in America could be distinguished from people in England . . . When Americans began to return to England after 1800, they were surprised at the change in fashionable pronunciation" (Algeo, 2001, p.71 & 73).

Pretty wild. But then I found something even cooler. Dialects within the United States obviously differ a bit - from Coastal Maine to The Bronx to the Deep South to Southern California. But the unique dialect peculiar to Central and Southern Appalachia may be the closest living dialect to how everyone spoke in the colonies. The hills that isolate this part of the country have acted like a cultural freezer, preserving an incredible piece of history. Today, the Appalachian dialect is an outlier. But 250 years ago, it was the norm. It was how most people spoke. Modern British and American accents have diverged from it.

"(Appalachian folk speech) has preserved a record of colonial speech unequaled in any other American region, largely due to Appalachia's relative physical isolation during much of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Differing agreement patterns between subject and verb (as in 'We went to hunt for the horses which was lost'; 'Snails is large and common'; and 'Two files was demanded by the Indians'), which were once standard usage in the north of England and in the Scottish Lowlands, were also common in the writings of colonial America. Such constructions appeared in the speech of Appalachian natives well after their disappearance from mainstream American English" (Abramson & Haskell, ed., 2006).

One more reason that Appalachia, and the ability of mountains to isolate and preserve unique cultures in general, is so special.

Abramson, R. & Haskell, J., ed. (2006). Encyclopedia of Appalachia. Knoxville, TN: University of Tennessee Press.

Algeo, J. (2001). The Cambridge History of the English Language: English in North America. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Fall Events: Homesteading Festival and Race Weekend

2011-08-18T11:03:00.005-04:00

It feels like all of a sudden the temperatures have dropped and darkness comes earlier and earlier each night. Backpacking through the Seneca Creek Backcountry with the East Harlem School last week, I noticed there is already a good accumulation of brightly colored leaves on the trails.

Time to start thinking about the fall. We've got two major events this autumn: the Woodlands Homesteading Festival and the Race Weekend. The Homesteading Festival is a celebration of the things that make this part of Appalachia so special - both in the past and today. We'll have presentations, workshops, and demonstrations about biochar, grassroots cartography, making and using biodiesel, goat milking, and more. Saturday night we'll prepare a dinner made from locally grown ingredients to be followed by Old Time music and dancing. The festival will happen the weekend of October 1st and 2nd. Click here for more information or here to register.

The following weekend, beginning on October 7, is our third annual Race Weekend. It is a combination of TMI's Run for the Hills! races and the West Virginia Trilogy Races, organized by our friends, The West Virginia Mountain Trail Runners. All combined, there will be a 50 mile, 50k, half-marathon, and 5k spread out over the three day weekend. The runs will wind through the beautiful trails of the nearby Seneca Creek Backcountry. The event will be catered, and, following the runs on Sunday, we will have a pig roast to celebrate not only the races, but the entire season. Click here for more information on the Race Weekend.

We hope to see you in the mountains this autumn.

TMI Appalachia Program in the News for "Camp Good Grief" and "Stars & S'mores"

2011-08-01T14:11:00.007-04:00

I've been out of town for a couple weeks, so I'm a little late in getting these up. We got some good news coverage during the month of July that I wanted to share. I was sitting on the bench outside of Yokum's General Store in Seneca Rocks waiting on a school group a couple weeks ago when I noticed an article in the Pendleton Times about a program we did with Camp Good Grief, a local group that helps kids who have lost someone close to them. If you click on the images, they will open up big enough to read.

Chris Dorst, a photographer with the Charleston Gazette, came with his son to our monthly astronomy open house. He and Rick Steelhammer put together a nice article for that paper about the event and about Joe Morris, TMI's astronomy guru. Check it out at http://wvgazette.com/News/201107281061.

Oh, the Wonders of Water

2011-07-22T17:11:00.004-04:00

"Hope and the future for me are not in lawns and cultivated fields, not in towns and cities, but in the impervious and quaking swamps." -Henry Davide Thoreau, Walking

It was with this sentiment that seven West Virginia school teachers and five TMI instructors took part in TMI's four-day Wonders of Water (WOW) workshop this July at the Spruce Knob Mountain Center. After learning and practicing Project WET activities with Rose Long of the WV Department of Environmental Protection, and Wonders of Wetlands activities with Kate Frase of Environmental Concern, everyone dug into Environmental Concern's "Planning of Wetlands" (POW) process for creating schoolyard wetland habitat. The POW guide details everything one needs to know to take a hunk of lawn and make it a marshland or swamp filled with macroinvertebrates and sedges. At the Spruce Knob Mountain Center, we had a jump on the game with the beloved Butt Cheek Ponds, an existing set of wetlands. The Butt Cheeks have some wildlife but were in much need of diverstiy and a face-lift to fulfill the desired education role. Thanks so much to the participants who opened up the viewshed, suffered the prick of an occasional hawthorn, laid the stone pathway, and planned the proper location and density of our new wetland vegetation. We planted 242 stems of Swamp Milkweed, Blue Joint Grass, Marsh Hibiscus, Blue Flag Iris, Lizard's Tail, Wool Grass, and Soft Stem Bulrush. We look forward to having everyone back to our new High Camp Wetland Revitalization Project in the near future. Bring your students!

Maret Horizons

2011-07-21T13:12:00.007-04:00

We just finished up a short program with a group of enthusiastic students from the Maret Horizons program. Horizons is a nationwide summer enrichment program for children from low-income families. Maret, a private school in Washington, DC, is one of the schools that hosts the program.

The kids, mostly from northwest Washington, DC, swam in the North Fork River, hiked to the summit of Spruce Knob, and practiced their wilderness survival skills. By the end of the program, everyone was able to get a fire going in under five minutes.

In the top photograph, a girl holds a Red Spotted Newt that had been basking in the shade of the Spruce trees. In the lower photograph, the students assemble an emergency debris shelter with sticks and leaves. The students pulled together in great ways - orienteering, cooking, and solving problems as a team.

Richard, one of the group's chaperones, came to The Mountain Institute as a fifth grader. It would be great to see some of these kids come back one day too.

Positive Feedback

2011-07-04T12:24:00.005-04:00

Wendell Berry once said that "a teacher's major contribution may pop out anonymously in the life of some ex-student's grandchild. A teacher, finally, has nothing to go on but faith, a student nothing to offer in return but testimony." Going on faith is often one of the most challenging aspects of teaching, especially when your time with students is so short as ours often is. Everyone once in awhile though, we do get to see results - or at least hear about them secondhand. It's enough to prop us up and give us a glimpse of the greater impact of our work. So thanks to the parents for sending the note above, it's good to know we're doing something right.

Adventures in the Mountains...and in the Valleys

2011-06-27T10:06:00.003-04:00

The second week of TMI's Mountain Adventures Summer Camp is in full swing! As I write this, the campers have probably just finished orienteering to the summit of Spruce Knob, the highest peak in the state, and are now languidly lying around the grassy summit eating lunch or climbing boulders.

The first week of camp wrapped up on Saturday. Ten campers, two instructors, and Claudia, our long-time camper-turned-intern started the week off with an overnight paddle through a section of the S. Branch of the Potomac River. They also pranced across the high ropes course at Camp Hidden Meadow in the East Fork of the Greenbrier Valley, swam in Seneca Creek, and zipped through the tree canopy high above the North Fork Valley at Nelson Rocks Preserve (top picture).

Tomorrow, campers head into the Seneca Creek Backcountry for a two night trip through beautiful high elevation Red Spruce forests.

For more information on TMI's Mountain Adventures Summer Camp, check out www.mountain.org/summercamp

"Holy cow, I think we've met before!"

2011-06-21T13:26:00.007-04:00

View Larger Map

The Spruce Knob Mountain Center is proud to let you know that we now serve pork sausage and beef from Flying W Farms in nearby Burlington, WV. With the rising gas prices, local food sourcing is making economic sense now more than ever. This meat-seeking non-profit can relish not only saving a few bucks, but also in hearts that don’t sink with every mouthful of biscuits and sausage gravy. Why do our omnivorous hearts now soar? Because unlike trucked-in pounds of meat, local meat comes with answers to our questions: How were these animals raised? How much gas did it take to get this meatball on top of my spaghetti? What farmer raised what animal and did they like each other – those creatures that depended on one another for so much?

The certified natural beef we buy from Flying W Farms is pastured for about three quarters of its life and grain finished outside Petersburg, WV on their farm. It is also processed (slaughtered and butchered) on that same farm. I emphasize place because most of the beef in this country is pastured in one state, grain finished in the feed lots of another, moved again for processing, and trucked even further on down the road to a distribution plant. It is impossible to know much about the life of what you are eating when it has passed through so many different hands.

I am all in favor of wanderlust, but I have to admit, such cultured cows make me downright uncomfortable. Why buy perishable items that have been tramping all around the country instead of those that had the sensibility to stay home? They can come home with all kinds of troubling new ideas. USDA food qualifications such as “Organic,” “Cage-Free,” and “Non-GMO” help us differentiate from what we have come to call “conventional.”[1] To be certified as “natural,” meat must be “minimally processed” with no artificial ingredients added (to the meat). Additionally, Flying W does not administer growth hormones or antibiotics (to the animals).

The pork processed at Flying W Farms comes from David Hevener’s farm outside of Franklin, WV, from whence came our own joyous pig Chicha (also known as Eleanor). On that farm I have seen with my own eyes grand sows lounging in the pastoral shade of a sunny day. I have shaken the very hand that helped pull a wee piglet into this corner of Appalachia and created new life from grass and rocks and drainages, a life whose body will nourish my own.

West Virginians spent almost $4,000 each on food last year, but less than 1% of that went to in-state farms. West Virginia has never been a big producer of non-timber cash crops, but we have managed to send a large percent of our money and resources out of state. Spending our money on in-state farms, however, has a ripple effect that improves the general local economy: “a $1 dollar increase in personal income of farm establishments creates roughly a $4 increase in total personal income in the West Virginia economy.”[2]

Small farming communities are part of our Appalachian heritage, in a land where mountains have hemmed in development and dictated livelihoods – where immediate community can be more important than large-scale industry. As non-renewable sources of energy deplete, let us turn to each other, for on the day that they are gone, what will we know how to do? Who will we thank for our food and our heat and our laughter? How about our neighbors? How about ourselves?

Next time your near Burlington, visit Rick and Margaret Woodworth's Flying W Farm store on Route 50 & 220 or drop them a line at 304/289-3005. -EG

[1] Visit: http://www.fsis.usda.gov/factsheets/meat_&_poultry_labeling_terms/index.asp

for more information on certification terms and conditions.

[2] Visit: http://www.caf.wvu.edu/gdsouzawww/agricultureinWVeconomy.pdf for more information on farm industry and local economy.

TMI Wraps Up another Week of Prairie Restoration

2011-06-20T10:48:00.003-04:00

One doesn't generally associate West Virginia with prairie habitat. In fact, much of the east coast would be forested if not for human interference. In Smoke Hole Canyon, within Grant County, however, prairie is the norm. The hot, dry climate and historic disturbances (likely grazing of elk and wood bison) prevented forests from forming and allowed grass species to proliferate, many of which exist nowhere else in the eastern United States. TMI has been working with The Nature Conservancy for the past two years to restore the native prairie to a small test plot in this unique pocket of the Mountain State. For more information about this project please see our article, "TMI Begins Third Season of Prairie Restoration in Smoke Hole Canyon," in the Spring 2011 issue of the Spruce Knob News.

Work Weekend: No Longer an Oxymoron

2011-06-07T09:48:00.003-04:00

Many thanks to the volunteers who gave their time and energy to the Spruce Knob Mountain Center this past weekend. With ten volunteers and four staff members, we were able to resurface one of our dormitories from start to finish.

The stucco on the Mud Hut was beginning to crumble, so we tore it and the insulation beneath away to expose the rammed earth wall. Then we resurfaced the building with a lime-based plaster which will (in theory) hold up better.

Many of our volunteers worked from can't see to can't see to get the job done.

The building is still tarped, to protect it from too much sunlight while the plaster finishes drying, but before and after photos will be soon to follow.

Volunteers Needed for Hellbender Survey

2011-05-26T09:55:00.004-04:00

All of us up here at The Mountain Institute will be joining Joe Greathouse of the Good Zoo in Wheeling for another hellbender survey on June 11 and we'd love for you to join us. The more volunteers we've got, the more hellbenders we'll find!

The survey will take place somewhere in the Pendleton/Randolph/Pocahontas County area - we haven't pinned down the exact location just yet.

Please give us a call for more details at (304) 567-2632 or email Liz at lgutierrez@mountain.org. You can plan to be in the river all day, so bring a lunch, comfortable, warm clothes, and hip waders if you've got them. We'll have a few extra pairs as well. If you have a landing net, bring that along too.

Afterwards, join us up on Spruce Knob for Stars & S'mores (see blog entry from May 6).

Hellbent on the Greenbrier River

2011-05-20T14:13:00.003-04:00

This past week TMI staff joined Joe Greathouse of the Good Zoo in Wheeling, WV, to scour the West Fork of the Greenbrier River for Eastern Hellbenders. Melinda Brooks, at right, is holding the one we found on the cold and rainy day.

We first tried the Shavers Fork of the Cheat River and the East Fork of the Greenbrier, but water levels were too high in both, so we ended up in the West Fork, walking through the river, flipping over large rocks, and blindly feeling around for the slippery critters. We grabbed two that slid away before we were able to coax this one into a net.

Eastern Hellbenders are the largest salamander in North America and are thought to live as long as seventy years. The one Melinda is holding is twenty-one inches long! They are found throughout southern and central Appalachia and as far west as Oklahoma and Kansas. Like all amphibians, hellbenders are an indicator species - one that is particularly sensitive to pollution. In many places, their numbers are declining.

After we caught this guy, Joe and his crew measured it (the gender is difficult to determine outside of breeding season), took a blood sample, and induced vomiting to see what it had been eating (this guy had two or three crayfish in his belly). In addition to counting hellbenders, Joe is studying the effects that climate change has on the creatures.

Edible Seasons

2011-05-16T09:39:00.005-04:00

Ramp season has come and nearly gone in the Allegheny Mountains. The last few weekends, I’ve spent countless hours with my fingers in the dirt, trying to get them up by their roots – avoiding breaking them off at their stems. Some I pickled, some I froze, some are still hanging from my window frame drying in the sun. Some went straight into biscuits.

Just in time to take their place, the dandelions have arrived. The flowers can be battered and fried into dandelion fritters, their roots can be roasted, ground, and steeped into tea, and the leaves make excellent salad greens – all packed with vitamins. In Stalking the Wild Asparagus, Euell Gibbons writes, “this herbal hero, one of the most healthful and genuinely useful plants in the material medica of the past, is now a despised lawn weed. Now that supermarkets sell green vegetables throughout the winter and druggists are vending tons of synthetic vitamins, we no longer need to depend on the roots and leaves of this humble plant to ward off sickness and death, so we have turned on the dandelion. Every garden-supply house offers for sale a veritable arsenal of diggers, devices and deadly poisons, all designed to help exterminate this useful and essentially beautiful little plant which has so immensely benefited the human race.”

Morels are out now too, though I haven’t seen any of these mushrooms that blend in so well with the forest floor. Before long, chanterelles will pop up in the mossy banks of Big Run. Chicory, a close relative of the dandelion, with many of the same uses and benefits, will appear in summer. So will yarrow, bee balm, mint, and st. john’s wort, all of which are excellent dried and brewed in tea. Blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries will cover the meadows near our observatory and flood zone along the headwaters of Big Run.

In fall, the trees will begin to fruit. That is, if the frosts this past week didn’t prevent it. Apples and hawthorns can be boiled into jellies or pressed and mulled into cider. Pears and paw paws as well. There are a lot of benefits to living on Spruce Mountain, but being surrounded by a constantly rotating supply of wild edibles is one of the better ones. One thing grows as another is fading out, just as the sun takes the place of the moon each dawn. The human race has long since phased out hunting and gathering as its primary means of sustenance. First, we cultivated plants where they would naturally grow. Then we started trading them, first on foot from town to town and now from continent to continent by plane and ship. An entire planet’s food geography is condensed into any given supermarket. We’ve devised new methods and chemicals to make things grow at exasperating rates. Meanwhile, every other species on Earth continues to hunt and gather.

In the past few years we’ve become more aware of the food we’re eating: where it comes from and how it grows. More and more people are buying organic food and planting small victory gardens. My friend in Brooklyn adopted a small square of unoccupied dirt in the courtyard of her apartment building to plant ferns and heucheras. My friend in DC grows hot peppers in a small box in his window.

Living in a place with such a bountiful natural harvest, I see little need to plant anything. For me, there are no simpler and purer things to eat than what is already growing, in places where they are meant to grow and in quantities which the topography and climate have dictated. Of course, I don’t have nearly the knowledge or ambition to subsist only on a natural harvest. I merely add it to whatever the world has funneled into my supermarket and subsequently my kitchen.

After awhile, the snow will come and the last of the wild edibles will be all but gone. Everything will shut down, at least on the surface. The spring will follow and the maple sap will start running. I’ll wake up before work and crunch over the snow to tap the trees and use the sweet water to brew coffee and tea and make syrup. In early April the sap will stop running and by that time the ramps will be up again. Humans are no longer dependent on the edible rhythm of the seasons, but these foods are all around us - whether we harvest them or not. -JPD

New Staff Wrap-Up Spring Training

2011-05-13T14:51:00.007-04:00

Spring has just arrived and we've completed another successful staff training! This spring we have welcomed 9 new members to our TMI staff team and family. They've traveled from all over to join us here on Spruce Knob (California, Oregon, Washington, D.C., Colorado, Illinois, and even Elkins).

We spent 10 glorious days in April getting familiar with the inner workings of the Mountain Learning programs. We learned how to “Read the Landscape," to be Appalachian Watershed & Stream Monitors, and we spent some time getting to know the Monongahela National Forest, our backyard and outdoor classroom. Even with such a busy schedule, we had time for some fun.

The morning of April 15th, as the staff gathered together to begin their hike toward Spruce Knob. They all trotted out from their spruce covered campsite to discover that a large “bunny” had hidden eggs for each of them to find. There is nothing like starting a day off by eating chocolate hidden in plastic eggs. What a treat!

To cap off the entire training experience, returning staff and new staff joined forces for the weekend. An overnight canoe training was postponed due to rain and high waters that pounded our area. Instead, we all had a wonderful time touring Smokehole Caverns and the Greenbank Radio Astronomy Observatory. We ended the day hanging out at Kevin’s for a dutch oven dinner, campfire, lawn games, and slumber party.

All in all, it was a great kick off to the spring season! We have an excited and eager team of outdoor professional ready to jump into working with school groups. A big thank you to everyone who helped with training. It would not have been nearly as successful without the help of so many individuals. Thanks to everyone and welcome to all of the new TMI instructors!

Stars & S'mores

2011-05-06T10:49:00.004-04:00

This summer, we'll open our observatory one night each month for Stars & S'mores. The events are free and open to all, so please do come join us. We will have a brief introduction to our telescope and the observatory that it's housed in, look at the stars and planets that fill our night sky, keep a campfire blazing, roast marshmallows, and make s'mores.

The skies above Spruce Knob are some of the darkest in the east. According to www.observingsites.com, the night skies here are "the best that you will find anywhere east of the Mississippi. Extremely remote location and moderately high altitute (4860 feet) combine to give skies that are absolutely incredible when the weather is good. No light domes at all. The sky is black from horizon to zenith."

If it’s raining, or too cloudy to see the stars, we’ll still enjoy the night be searching for salamanders and frogs!

Stars & S'mores will take place on June 11th, July 9th, and August 6th, all Saturdays. Camping is available for $15.

Directions: Follow HWY 28 South from Circleville about 5.5 miles, turning right on 28/10 Sawmill Run Rd. Follow signs to TMI, about 6 miles. Turn right into the facility, take the left fork, and follow about ¾ mile. Park near the canoes and follow signs to walk to the observatory (about a ¼ mile).

Give us a call ((304) 567-2632) for more information or to make reservations. Hope to see ya there!

New Season, New Pig

2011-04-26T09:04:00.005-04:00

There's a handful of benchmarks that can be used to mark the start of a new season at TMI: the first school course of the spring, the day that our full complement of senior staff return from their winter adventures, the day that the seasonal staff arrive, or the day that new staff graduate from training.

Perhaps though, a more precise marker than any of these, is the day we acquire our pig. Eva picked up our pig, Eleanor (Ellie), from a farmer on the other side of the county yesterday. Ellie will help us out by eating all of our food scraps throughout the year so that they don't end up in a landfill. She'll also be tilling our garden.

Ellie had a long and bumpy ride up to her new home and broke loose from her fence to explore the Spruce woods shortly after this photo was taken. She's now back in her spacious pen and happily rooting around.

In Elkins, a Documentary Theatre Project Explores the Lives of Individuals in a Community Facing Mountain Top Removal

2011-04-21T11:35:00.002-04:00

Coal River written and directed by Becky Hill is an original documentary theatre project inspired by the people of Coal River Valley, West Virginia. The show focuses on a community in Southern West Virginia as they face Mountain Top Removal Mining. The language of this piece is formed from actual interviews, documents and speeches. The community members' voices were taken from interviews collected by Hill and Jen Osha, a former TMI instructor, within Raleigh and Boone County.

All performances are free of charge. Donations are appreciated. All proceeds will go Marsh Fork Community Association.

The show will be at the Boiler House Studio Theatre at Davis & Elkins College in Elkins April 20th-21st and 26th at 7pm.

The cast includes various Elkins community members ranging in age from 21 to 69 with music by Gerry Milnes.
The Cast is as follows:
Judy: Emily Yeager
Shannon: Craig Hyre
Ernie: Bill Talbot
Silvia: Jane Birdsong
Junior: Adam Williams
Rick: Matt Kupstas
Walker Cat Representative: Evan Burks
West Virginia Coal Association Representative: Bill King
Safety Official: Spinner O'Flaherty
Friends of Coal Women's Auxiliary Representative: Roxy Todd
Definitions: Susan Krakoff

I Pity the Poor Non-Profit

2011-04-20T14:00:00.002-04:00

Like all non-profits, TMI is dependent on the grace and generosity of its supporters, whether in the form of financial support, goods, time and energy, or specialized skills. There is no part of our Spruce Knob Mountain Center - from our buildings to our curriculum to our bookkeeping that is untouched by volunteers.

Below is an abbreviated wishlist of things that will help us to maintain our 400 acre facility and the high quality education programming that we bring to thousands of students each year. For the full list, for more specifics, or if you are able to donate any of the following items, please contact our office at (304) 567-2632.

Gear to Outfit Students for Programming
Midweight Long Underwear (S, M, L)
Winter Hats
Thick Waterproof Ski Mittens
Neck Gaiters
Waterproof Hiking Boots (Men's 6-12, Women's 6-8)
Winter Boots (Sorel Glacier or Similar) (Men's 6-12, Women's 6-8)
Thick Fleece Pants (S, M, L)
Thick, Full-Zip Fleece Jackets (S, M, L)
Thick Wool Socks
Rain Jackets & Pants (Helly Hansen Impertech or Similar) (S, M, L, XL, XXL)
Breathable Stockingfoot Chest Waders (M, L)
Shoulder-Length PVC Gloves
Hip Waders w/ Boots (Men's 6-8) (Please no Neoprene or Felt Soles)

Facility & Office Needs
Ten Inch Pouch-Type Laminator
Large Propane Commercial Washer/Dryer
Compact Car for School Visits
Fifteen Passenger Bus

Summer Courses for Adults at SKMC

2011-04-19T13:48:00.003-04:00

TMI will be offering three Professional Development Workshops for teachers and other interested citizens this summer. Participants will learn about the mountains, forests, and streams that make up the Central Appalachian Highlands - one of the most biodiverse ecosystems in the United States. They will also leave with the skills and materials necessary to teach this information to their students.

The workshops include:
Wonders of Water: July 11-14
Explore existing water based curricula for your classroom and leave with over 100 lesson plans to use! Learn how to create an outdoor wetland classroom on your school property. Our focus will be Project WET, Wonders of Wetlands, and Planning of Wetlands. Use these activities alone OR to complement a field trip to TMI.

Reading the Landscape: July 18-21
A comprehensive overview of forest and watershed systems using field-based investigation and classroom materials.

Appalachian Watershed & Stream Monitors (with TMI & Trout Unlimited): August 8-11
Immerse yourself in water quality monitoring techniques, stream restoration options with youth, and the wonders of headwaters streams, while covering multiple science and social studies Content Standards & Objectives!

For more information on any of these workshops please visit www.mountain.org/professional-development-opportunities.

Nazareth College Group Spruces Up the Earth Shelter

2011-04-18T11:10:00.003-04:00

Last month a dedicated group of students from Nazareth College in Rochester spent their spring break at The Mountain Institute. Most of their energies were concentrated on the Earth Shelter: scraping the ceiling, painting the walls, and rearranging the furniture. It's finally starting to look like a real office in here. They also had some time left over to make delicious bread and yogurt and spend some time strolling around the property to learn about the natural history and ecology of Appalachia.

They kept their own blog going while they were here: http://nazarethtmi.blogspot.com/.

A huge thank you to all the students who volunteered their time to make this place look great.

Spruce Knob News Spring 2011 to Hit News Stands!

2011-04-12T15:39:00.002-04:00

The Spruce Knob News won't actually hit news stands - in fact, I don't know of any news stands anywhere near here. However, it will be mailed out soon. So if you're a friend of TMI's Appalachia Program and would like a copy in your mailbox, drop me an email (jdebellis@mountain.org) and I'll add you to our mailing list.

You can also check out the electronic version (as well as all of our thrilling back issues) at www.mountain.org/publications.

The coming issue will feature a piece about the weather and climate in this part of the world ("Turnaround Time: Notes on a Year of Weather Watching," by Jeff De Bellis), an article about soloing the long, cold winter on Spruce Knob in a 100 year old farmhouse ("Keeping Time, " by Eva Gutierrez), updates on our public school, watershed education, and conservation programs, and much much more.

Are you Ready for an Adventure?

2011-03-31T15:53:00.011-04:00

TMI is getting ready for an exciting and adventurous summer and so should you! We are proud to host the Mountain Adventures Summer Camp once again. Join us for one, two, or three weeks of summer camp in the wild and wonderful state of West Virginia! We will raft the rivers, climb the peaks, hike through the spruce forests, and gaze at the stars in our astronomical observatory. Throughout all these activities campers will make lifelong friendships and reconnect with the outdoors.

2011 Summer Camp Dates:

Week One: June 20th-June 26th

Week Two: June 27th-July 3rd

Week Three: July 4th-July 10th

Summer Camp at a Glance:

Our unique round buildings (yurts) set back in the forest, make for an ideal location to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city
Our adventures include whitewater rafting, backpacking, canoeing, hiking, orienteering, ropes courses, rock climbing, and much more!
This is a co-ed summer camp for ages 12-17
Our "challenge by choice" model leads to increased self-confidence
With some of the darkest skies in the eastern U.S., our location is ideal for stargazing with our observatory
Small group sizes allow our campers to thrive in a world of friendship and fun
Safety is our first responsibility - all of our instructors are certified Wilderness First Responders.

Please visit our summer camp webpage for more information: www.mountain.org/summercamp

We look forward to seeing you this summer!

TMI to Host Training Camp for High School Runners

2011-03-30T10:29:00.003-04:00

This summer The Mountain Institute will host the 2011 Spruce Mountain Running Camp. The camp, organized by the West Virginia Mountain Trail Runners, will take place from July 3-9 at the Spruce Knob Mountain Center. Over the week you will thoroughly explore the area, running, hiking and camping on the trails.

The staff is made up of expert runners, coaches and experienced wilderness guides. You’ll learn about running, trail stewardship, the botany and history of the area and yourself over the seven days and six nights of this camp. This camp is designed as an early season boost for your cross country system, but the actual running won’t be the hard part. You’ll be challenged in many ways and will become a better runner for it.

Come join us for a week of running in the woods this summer, in a truly special place.

For complete information including registration forms and scholarship information, visit http://wvmtr.org/camp.

Spring Cleaning

2011-03-03T13:04:00.003-05:00

With programming beginning in mid-April, this is the time of year that staff begin cleaning, fixing odds & ends, and shoveling away the last of the snow-piles that block the doors. This spring we've embarked on a massive cleaning effort like never before. Walls are being scrubbed, chimneys are being cleaned, and buildings are being renovated. Chris, to the right, is scrubbing down the hard-to-reach places in the shower barn. Our new, well-drawn water system is in place & new urinals have been installed in the shower barn. Next week, a group of students from Nazareth College will be coming to help with various projects, including painting the Earth Shelter.

The snow is all but gone here, with a few piles still hiding out in the shadier places on the mountain - the north facing slopes & in the thick spruce woods. Days are sunny, nights are frigid, and maple sap is flowing prodigiously. Returning staff will trickle in one-by-one as the maples bud until all the little yurts are filled. New staff will join us at the end of March and school courses will begin shortly thereafter. This spring promises to be a busy one, and we're starting the year off with everything in top shape.

Monongahela National Forest Trails Survey

2011-01-04T14:04:00.002-05:00

The National Forest Service recently put together a survey for users to give feedback on trails in the Mon National Forest. The survey will be used to help identify maintenance priorities. The forest has over 860 miles of trails and only a small group of employees and volunteers maintaining them. At times, we at TMI have done much of the grunt labor on these trails - trimming branches, rolling 300 lb rocks to create staircases and reduce erosion, or digging through rocky soil to plant signposts. These trails, especially those in the Seneca Creek Backcountry, are vital to The Mountain Institute's school courses. They are the pathways that we use to introduce students to the natural world of the Appalachians. Beyond that, they are the primary access routes into what is one of the most isolated, undeveloped, diverse, and unique areas in the eastern United States.

Those of you who spend time with these trails, here's your chance to give the Forest Service some feedback at http://montrailssurvey.blogspot.com/.

"The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes." -Marcel Proust

2010-12-27T18:45:00.005-05:00

At the end of every fall season, usually sometime in mid-November, the Spruce Knob Mountain Center begins to clear out. Over the course of the month, the fall staff of about 20 funnels down to 10, then 3 or 4, then 1 or 2, then sometimes none. The students and teachers that fill the yurts, the dorms, the deck, and many pockets of our cherished woods and fields throughout the fall stop coming - quite suddenly. Sooner or later the snow begins to fall, shutting down the long driveway and oftentimes the road as well. For short time, the entire mountain seems to hibernate beneath a blanket of snow.

For the past two years I've had the incredible fortune to have the mountain more or less to myself for the month of December. Landmarks that I've seen thousands of time take on new forms in the long shadows of winter. The narrow entrance to Backridge Cave, in the upper left picture, fills with snow. The young spruce trees bend with a heavy coat of snow. The "High Plains" - the large fields just up the hill from the yurts in the lower right picture - look otherworldly. There is always the question of what I do with all the free time and space on the mountain in the wintertime. Really, much of my time is spent simply grappling with survival in this environment. Chopping, bucking, and splitting wood. Building and maintaining fires. Baking bread and cooking soups and stews. Ensuring that our buildings endure the ferocious alpine winter. Just getting dressed in the morning to go outside is an endeavor. Walking from the shower barn to Ulan Bator in deep snow can take 3 or 4 times as long as it would beneath the summer sun. Most of the time left over is spent skiing, snowshoeing, reading, visiting friends in town that I've neglected throughout the busy season, and developing whatever skills and hobbies I deem most interesting at the given moment.

Christmas has come and gone now and December is nearly over. In early January 4 or 5 of our core staff will begin to dig out their wool clothes, trudge through the snows to the Earth Shelter, build a fire, dust off their keyboards, and begin the behind the scenes work that will make the coming season happen. Cleaning, fixing, scheduling, hiring, purchasing, and a thousand other little jobs. The rest of the core staff will filter in throughout early March, the new staff for the season will arrive shortly after, and not long after that the schools and other groups will begin to arrive and fill the buildings and woods with new energy.

All of us who come to this mountain come for more or less the same reason - because it's a special place, one of the rare truly unique places on Earth. What we can learn from this mountain is certainly more than we can learn from any book, any film, any other person. Whether we come here as a student, a teacher, an astronomer, a summer camper, or a staff member - we come because what we get from this place is not something we can get anywhere else.

To see the mountain in all its seasons this year is a powerful reaffirmation of what an important place this is. Happy New Year. -JPD

SKMC in the News

2010-11-02T10:25:00.003-04:00

As the air temperature drops and we relish the last few sunny days of the fall, all of us here on the mountain are beginning to reflect back on our accomplishments during what has surely been our busiest and most productive year.

This is a yearly ritual for most of us as the yurts transition from the busy school courses of October and November into hibernation mode for much of December. This year, local and regional media have taken notice of our accomplishments as well.

We've gotten four nods in the press this year - the most recent an article in this past Saturday's Charleston Gazette about Clendenin Elementary School's visit. The article is titled "Clendenin Students Mentored in the Mountains." In October, The Intermountain News in Elkins published a photospread and article from the Randolph County Outdoor Education Program. Ed Tellman, editor of The Pendleton Times came up in September to visit with us and 6th graders from North Fork Elementary. He wrote an article about our "Reading the Landscape" program. Back in June, Blue Ridge Outdoors Magazine published a piece entitled "Higher Learning," about some of TMI's Appalachian education programs as well as our international efforts.

Our own newsletter went out at the end of September. If you're not on our mailing list and would like a copy, send me an email (jdebellis@mountain.org).

New TMI Gear for Fall

2010-10-21T11:14:00.013-04:00

We've redesigned our merchandise for the new season.

Baseball caps have TMI Appalachia's logo on the front and say "Conservation Culture Community" across the back. They are available in olive (pictured left) and khaki for 15$. Now that the temperatures are getting colder, we ordered beanies (they're one size fits all but do better on smaller heads). Beanies are also 15$.

Our new shirts have TMI Applachia's logo on the front and are blank on the back. Short sleeve shirts (below) are available in any color you want, so long as it's gray; sizes youth large and adult small through double extra large. Long sleeve shirts come in green; sizes adult small through double extra large. Shirts are 15$ for short sleeve and 20$ for long sleeve.

To order, send a check and a note specifying size and color to:

Spruce Knob Mountain Center
Attn: Sales Department
HC 75 Box 24
Circleville, WV 26804

Please include an extra 5$ to cover packing and shipping charges.

The Mountain Institute's Race Weekend

2010-08-27T09:28:00.004-04:00

Could you ever imagine running a 50 kilometer, 50 mile, or 13.1 mile race? How about all three? The Mountain Institute is partnering with the West Virginia Mountain Trail Runners Association for the West Virginia Trilogy on the weekend of October 8-10th. Runners who participate in any of these races will receive free food, a spot to place your tent, and use of our facilities. These races will wind through the hills, up and down mountain trails, and cross gorgeous mountain creeks.

In addition to the Trilogy, we will also be offering a 5k race for those who like to run, but don't need to run 50 miles to get that runner's high! The 5k race will take place alongside the half-marathon on Sunday, October 10th at 9:00 am.

All of these races will both challenge and inspire runners. It's an event not to be missed! Please join us for a weekend filled with running, great food, friends, and raffle prizes!

For more information about the races please check out the websites, www.mountain.org/race or www.wvmtr.org/events/race-details/.

Thanks to the Garden Interns, it will be a Delicious Fall on Spruce Knob

2010-08-13T09:39:00.008-04:00

Hello! We are the garden interns. We have had an incredible summer, and we'd like to let you in on it.

My name is Anna Poaster. I am originally from Boston, MA and I am going to be a junior at Carleton College in Minnesota. I came up to Spruce because I wanted the opportunity to learn, in a really hands on way, what it takes to make a garden grow. I'm really interested in urban farming and getting into the Edible Schoolyards movement, but I figured I should spend some time learning how to garden before trying it in the city. I liked the idea of Spruce's garden being a new project because it has made for lots of opportunities for us to figure out new plans and inject our own creativity into the long run objective of SKMC being more agriculturally sustainable.

...And my name is Meg Trau. I am from Georgia, and I will be a junior at College of the Atlantic in Maine. I was looking for internships in agriculture or outdoor education, which made TMI the perfect fit. I am a botany nerd, and I get fired up about food systems issues. Last term, I took a course on the theory and practice of organic gardening, and I have been able to bring all that knowledge to life this summer.

We have done a variety of different projects that have given us new skills we never thought we would get from being "garden interns" - like using power tools! Some of our bigger endeavors were building a rotating composter and planning for an expansion of the garden. Hopefully Spruce will be able to produce even more food in coming years. This summer, we have battled flea beetles, cucumber beetles, slugs, and sneaky rodents. But we have still managed to add some freshness to the kitchen - radishes, cucumbers, lettuce, kale, tomatoes, and squash. Everyone love cooking with produce from the garden, and it has been extremely gratifying to provide it.

We were also charged with finding local and organic alternatives to ordering from a food distribution company. This led us all over West Virginia and part of Virginia too. We went to several farmers' markets and even a Mennonite produce auction. It was really fun (and tasty) to get to meet farmers from all over the state.

More than anything, we have enjoyed life on the mountain. It is a serence and quiet place to spend time, punctuated by energy and excitement from the many groups that come through. Neither one of us knew what to expect when we signed up to move to West Virginia for 3 months, but we have found a wonderful community and organization that we hope to stay in touch with for a long time. Thanks for a wonderful summer, TMI!

A Note from 2010 Summer Campers

2010-06-28T13:51:00.003-04:00

Hello! We are campers from The Mountain Institute. We have a variety of fun activities. These include biking, camping, rock climbing, rope challenge courses, tree climbing, and more. Another awesome part about the camp is that it has great food and you get to be outdoors. Also you get to make lasint friendships with fellow campers. The best part is you can return year after year to see your friends! It's great!

Volunteer Work Weekend 2010

2010-06-17T15:18:00.007-04:00

This past weekend volunteers and staff came together to "spruce up" the Spruce Knob Mountain Center as part of TMI's annual Work Weekend. Volunteers came from as far away as Georgia to work on projects around the facilities, including cleaning the deck behind the yurts, improving the rooves on Almati, the Waterfront Yurt, and the Garden Yurt, building a stone wall and a planter box at the front gate, installing a new gate, tilling the garden, mending fences, and a wide swath of other odd jobs. All together, over 40 people helped out over the course of the weekend.

Being on the mountain all the time, it's often easy to miss the small improvements that are always being made. But when that many people work together for a single weekend, the progress is alarmingly conspicuous. The facilities and grounds are looking better than ever. Thank you so much to all who pitched in!

Weather on the Mountain

2010-06-11T09:28:00.004-04:00

Spruce Knob's weather station is back up to full strength - mostly. Reception often cuts out during heavy fog or storms, but most of the time you can see what the current weather is like at our Spruce Knob Mountain Center no matter where you are in the world. Our Weather Underground site, at http://www.wunderground.com/swf/Rapid_Fire.swf?units=english&station=KWVCIRCL2, shows current temperature, humidity, dew point, rainfall, pressure, wind speed and direction, and daily highs and lows. The page is updated hourly. The rain collector & anemometer are strapped to a tree that's somewhat sheltered by Back Ridge so rainfall and windspeed reports tend to be a little lower than elsewhere on the campus.

You can also view past weather data at http://www.wunderground.com/weatherstation/WXDailyHistory.asp?ID=KWVCIRCL2&wuSelect=PWS. For weather forecasts, go to www.noaa.gov and search for Circleville, WV. Circleville is about ten miles away and 2,000 feet below us so the weather is usually a little more extreme up here, but it can give you a pretty good idea of what the weather will be like. As always though, bring your rain gear just in case.

Spruce Knob Sandpipers

2010-05-27T16:57:00.004-04:00

For all the wild and wonderful natural beauty that West Virginia rightfully claims to have, there is one natural feature that is often glaringly absent: the ocean. Despite all of the fun to be had in our scenic mountain playground, it's still worth it every once in awhile to pack up the car and make the 6 or more hour drive to the coast. There just isn't anywhere in West Virginia that you can lie in the sand, stare out across a seemingly endless body of water, listen to the crescendo of ocean meeting land, and watch sandpipers frantically race acros the sand in search of tasty crustaceans. Nearby Spruce Knob Lake is about the closest thing we've got and it isn't enough to convince anyone - except maybe a few of those sandpipers. As we were loading canoes into the water for an afternoon of paddling with students from a visiting school, a lone sandpiper raced across the shore. What are you doing here? He was a long way from the coast.

A little research revealed that while most sandpipers spend their lives on the coast, some of them do frequent wetlands further inland. And sightings in West Virginia of Spotted, Semipalmated, and Least Sandpipers are not uncommon. Perhaps the birds are captivated by the Potomac Highlands from above and stop down for a visit along their migration routes. Some sandpipers fly from South America all the way to their breeding grounds in Northern Canada. According to the West Virginia Department of Natural Resources, there are over 200 species of birds that visit the state during their migrations - this in addition to the over 75 species that live and breed here. In fact, this stretch of the Appalachians has the highest biodiversity of anyplace in the country that doesn't have a coastline.

We may be 4,000 feet above and 6 hours away from the salty edge of the continent, but perhaps we're not so far removed from the coastal environment after all. If the sandpipers appreciate West Virginia just fine without an ocean, maybe we can too. -JPD

Drilling a Well!!!

2010-04-28T17:50:00.003-04:00

Each year, TMI’s Spruce Knob Mountain Center (SKMC) continues to serve more guests. As these schools and private groups utilize the facility more frequently, the limitations of our existing water system become more apparent. It is not unusual for us to run out of water when large groups visit, especially in the summer and fall. The water source for SKMC is a spring that is located just above the facility that has been determined by the State to be under the influence of surface water. We continue to chlorinate our water before it is used by our visitors; it is potable, safe to drink, and has never made anyone sick, however, this treatment alone does not meet WV state standards for a public water source.

We are subject to federal drinking water regulations, which now require us (as a system that serves the public) to change our system of supply or treatment. We can either drill a well to provide groundwater that is not influenced by surface water, or we must add a filtration system to our treatment regimen, in addition to the chlorination. The cost of pursuing either option can easily run into hundreds of thousands of dollars. We are hoping to have success in drilling a well because there are fewer ongoing maintenance costs associated with providing drinking water from a good groundwater source and because it could also solve the problem of sufficient quantity.

Drilling a well is a gamble. It is quite expensive and there is no "we find water or your money back" guarantee. This is a real concern to us, as we are some of the highest residents of the state of WV. For months we have consulted geologists, hydrologists, neighbors, elected representatives, well drillers, and dousers. There were many different predictions for our well and several suggested locations, water depths, and flow rates. All of these were educated guesses, as we don't really know the answer until the drilling is done.

We decided on a location that was recommended by the geologist, the well driller, and the douser, and that also worked well for us to tie the water into our existing water and electrical system. The drilling began about 10:30 a.m. this morning and ended around 3:00 p.m. The drilling company, B.W. Smith Well Drilling, struck water at 3 different levels on their way down, one around 65 feet, the next around 85 feet, and the highest flow of all at 180 feet. The drill has extremely high flows now, up to 40 gallons per minute. He does expect this to drop, but even then, this flow would be more than adequate to run the Spruce Knob Mountain Center.

This is a major victory in the well drilling battle, but the drama continues. Before we can throw our celebration, we must get the water tested by state labs to prove that it is not under the influence of surface water. Keep your fingers crossed and we'll keep you posted!

New Staff Training

2010-04-12T11:05:00.004-04:00

This spring, TMI is welcoming 9 new staff members to our team of field instructors. This new group began their new staff training at noon on Friday, April 9 and will conclude their training session on Sunday, April 18. This 10 day training will cover all of the content, group handling, campcraft, and risk management skills associated with being a TMI Field Instructor.

The training was designed and is being run by the Appalachia Program's Education Coordinator, Beth Boehme. The new staff spent the first three nights learning their way around the Spruce Knob Mountain Center and hiked out into the woods today for a 6 night camping, field-based training session.

Restoring Big Run Since 2006

2010-03-30T11:53:00.002-04:00

TMI’s Spruce Knob Mountain Center lies in the far reaches of the Big Run watershed. For many years, Big Run has been the centerpiece to the watershed education element of our programs. During this time, students have been assessing the upper sections of Big Run, learning of the importance of high quality headwater streams, and beginning to understand the upstream – downstream concept. Since these first days of TMI’s watershed education programming, Big Run has been the example of a nearly perfect stream.

The waters come together in a meadow and begin flowing as Big Run at approximately 3500 feet in elevation. Rain and spring water from the western flank of Spruce Knob and the eastern continental divide create the stream, and it is separated from the headwaters of the well-known Seneca Creek by only a small ridge. Big Run meanders through this meadow and gains water from its many tributaries. As it grows, it provides a fresh water home to myriad organisms, including a high biodiversity of macroinvertebrates, a colony of beavers, and a reproducing population of eastern brook trout.

Big Run offers a near perfect environment for all of its inhabitants, but as with any watershed, it is only as good as the sum of all of its parts. The stream is one of the few remaining intact watersheds for brook trout in West Virginia. These fish can travel the stream length in its entirety and many move upstream each fall to the tiniest of tributaries to spawn. It was in few of these seemingly insignificant waterways where a major problem was occurring for the reproducing trout. Their spawning grounds were being degraded by an unlikely contender, cattle.

Within the Monongahela National Forest there are several areas where private farms hold grazing rights. There is an area like this on a tributary of upper Big Run, where the cows, grazing throughout the spring, summer, and fall, rely on the small tributary as a drinking water source. The narrow foot of the heavy cow easily collapses the stream’s banks, creating more of a wetland than a stream system. This impact increases turbidity in the water, exposes more of the water to sunlight - raising temperature, and destroys the stream channel needed for trout reproduction.

Since 2006, TMI has been working with TU to help repair and restore these tributaries of the stream. TU, in conjunction with US Fish and Wildlife, has set miles of cattle fencing around the tributaries to keep the herd out, built bridges over stream crossings, and created alternative water sources, spring fed troughs, for the cows. TU has been providing management of the restoration site and TMI has been providing students. Since 2006, TU, TMI, and their students have planted thousands of trees in the riparian zone of the affected stream lengths. The results are already impressive, as the trees are beginning to grow, the tributaries are again channelized, grass is shading the channels, and turbidity has dropped. If you visit this area in fall and approach the banks slowly, you may just catch a glimpse of reproducing brook trout in their spawning bed.

Where was TMI when...

2010-03-22T10:00:00.003-04:00

"Where was TMI when MNF let drilling proceed on the Fernow EF in clear violation of ESA, NEPA rules and CWA?"

This was a comment left on the blog late last week; a comment I assume is in response to TMI's recent letter to the BLM, filed to protest the leasing of two parcels in the Monongahela National Forest (MNF), both within 10 miles of TMI's Spruce Knob Mountain Center. Where was TMI at the time of drilling in the Fernow? We were right here on Spruce Knob, incredibly busy doing what we do, running our programs, and not privy to the situation at the Fernow until after the fact. The original map of candidate drilling areas for this particular auction, released in July 2009, contained proposed lease areas surrounding and bordering our facility, the Spruce Knob Mountain Center. This couldn't fly under our radar; it was in our back yards.

Over the last year, the proposition of natural gas development in Marcellus Shale in the region has generated much thought and discussion within TMI’s Appalachia Program. TMI Appalachia is not an advocacy group, but an educational organization that works to protect, promote and support the best interests of mountains and all they encompass. This creates an interesting dichotomy in the organization’s view of Marcellus Shale drilling in the mountains of West Virginia. On one side of the division is the preservation of our mountain environments; on the other is the development of cleaner burning energy, natural gas, that many believe could be an important stepping stone in the United States’ conversion from coal and oil to green energy and energy independence.

The Mountain Institute wants to promote the development of cleaner burning fuels and other energy alternatives, but with the immense footprint of the drilling operation, the water use and pollution issues, the current lack of enforcable drilling regulations in place and no real movement in the state or country to use the natural gas to replace other current fuels, it is difficult to support development of the resource, especially on our public lands.

I'm not sure of the intent of this comment. Is someone (anonymous) upset with us for not protesting drilling in the Fernow or wondering why we chose one lease over another? I hope that I have helped to answer the question. If anyone has any questions regarding our letter of protest or our stance on Marcellus Shale drilling, please don't hesitate to email or call the office.

jnease@mountain.org

304-567-2632

More Winter Pictures

2010-02-18T10:45:00.003-05:00

If you're planning on coming up or would like to schedule a meeting off of the mountain, please call ahead, as it may take some time to prepare. The WV DOT has been working almost non-stop since Christmas to keep the roads open and safe. There are many roads throughout Pendleton County, and ours, Sawmill Run Road, may end at a higher elevation than any other residential road. They have done an excellent job keeping up with the snow and wind and they never forget about us up here. Sometimes it takes a few days to get the road open again, but we don't travel far most of the time. Good thing we can ski to work.

The lower photograph is of the road out of here. In the photograph, snow has drifted 2-4 feet deep across the road. The upper photograph is of buried cars... buried like everything else. Our neighbor, Annie, has lived on this mountain for over 90 years. She says that this winter is similar to those of her childhood. "We could just step right over the fences," she commented.

Winter Adventures Continue

2010-02-11T15:33:00.004-05:00

The snow continues to fall. The drift outside of the office door is nearing the 5 foot mark and the walk from the driveway to the office is not an easy one. The snow is hip-deep nearly everywhere, with some drifts topping out over six feet. The road is closed. Since Friday, February 5, we have received between 3 and 4 feet of snow. On Tuesday the wind began to blow. Sustained winds were measured between 25 - 25 mph, with gusts exceeding 55 mph. As the wind blows, the drifts get deeper. How long can this last? From the looks of the weather report, at least 10 more days.

Flooded Towns and Leaky Roofs

2010-01-25T16:21:00.004-05:00

The rain fell last night in a torrent. I awoke several times throughout the night to hear that the storm had not subsided, but had increased its intensity. As the sky grew lighter, the rain finally let up to a light drizzle. Out the window, the eight inches of frozen snow and ice that had covered the landscape was gone and rivers of water poured over the exposed rock and grass. Living at the top of the mountain, at the head of the watershed, pondering the volume of water flowing away from you doesn't not create the fear it would if you lived 25 miles downstream; It creates concern for those below you.

Schools were closed in all surrounding counties. Marlinton was closed to all traffic. Rivers everywhere had left or were about to leave their banks. The Greenbrier Valley seemed to be getting hit the hardest. The most familiar part of the Greenbrier to most is the calm, wide river that flows through Cass and Marlinton, past Watoga State Park and towards Lewisburg. The economy of the surrounding communities seems to be based on the tourism that the river brings. The Greenbrier River Trail is a favorite to many and the river is canoed and fished by thousands of people every year.

The Greenbrier River comes together in Durbin, WV at the confluence of its two largest tributaries, the East Fork and West Fork of the Greenbrier. Both rivers are of substantial size and hold fantastic populations of trout. Following either tributary North takes you through deep canyons and into a high country that is lightly travelled. The East Fork begins in high elevation wetlands that are home to rare species of Canadian plants, Balsam Fir and Spruce. As it flows, the river gradually widens, takes on more water, and quickly becomes a fantastic Brown Trout fishery. The high elevations of this watershed were, until last night covered with same 8 inches of snow and ice that Spruce Knob was covered in.

By noon today, all of this water flowed through Main Street in Marlinton. The river didn't crest as high as initially predicted, however, as the water recedes, the damage is becoming evident. The Pocahontas County Times (http://www.pocahontastimes.com/) and Allegheny Mountain Radio http://www.alleghenymountainradio.org/are providing updates on the status of the river and those affected.

The affects of the storm on Spruce Knob are minimal compared to those downstream, but still inconvenient. At 8:00 this morning, the Earth Sheltered Office was leaking in about 15 spots and reiterated a fact that we already know. We need a new roof. We'll keep saving money and collecting donations, and hopefully by next summer, we can put a solid top on the office. Until then, we'll keep catching the leaks and running the dehumidifiers.

Winter's Here to Stay

2010-01-11T15:28:00.005-05:00

We're in the midst of a real winter. As in much of the state, the mercury dropped below freezing in mid-December and has showed no signs of rising since. The pre-Christmas snow storm that paralyzed much of the mid-Atlantic dropped well over two feet of snow in the Spruce Knob area and snow has fallen nearly every day since. The wind picked up around the first of the year, blowing this snow in every direction and leaving drifts on the driveway that are taller than most everyone I know. The yurts are open to ski and snowshoe traffic only and it appears that this will be the case for some time to come. The state road crew plows the road up to the gate and David Colby Martin, TMI's Program Officer who also lives on the mountain, has a plow on his truck and has kept our lower parking area open and provides us access to the office.

It's the time of year where we get a chance to catch up on work that goes by the wayside during our busy program seasons. We work to better our programming options and content, plan for improvements in our overall operation, catch up with TMI friends and supporters, and fill the remaining gaps in our spring program schedule. This time, although casual, spawns the philosophy of a new year of operation. We brainstorm, compare thoughts and ideas, revisit our mission, and work on making The Mountain Institute more effective.

The sun doesn't rise over Spruce until after 7:30, remains low in the sky, and is soon behind us and back in the trees well before work is through. There are no unexpected visitors, no hunting dogs, and no traffic. When the wind blows, that's all one can hear. It swirls in the canyon and picks up speed as it rises over Back Ridge, across the High Plains, up and over Spruce Knob, and continues on its way towards the Atlantic.

Quiet Months at the Spruce Knob Mountain Center

2009-12-17T10:58:00.004-05:00

What happened to November and December?

As late Fall turns to Winter, the desire for schools and private groups to be on Spruce dwindles. The concept of a warm house is different here than most other places. Buildings and rooms are heated when you need them and cool down when you don't. Fires are built and maintained during the day, the stoves are packed full in the evening, and we awaken early to a cool house or yurt in the morning. This whole process, from cutting, splitting and stacking wood, to heating your house each day makes one realize how much energy we're consuming versus what we actually need. My home is plenty warm all of the time, with minimal heating, as long as I don't expect to be wearing a t-shirt around the house.

In November, most of our staff left the mountain. We did not host our annual pig roast this year, but butchered our hard working sow after her duties were complete and we had no more food waste to feed her. A days work from staff members led to a freezer full of pork and a delicious farewell dinner. We have not seen the November snow that blessed us last year. This November has been perfect for our last few stream sampling programs and great fall trout fishing.

December has left just a few us around. There is some office work to be done, but nothing that cannot wait until after Christmas. The days have been cold and clear and we've received only a few small snowstorms. This has allowed us to wrap up those last few outdoor projects that we wouldn't have been able to get around to if the snow was flying. We have plenty of projects planned for winter work.

We're all very pleased with our 2009 season and are looking forward to 2010. Now, we wax the skis and wait for the snow.

The Highest Race in West Virginia Went Off With a Bang!

2009-10-30T08:57:00.003-04:00

As we awoke that Saturday morning, the weather wasn’t exactly what we had hoped for. There were a few clouds and a bit of mist, but that didn’t keep our runners inside! When the 5K race was nearing its starting time, we rang the five-minute warning bell and the racers began to descend upon the starting line. What started out as just an idea was finally becoming reality. We had 14 runners for our very first 5K race. The 3.1-mile race looped around the Mountain Institute’s property, starting in the parking lot, following the driveway towards the Earth Shelter. Once there, the runners ran off into the fields and back around for a dramatic finish on our high planes. All of our runners did extremely well, especially considering the hilly course and the weather conditions. I would like to congratulate Robbie Kimmich for finishing first place overall, with a course record time of 19:31. The first place in the female division was Sara Litzau, with a course record time of 25:31.

After all of our 5K racers finished we got ready for our next race, the Half Marathon. We had six participants at the starting line, including our own Adam Sewell who had just finished running in the 5K! He decided to run in both races. This option will be given out next year as our “King/Queen of the Mountain Race”.

As we sounded the horn, the racers headed off into the clouds towards Spruce Knob Lake. As the runners raced their way towards the lake, the clouds lifted just enough to see some of the beautiful fall foliage. As they made their return journey back to the high planes, we saw in the distance our first place finisher Jack Marmorstein. He finished with a course record of 1 hour 32 minutes. The first place female finisher was Sophie Roblin, with a course record of 1 hour 52 minutes. The King of the Mountain, Adam Sewell’s overall time with both the 5K and half marathon was 2 hours 9 minutes and 20 seconds.

For a few participants, this was their first race and first visit to the Mountain Institute. Among these new faces were some old familiar friends. We shared stories and created new memories. The race weekend was definitely one to remember and also one to look forward to for next year. I know years from now we’re going to look back on this weekend with fond memories and remember the time when we only had a few runners on the starting line. Our goal is to double our participants each year. We hope that all of you can help us with that!

We would like to congratulate all of the runners who came to the First Annual “Run for the Hills”! The race turned up more participants than we expected and could have hoped for! We especially want to thank our volunteers for all of their hard work! We look forward to seeing all of you next year!

-by Katrina Weyland, kweyland@mountain.org

The Waning Days of the Fall 2009 Season

2009-10-27T11:39:00.004-04:00

Last Friday marked the end of Fall 2009 for our seasonal staff here at the Spruce Knob Mountain Center. Since September 1, we have served over 1,000 people with our programs and facilities. So far this fall we have run 22 programs with public and private schools and provided programs and facilities for a wide variety of adult groups and organizations. We’ve got three more weeks for our residential staff to run programs and hope that the good weather can last just a bit longer.

Our school course season has gradually been extending on both ends, beginning earlier in the spring and wrapping up later in the fall, sandwiched on either end by severe winter weather. Last year, during this very week, we were chaining up the vans and skiing due to a 10 inch snow storm. This year, daytime highs are reaching the 50’s and 60’s and night time lows are in the 30’s.

We want to praise and thank all of our staff members for working so hard to provide safe, educational, and enjoyable programs to all of our schools and adult participants.

A New Use for the Monongahela National Forest

2009-10-20T15:13:00.003-04:00

Gas Development Pending for Spruce Knob and the High Allegheny

In July 2009, the Monongahela National Forest released a map of candidate drilling areas for natural gas exploration. The mineral rights of these areas are being sought after by members of the gas industry and were scheduled for the public auction block in mid-September. The auction has now been rescheduled for December or early in the Spring of 2010.

These candidate drilling areas occupy thousands of acres in the northern Monongahela National Forest, from the border of Dolly Sods in the north to a few miles south of Spruce Knob. The proposed areas border The Mountain Institute on three sides and provide the headwaters of many vast and vital watersheds. Within the proposed areas are the headwaters of the Potomac River and the Chesapeake Bay, as well as the headwaters of the Cheat River, which flows into the Monongahela and eventually the Ohio River. Other sensitive features of this area are the headwaters of Big Run, Upper Seneca Creek, and Lower Seneca Creek. These are three of the four remaining intact watersheds for reproductive brook trout populations in West Virginia.

The mineral rights of these areas have been available for some time, but not desired for drilling operations of the past. For many years in West Virginia, companies having been extracting natural gas from the Oriskany Sandstone formation. These rigs drill deep into earth to tap into gas pools within the formation. The new development source of natural gas is one that has, until recent years, been economically unattainable. It is found up to a mile and a half below the earth’s surface, sealed in the cracks and crevices of Marcellus Shale. Its extraction is a rather new undertaking and is quite different than the natural gas operations of the recent past. This is the expected method of development for these areas.

The Marcellus Shale drilling footprint is considerably larger than traditional Oriskany wells and possesses a major component unique from its predecessor: large water volume fracture treatments, or hydro-fracturing. These two issues seem to put Marcellus drilling operations in a league of their own, thus requiring updated regulatory standards, more stringent enforcement, and new water treatment and disposal technology. Hydro-fracturing requires millions of gallons of fresh water, usually extracted from local bodies of water, mixed with a corporation’s own chemical recipe. Components of this “frac” fluid, by law, are viewed as proprietary and do not have to be revealed. However, it is known that the fluids are high in salinity and possess a wide variety of carcinogenic and environmentally harmful chemicals.

Furthermore, the fluid underground is in contact with many rocks and minerals and from them gains hydrocarbons, heavy metals, and radioactivity. This fluid is one of the most serious concerns of the Marcellus drilling boom. It permanently contaminates excessive amounts of our fresh water when created and threatens to contaminate even more through its disposal.

The disposal of these fluids is very expensive for the gas industry. The frac fluid can be injected into the ground for storage, hauled to wastewater treatment plants, or reused. The underground storage is a concern due to the possibility of contamination of groundwater or seepage into waterways. Currently, there are only two permitted Underground Injection Control wells in West Virginia, few water treatment plants capable of adequately treating this type of fluid, and not enough treatment facilities to handle hydro-fracturing volumes.

The brief history of Marcellus play includes a number of accidents and careless decisions from the gas industry, resulting in environmental catastrophes. New York and Pennsylvania have already learned, from experience, that the affects of hydro-fracturing can be detrimental to freshwater resources when not managed properly. As a result, they are dealing with dead streams and unhealthy drinking water. So far, West Virginia has few of these experiences with natural gas development. Other concerns associated with Marcellus drilling operations include non-stop engine noise, heavy traffic, and long term occupancy.

The Monongahela National Forest is treasured by the citizens of West Virginia and by all of its visitors. To jeopardize the public land trust in favor of a few private interests would most certainly devalue the treasure and generate opposition from user groups such as The Mountain Institute, as well as the general public. A considerable portion of the proposed drilling area is used consistently during TMI programs and is viewed by thousands of students and adult visitors each year. This area is promoted by TMI as a pristine “wilderness” and the definitive example of a healthy and thriving ecosystem. Marcellus Shale drilling in the vicinity of TMI could severely limit the program area and affect the everyday lives of those who live at and visit the Spruce Knob Mountain Center.

Recently, Forest Service officials held a meeting at the Monongahela Forest Headquarters in Elkins, WV. The Forest Supervisor and other USFS officials met with representatives from TMI, Trout Unlimited, and Friends of Blackwater Canyon to discuss the impacts that drilling operations could have on TMI programs and the surrounding forest and watersheds. TMI plans to continue monitoring this situation, as well as the streams and forests of this area.

Until proper water treatment technology and enforceable regulations are in place, the mistakes made and damage caused in New York and Pennsylvania could be repeated in West Virginia. Until then, The Mountain Institute cannot support Marcellus Shale drilling in the Allegheny Highlands of the Monongahela National Forest.

by Joshua Nease

Photo by Edward Todd, istockphoto.com

River Watching

2009-09-10T15:11:00.002-04:00

“Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it.
The river was cut by the world's great flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time. On some of the rocks are timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are theirs.” –Norman Maclean, A River Runs Through It

Over seven hundred people live in the Big Run watershed. Yet since the headwaters of the stream are so close to us here at the Spruce Knob Mountain Center and they play such a large role in what we do, we often think of Big Run as our stream. The Chesapeake Bay watershed, which Big Run feeds into, is home to over sixteen million people. Since Big Run is the highest stream in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, its waters flow past the overwhelming majority of Chesapeake Bay watershed residents. The waters of Big Run belong to nearly sixteen million people. More precisely, nearly sixteen million people belong to the waters of Big Run. And yet we still think of it as our stream.
Our stream, like all streams and rivers, is not static. It is a part of the landscape as dynamic as the life forms that depend on it. It acts and is acted upon. It is the stage as well as a lead actor. Most of the changes that a river undergoes, however, are much too slow for the human eye, much less the human attention span, to detect. Every now and then rapid changes do occur though, and when they do, we notice.
Earlier this season, many of us came back to the Big Run watershed to find a major change. The beavers that had built the long abandoned dams and lodges at the headwaters of Big Run had returned. Sometime in early 2009, beavers came back to Big Run after a long hiatus to construct a new dam and lodge a quarter mile downstream of their old one. The result is an enormous pool in a tiny stream, like a large rodent being swallowed by a snake. Where the stream was once only a few inches deep, the pond is now as much as a few feet deep. Red Spruce and Red Pine trees once on the banks of Big Run are now three feet deep in water.
Aside from humans, beavers do more to modify their landscape than any other creature. Beavers fell trees with their constantly growing teeth in order to have the sticks they need for their dam. They patch these together with stones and mud. The dam creates a pond which acts as a moat to protect their lodge. The lodge is built out of the same materials. From the bank, it looks like little more than a burn pile. Inside, there are two rooms, or dens. One is a sort of mud room for drying off, the other is a living area for as many as a dozen beavers. Though the dens are above the surface of the water, the actual entrance to the lodge is below. Beavers can remain underwater for as much as fifteen minutes.
Like much of the changes that occur on Big Run, we noticed the end result of the beaver dam but not the process. Beavers work at night and they work quickly. During East Harlem School’s inaugural visit in August, my co-instructor and I led our group on a night hike to the beaver pond in an attempt to catch a glimpse of the building process. We did a short reading and then sat on the edge of the pond in silence, watching the night sky emerge and hoping the beavers would do the same. We waited for about twenty minutes. At that point our focus began to dissolve and we compared observations. Some people thought they saw the slightest signs of movements or beavers perched on the logs scattered about the edges of the ponds. I certainly didn’t see anything. Regardless of what anyone else thought they saw, we all spent those twenty minutes doing nothing but watching the river. Whether we perceived it or not, we all saw the river change.

Jeff De Bellis

Reading the Landscape with WV Teachers

2009-08-27T10:06:00.002-04:00

On August 10 - 12, The Mountain Institute hosted the first Reading the Landscape Professional Development Workshop for teachers. Eleven teachers attended the action packed, three day event that was designed to familiarize teachers with the highland forests of West Virginia and the curriculum that TMI has to offer.

Highlighted topics during the event were patterns of West Virginia forests, astronomy, the plant kingdoms, habitat comparisons, stream assessment, salamanders, insects, and creating online lessons. Teachers in attendance were provided with background materials on each topic and lessons to use in the classroom. Each day, the teachers participated in a wide variety of scientific field research activities that are designed to meet the needs of WV students and teachers.

The event began with a session that examined the patterns and trends of these upland forests. It was a look at this ecosystem as a whole and its relationship to all factors, biotic and abiotic, natural and manmade, that occur in the area. Following a fantastic dinner on the deck, Joe the Star Guy provided a tour of the Back Ridge Observatory. A heavy cloud cover that evening was incondusive to star gazing, but the participants all enjoyed learning about the facility.

Day two of the event hosted a packed schedule of activities. It began with an investigation of the Plant Kingdom, taking a closer look at each division and identifying what it is and why it grows there. This was followed by a Habitat Comparison activity, where two different habitats were examined, species of flora were identified and counted, and the two plots were compared for diversity. The next activity was the assessment of Big Run, looking at the biological, chemical, and physical characteristics of the stream. The after dinner geology lesson kept teachers out until dark and the day’s final event showcased some new, fun activities for the classroom.

The final day of the workshop involved learning about and searching for woodland salamanders and the sampling to two different plots for insect life. The final activity took the outdoor experiences to the internet, where teachers learned to create online lessons for their students.

The workshop was fun, full of hands-on, field based science, and very successful. As one teacher said upon leaving, “I’ve been to a lot of these workshops and this was by far the best one. I’ve learned so much!” Another teacher, when asked what was most enjoyable about the experience wrote, “The relaxed atmosphere was so conducive to learning. (It was) a very positive experience that combined academics with professional development. I will recommend this workshop to everyone that is interested in good, beneficial, and useful professional development.”

Due to the overwhelming positive response to the workshop, The Mountain Institute has already scheduled the Reading the Landscape Professional Development Workshop for August 9 – 11 (12), 2010.

Summertime

2009-07-09T15:19:00.004-04:00

I had never experienced solitude until the summer of 2005, when I was the only full time instructor at SKMC. For most of the summer, it was me and the rabbits. Morning would turn to evening and the sun would begin to set. I began retiring to bed early, to avoid face to face meetings with the coyotes that I would occasionally hear after dark or an encounter with the bear in my mind, hiding behind every tree. My days were filled with long hikes and fishing trips or old lawn mowers and shoveling gravel. These quiet weeks were interrupted every so often with a small summer camp. Ah, the good ol’ days.

A quiet, relaxing summer season on Spruce Knob is a thing of the past. This summer, we have eight full time instructors, a few interns, and a whole lot of programming. During our 12 week summer season, nearly all of our weeks and weekends are full of activities. Here are some examples of what’s been going on up here since the second week of June what we’ll be doing until our fall season kicks off:

Volunteer Work Weekend, three 4H Programs in two counties, a weeklong program with the Friends of Deckers Creek Youth Advisory Board, The Mountain Institute’s International Mangers Meeting and Board Meeting, Trail Crew, two Mountain Adventures Summer Camps, a weekend with WV HSTA Senior Students, Sacred Mountain Midwifery School, Star Gazing on new moon weekends, teacher conferences, 2 more summer camps, weeks of facility rentals, an early August school course, two Professional Development Workshops for teachers, and a Wilderness First Responder Course.

The changes over the last five years have been dramatic. Our summer season is no longer a summer vacation. Programs are beginning in late March and running until Thanksgiving and our busiest seasons employ 18 instructors plus four full-time staff members, and a few VISTAs. Five years ago I would have had plenty of time for blogging daily, now the best I can do is every two months.

Mobile Command Unit Retires

2009-05-18T15:51:00.001-04:00

After years of dedicated service on the gravel roads of the Monongahela National Forest and beyond, The Mobile Command Unit has finally been retired. Known as one of The Mountain Institute’s most treasured fleet members, it featured swiveling captain’s chairs, window shades, a CB radio, interior lights, curtains, and more! The MCU has transported hundreds of students, hauled canoe trailers, carried equipment, and most of all, sparkled in our parking lot. Emerging triumphant through rain, snow, mud, heavy loads and long trips, and eventually, one cylinder shy of the standard eight, the MCU drove through our highlands. It now rests in peace with Elkins Metal.

For many years our vans have endured these difficult weather and road conditions on Spruce Knob, with much love, affection, encouragement, and maintenance. We greatly appreciate donations of vehicles or financial support to keep our fleet transporting students. If you are interested in donating, we may be able to incorporate your van, truck, or small car into our fleet, as our activities are varied. Give us a call at (304) 567-2632 if you are interested.

Big Problems for Bats

2009-04-20T15:55:00.004-04:00

Last spring, the Spruce Knob News reported on a disease that was running rampant throughout the Northeastern United States, chronically affecting thousands of bats and sparing the lives of few. One year ago, the disease was confirmed at 13 sites in New York, Vermont, and Massachusetts. Today, the disease has been confirmed in nine states, from New Hampshire to Virginia and is responsible for the deaths of over a half a million bats. In February, White Nose Syndrome (WNS) was confirmed in three caves in Pendleton County, WV.

White Nose Syndrome was first discovered in 2006 at four caves near Albany, NY, where thousands of bats, usually hibernating throughout the winter months, were found dead outside of the cave. More than half of these bats were observed with a white fungus near and around their noses. Within a year, during the winter of 2007 - 2008, WNS symptoms were confirmed in Vermont, Massachusetts, and Connecticut. This winter, 2008 - 2009, WNS has been reported and/or confirmed in all of the aforementioned states, as well as in New Hampshire, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Virginia.

The white-nose fungus itself doesn't appear to be killing bats, but seems to disturb their sleep so that they end their hibernation early. Bats that normally awake every two to three weeks are waking every three to four days. The fungus grows on bats and infects and destroys the local tissue. Infected bats have been observed flying during the day and during cold winter weather when the insects they feed upon are not available, causing the bats to literally starve to death. Often, these bats uncharacteristically move to cold parts of the hibernacula instead of their typically warmer roosting spots, causing them to use even more of their energy stores to stay warm. Currently, a WNS study is being conducted in Wisconsin, researching exactly how the fungus is affecting the bats and hopefully discovering some way to stop or at least impede its spread. Similar fungi have been reported on bats in Europe in the past, without the same devastating effects.

On March 26, 2009, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued a voluntary moratorium on all caving activities. In response to this announcement and correspondence with WV Division of Natural Resources biologists, TMI has made the decision to remove caving from its programming until further notice. The caving activities will be replaced with educational curricula developed around karst topography in cave country, bats, and the WNS crisis. This curriculum can be paired with TMI’s newest citizen science initiative, Appalachian Bat Watch. Along with bat education at TMI, Bat Watch includes the installation of bat boxes, summer homes for bats, and the monitoring of the individual colonies that reside there. Bat Watch sites can then compare statistics with other sites throughout the state and monitor their own populations from year to year. These activities will work to promote understanding of the significance of bats in our ecosystem as well as the importance of species biodiversity in our natural world. This WNS information and more can be accessed on the web at www.fws.gov, www.caves.org, and through other various media outlets.

Photo From: www.wvdnr.gov/2009news/09news027.shtm

It's Almost Summer!

2009-04-20T15:46:00.003-04:00

The Mountain Institute's Mountain Adventures Summer camp for 2009 has arrived! Fill your summer up with adventure, adrenaline, thrills, and education. From white water rafting, rock climbing and caving to astronomy, art, and cooking, the Mountain Adventures summer camp is exactly what you've been looking for!

Rates: 1 week $800, 2 weeks $1550, 3 weeks $2000
Dates: June 28th-July 4th, July 5th-11th, July 12th- 18th
For more information please visit our website www.tmisummercamp.org

Welcome New Staff Members!

2009-04-01T10:16:00.004-04:00

February 23rd, 2009 dawned a snowy, blustery day; Spruce Knob’s welcome to our new staff members! Upon turning off Highway 28 onto Sawmill Run Road, they ventured into our winter wonderland on Spruce. We spent the following eight days both inside and out, building huge fires in the woodstoves inside and hiking and playing games to stay warm outside. We learned about The Mountain Institute, ourselves, and each other as they prepared to work with us.

Our new staff members join us with varied academic backgrounds, enriching our diverse skills and experience. Their Bachelors and Masters Degrees include: Geology, Social Work, Literature, Electronic Media, Chemistry, Environmental Studies, Youth Ministry, Health and Physical Education/ Outdoor Education Administration, and Forestry.

Prior to working with The Mountain Institute, our new staff members worked on trail crews, counseled and mentored at risk and adjudicated youth, helped with desert and prairie restoration, served with Americorps, worked at environmental education facilities, cooked for groups, led mountain biking trips, coordinated volunteer groups, fueled and analyzed recycling efforts, provided grassroots outreach, were camp counselors, completed graduate research in outdoor education, taught college classes, worked with city parks and recreation, and one was even a professional bridesmaid and wedding dress fitter!

We are excited to welcome this diverse, talented, and animated group of individuals to our staff “family” here at Spruce Knob.

The Blog is Back

2009-01-20T13:16:00.008-05:00

As far as my new duties as blog master are concerned, I have been failing. Around November 1, 2008, there was a peaceful transition of blog power and unlike the peaceful transition of our humble commander in chief, I did not campaign and I wasn't elected. And now, two and a half months after being appointed to this position and two and a half months of blog neglect, the Spruce Knob blogging world is in arrears. Watching the Presidential Inauguration today, I have become motivated to take on a challenge. If Barack can do it, so can I.

I'm still not exactly sure about the definition of blog or who reads them and why. I don't have my space or facebook or any of that other hoo-haw and hardly have time to do half of things I'd like to, let alone get done the things I need to get done... but I am now the blog master. The blog is about life on Spruce Knob, something I know a thing or two about and as far as I'm concerned, there's no finer place to live.

Things are nearing perfection in our world up here. Our wood stoves are warm, our bellies are full, our work is fulfilling and plentiful, and our evenings and weekends are full of hobbies, projects, and friends. There would be no time for television if we had one. This life is much more interesting, enlightening, and rewarding than any other I could imagine. A glance to the outside world today seems as promising as any; Barack Obama is President and the Steelers are going to the Super Bowl. In our world today, the plants in the greenhouse survived the cold snap and it looks like it will be another great ski day, after work of course.

Josh

(These views do not represent those of The Mountain Institute (TMI) or of any TMI supporter. This entry does represent my views and I'm not even encouraging you to agree, so big deal.)

A Classic Spruce Shot

2008-10-21T15:43:00.003-04:00

We found this picture in the depths of the archives. What a great picture! We figured we should put out an APB to find out who these folks are. Any ideas?

Email Josh at jnease@mountain.org

Spruce's Favorite Quotes

2008-09-23T11:24:00.007-04:00

Every time we have a course up at Spruce, the staff get a schedule that has all the important logistical information that they may need for the course. It has their schedule, group details, etc. It also has some of Dave Martin's favorite quotes that he has come across over the years. I wanted to share some of those with you.

"This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being thoroughly worn out before you are thrown on the scrap heap; the being a force of Nature instead of a feverish selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy."

George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman, Epistle Dedicatory

Irish dramatist & socialist (1856 - 1950)

"The oldest, most widespread stories in the world are adventure stories about human heroes who venture into myth-countries at the risk of their lives and bring back tales of the world beyond [people]…It could be argued…that the narrative art itself arose from the need to tell an adventure, that [a person] risking [their] life in perilous encounters constitutes the original definition of what is worth talking about."

Paul Zweig
The Adventurer

"Granted that one must live, one should never cease to ask the question: live how, by what means, and for what purpose? If the means or the objectives of life are sordid and base, life is not worth living nor can one maintain self respect. Knowledge must be acquired and used with right motives, and applied to speech, action, and the means of livelihood."

Scott Nearing
Making of A Radical

Prime

Return me, oh, sun,
to my wild destiny,
rain of the ancient wood,
bring me back to the aroma and the swords
that fall from the sky,
the solitary peace of pasture and rock,
the damp at the river-margins,
the smell of the larch tree,
the wind alive like a heart
beating in the crowded restlessness
of the growing araucaria.

Pablo Neruda
Chilean (1904 -1973)

"But in these plethoric times when there is too much coarse stuff for everybody and the struggle for life takes the form of competitive advertisement and the effort to fill your neighbor’s eye, there is no urgent demand either for personal courage, sound nerves or stark beauty, we find ourselves by accident. Always before these times the bulk of the people did not overeat themselves because they couldn't, whether they wanted to or not, and all but a very few
were kept “fit” by unavoidable exercise and personal danger. Now if only he/ she pitch his/ her standard low enough and keep free from pride, almost anyone can achieve a sort of excess. You can go through contemporary life fudging and evading, indulging and slacking, never really hungry nor frightened nor passionately stirred, your highest moment a mere sentimental orgasm, and your first real contact with primary and elemental necessities the sweat
of your death bed. "

HG Wells

Have quotes? Send them to Nathan at nhayes@mountain.org.

Endorsement From WV Department of Education

2008-09-18T09:01:00.007-04:00

The West Virginia Department of Education's (WVDE) Office of Instruction has endorsed The Mountain Institute's educational programming in the content area of science. WVDE sees The Mountain Institute as well as other organizations as solutions to create more "hands-on, minds-on" opportunities for West Virginia students.

From the WVDE website:

"The Office of Instruction is currently providing leadership to the teachers of West Virginia as we actively proceed on the journey to a new vision of instructional design and delivery. Ours is a learning journey during which we decide to take advantage of digital tools for inquiry, collaboration and communication as we connect learners with one another or the world beyond our schools and classrooms. While learning to give up the traditional teacher’s role of being the content expert, we are learning new ways to engage with our students." This is from http://wvde.state.wv.us/instruction/

We are honored to be a part of the WVDE changing vision of education in West Virginia. Thanks!

To support public education in WV, please contact Nathan Hayes (nhayes@mountain.org)

Randolph County Outdoor Education Program

2008-09-16T15:57:00.006-04:00

For the last 5 years or so, The Mountain Institute has been involved in the Randolph County Outdoor Education Program (RCOEP). RCOEP was founded by community members in and around the town of Elkins, WV. The beauty of this education program stems from its community involvement.

RCOEP provides fifth grade students in Randolph County Schools with a three-day residency grounded in the county's rich natural environment and cultural heritage. Based on the idea that some of the best teaching and learning experiences grow out of a sense of place, the program draws on the resources of over two dozen agencies and organizations working throughout Randolph County.

The program was designed to increase children's awareness of local habitats, heritage, and environment, and addresses a variety of local issues while exploring different solutions.
Students who participate in the Randolph County Outdoor Education Program explore local waterways, forests, history, culture, and resource management practices. They collect data from their watershed, discuss local issues from diverse viewpoints, and participate in activities that celebrate regional arts, crafts, and music. Throughout the three-day residency, each student will keep a journal of his/her own experiences. Through this exercise, students who participate in the Outdoor Education Program will gain a greater understanding of their local landscape and its vital role in their lives.

During the program the students will:
* Attend sessions that introduces them to local wetlands, streams, public and private forested areas, and farmlands;

* Hear firsthand the music and stories of the surrounding communities, and discuss the connection between human and natural landscape;
* Experience and discuss different approaches to decision making and look at issues from different perspectives;
* Reflect on their values and develop critical thinking skills
* Meet professional from different occupations, who may serve as role models when they choose a career.

If you would to support the Randolph County Outdoor Education Program, please contact Nathan Hayes at nhayes@mountain.org or 304-567-2632.

Kid Pro Quo

2008-09-08T13:22:00.004-04:00

The Mountain Institute (TMI) hosts educational programming for students from West Virginia and many other areas of eastern United States. The students are here to to learn about themselves, the natural environment, and their responsibilities as citizens of our planet. Trout Unlimited (TU) works throughout the United States in conserving, protecting, and restoring North America’s cold water fisheries and their watersheds. The partnership of the two organizations serves both well and has provided plenty of valuable services and experiences for everyone involved.

In West Virginia, leading TU’s efforts on the Potomac Headwaters Home River Initiative is Gary Berti. Gary is managing a number of headwaters restoration projects throughout the Potomac Highlands of West Virginia, one of these being on Big Run. Within the Big Run watershed is the Spruce Knob Mountain Center and where TMI operates most of its programs.

TMI’s collaboration with TU on tree planting and riparian restoration has created, what Gary likes to call, kid pro quo, a term derived from the latin phrase quid pro quo. In legal usage, quid pro quo indicates that an item or a service has been traded in return for something of value. In TMI and TU usage, kid pro quo indicates that both organizations and all involved students are providing services and gaining something of value. Tree planting in riparian restoration adds a valuable service component to TMI’s existing stream and watershed programming and fits well into the organization’s overall mission. These events provide an excellent opportunity for TU to share their message and plant thousands of trees in their project area. The students are provided with a unique service opportunity, where they can have a real impact on the improvement of the natural world. Many students come away from their TMI program and remember their riparian restoration efforts as a highlight of their week-long experience.

TMI programming has brought students from West Virginia and all over the Mid-Atlantic region to three separate TU restoration sites in Pendleton County. These sites, on Big Run, Black Thorn Creek, and White Thorn Creek are all undergoing riparian zone restoration from deforestation and cattle degradation. TU and the US Fish and Wildlife Service are fencing around these streams to keep cows out of streams and off of stream banks while providing the cattle with alternate water sources and bridge crossings. Keeping cattle out of waterways should reduce erosion, lower the nutrient load to normal levels, and reopen the smaller tributaries of these streams as native brook trout spawning grounds. The planting of trees near the banks will also reduce erosion, while at the same time increasing the shade cover of the stream, and as a result, keeping the water colder and well oxygenated. During the spring of 2008, over 400 students planted approximately 3000 red spruce and 200 balsam fir.

Through this collaborative project, TU, TMI, and hundreds of students are providing a service in the mountains of West Virginia that will benefit local waterways, the native brook trout population, and the millions of people who depend on the state’s freshwater. In return, West Virginia’s streams will begin to heal themselves, continue to provide fresh water, and create a better home for what is perhaps the state’s oldest resident, the brook trout.

Article by Josh Nease(pictured with a nice brown trout)

Trail Crew

2008-08-04T07:26:00.002-04:00

This summer, we have completed two weeks of trail maintenance within the Monongahela National Forest. Back in May, Lynn, Prem, Kim, and Beth attended a three day chainsaw training with the Forest Service. Man, it sure is fun!

Almost all of us have been out clearing downed trees, perfecting our “hop and lop” techniques, rolling massive logs down hills, and attacking limbs with axes. Some dazzling lumberjacks and jills have emerged. We’re even talking about entering a contest!

After a hard days work, we’ve been able to swim in clear mountain streams and relax with friends. It’s pretty amazing to get good exercise, swim, hike, and clear trail to help fellow citizens access the amazing resources that surround us.

We are recruiting volunteers to help clear already existing trails between August 18-22 or August 25-29. The Mountain Institute will provide meals, tools, and camping gear for any volunteers. Just meet us there. We could use any assistance, from 1-5 days. If you are interested, or know someone who may be interested in helping, please call Beth B. at (304) 567-2632, or email bboehme@mountain.org

Entry by Beth Boehme

Photo by Shelby Silvernell

Slow Food Meets Speed Demons

2008-07-30T16:40:00.004-04:00

This spring, a few of us decided to put in a garden up here at SKMC. Salivating at the thought of home grown tomatoes, sugar snap peas, winter squash, fresh greens, and more, we began the quest for the perfect garden. A generous friend of a friend allowed us to borrow a tiller, which is always an adventure in our rocky ground. We cut 12-15 foot posts for the fence, dug waist deep pits for the posts, and strung a fence over 8 feet tall, with chicken wire around the bottom to prevent the wee ones from entering. We dared animals to cross our barricade.

After tilling, we added heaps to our rock “garden,” which is truly a sight to see. We planted tomatoes, beans, peas, green and red cabbages, carrots, zucchini, yellow squash, swiss chard, winter squash, parsnips, and lettuce. Our little seedlings prevailed, despite challenges of cold weather, a short growing season, and heavy clay soil. We bolstered our fence by closing off any large holes between the wire, and waited patiently.

Success! Cabbages were flourishing, parsnips prevailing, tomatoes coming on by the dozens, squash flowering, and rainbow swiss chard brightening up the garden. Day by day, we became more excited.

Despite our efforts, the local inhabitants were scheming and training for their big entrance and feast. Bunnies were jumping through burning hoops, groundhogs sent spies to document our daily schedules and mealtimes, raccoons were going to climbing gyms to beef up their upper body strength, and chipmunks were having time trials to see who could burrow quickest.

The best of the best emerged, and feasted first upon cabbage and beans…….moving on to other tasty gourmet items. TMI dispatched several fierce hunters, a brushhog, and scary plastic tarps to waive in the wind. The battle ensued, with each side attacking at different times of day. It became serious. We asked our intern Matt to move his tent inside the garden. Snipers we called in.

Despite losing much of our first attempt, we remain excited about the start, and hopeful that staff will continue to pursue small scale food production here at Spruce. Our soil, knowledge, fence, and garden can only improve with time! We continue to learn and grow, and laugh when our furry friends outsmart us.

Entry written by Beth Boehme

Summer Fun

2008-07-16T07:36:00.003-04:00

We've had an amazing 3 weeks of summer camp! There was all kinds of fun, learning, and adventure. Laser tag was a big hit for the Mountain Adventure Camp, and the students of the FLOW Camps loved paddling the "trough" section of the South Branch of the Potomac near Petersburg, WV. They came from all corners of the state... from Spencer to Shepherdstown, from Rowlesburg to Welch.

The students did a lot of journaling, and below are some excerpts they shared with us.

"I am a raindrop, I once lived in a cloud,
The adventures I have been on make me want to scream aloud
I’ve free falled from the sky, I’ve swam in a river
I made the snow that made you shiver
I helped make the hail that ruined your car
I’ve flowed with the ocean which stretches so far
I am a raindrop, I once lived in a cloud."

“Mighty strength within us all, empowered as I feel
Canoeing as the eagles soars, it’s really quite surreal
The water rushed past without a trouble or care
My canoe is going fast, I’m speeding through the summer air
I feel as if I am finally free, independent, but not alone
I do not care what others see, the water here this is my home
Filth does not exist here, in the haven I now call home
The water here is clear, I think as I reapply my coppertone
This place cleaner [than] most I’ve seen and hopefully it will stay that way”

For more information on Summer Adventures and FLOW email Katrina at kweyland@mountain.org.

Then Summer Camper...Now Intern

2008-06-17T10:45:00.005-04:00

(Picture: Allison's on the left. She might kill me for putting this picture on the web. It's worth it. ~N)

I first came to The Mountain Institute at age 11, after hearing vague rumors of “a round library full of pillows” from a friend who had come to summer camp here the year before. To my painfully shy and awkward adolescent self, that was just about the closest thing to paradise I could imagine, and I promptly packed off to Youth Ecology camp with absolutely no concept of what I was getting myself into. My first foray into the wonderfully wacky TMI universe was just a week long, but it was more than enough -- I was hooked.

Eight years and four more summer camps after my first visit to TMI, I’m finally back, this time as an intern. The move from serial camper to staff member has been an interesting adjustment. For example, it was difficult at first to see Nathan as a real live boss, as opposed to the counselor that my friends and I once locked out of our dorm room in a spontaneous act of adolescent rebellion. It also took a few days for me to fully realize that I was no longer bound by all the rules that I had grown so accustomed to. I can go into the kitchen without permission! I can eat food out of the refrigerator! I can stay up past 10:00 at night! It’s turned my world upside down, in the best way possible.

I’ve been here almost a month now, and it has been an absolutely amazing experience. Whether I’m cooking or cleaning or roofing or shadowing a school course or digging holes, I always feel like I’m learning something. My time here is already almost half over, something I try not to think about too often because I really, really don’t want to leave. It’s great to be here, and I can’t wait to see what strange and ridiculous adventures will ensue in the coming month...

~Allison Hornbeck, intern

Matt...this is everybody, Everybody...this is Matt.

2008-06-13T15:12:00.005-04:00

I have been at The Mountain Institute for almost a week now and can already tell that it is going to be a great summer. Having never come here when I was younger I feel as if I have missed out on so many adventures. Last night a group of us hiked up to Spruce Knob, the highest point in West Virginia to watch the sun set. The view was incredible from atop one of the many boulders that lay in a small field. I am planning on going back in a few days to work some of the climbing routes that occupy those blocks in easily the most beautiful bouldering area in the state.

I am a student of Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania, majoring in Multimedia and Technology, which basically means video and promotion work. My minor is in Graphic Design, which is exactly what it sounds like. Internship responsibilities include general care taking of The Mountain Institute as well as specific media related projects. In the works are a newsletter, web site, and possible video documenting the F.L.O.W. Summer Camps.

The amount of animals and their attitude towards people up here is truly surprising. Rabbits are everywhere, Thelma and Louise (the pigs) are always energetic, and the deer will barely acknowledge your existence.

Check out Matt's webpage here.

China Earthquake Relief Initiative

2008-06-11T14:26:00.005-04:00

I am sure everyone has heard about the earthquake in China that happened awhile back. The Mountain Institute has several offices throughout China, and the China Program is asking for support to aid in the recovery. The statistics are extraordinary...80,000 people missing or dead, 5-7 million homeless, 14 million affected. The China Program is specifically asking for support to purchase FASTBLOCK machines and train locals to use them.

The FASTBLOCK machine, originally designed by the late Jim Underwood, uses dirt, a little concrete, water, a whole lot of pressure to create rammed earth blocks. These blocks are being used all around the world to build low-cost housing. One of the dorms at the Spruce Knob Mountain Center is made of these rammed-earth blocks.

Click here to learn more about the FASTBLOCK machine and donate to help those in need.

F.L.O.W.

2008-06-06T07:34:00.005-04:00

Ever since we applied for a FLOW summer camp grant from the WV Commission for National and Community Service I have been resisting the urges use sayings like "Go with the FLOW" and such. So I'll keep trying not to.

FLOW stands for Future Leaders of Watersheds (pretty snappy if you ask me), and we did receive the grant to offer eligible students to have an adventure with us this summer. We'll canoe, hike, and explore these beautiful mountain landscape while discussing, contemplating, and testing the state's water. Focus is on empowering future leaders to solidify their commitment to healthy water and a healthy world. We're also going to have tons of fun.

The FLOW students are coming to us from organizations all over the state including Friends of Decker's Creek in Monongalia and Preston counties, Piney Creek Watershed Association in Raleigh county, Wastewater Treatment Coalition of McDowell County, the Cacapon Institute in Hampshire County, and the Greenbrier River Watershed Association who works in four counties in the Greenbrier River watershed. We are really excited about these new partnerships, and looking forward to a great summer!

Busy, busy, busy

2008-05-22T14:11:00.002-04:00

Whew! It has been an exciting season so far. Sorry for neglecting the blog for so long.

We've been all over the place working with all kinds of students. We spent a few weeks in Beverly, WV teaching 5th graders from Randolph County. We took a group of students from the Winston School in New York City on a canoe trip down the Delaware River. The Riverdale School, also from NYC, had us hiking, climbing and rafting in Maryland on and near the Appalachian Trail.

St. Albans School from Washington D.C. participated in our Classic Spruce Course. They have been with us for quite some time. We also had a great week of staff training where we learned about water quality, amphibians, and other fun things. The Winchester Thurston School from Pittsburgh visited us for the first time earlier this week and had a great time. North Elementary from Elkins, WV is hiking to Spruce Knob today, and they look to get a gorgeous view from the top.

Thanks for checking in! I'll work harder not to neglect the blog.

Nathan

Standing on the Shoulders of Giants

2008-04-25T15:46:00.007-04:00

The Annual Work Weekend is creeping up on us, and my mind wanders to my memory of Jim Underwood. The picture is him in front of the house I currently live in. It is the lightweight concrete building now known as the Caretaker's Cottage. Dave Martin describes Jim's influence so well...

"As we look around the Spruce Knob Mountain Center it seems that there is hardly an item or a place that doesn’t bear his fingerprints, either literally or figuratively. In so many ways this place remains the manifestation of Jim’s work. Some of us worked directly with him, building yurts, patching things together, doing more with less. But while we think of Jim building things with his hands (and he was constantly building beautiful things with his hands) his real art was in inspiring others. That may have been by the loan of some tool, but it was as likely through the loan of a book, or some piece of advice or wisdom he had picked up along the way. Above all he was a thinker, a believer in the dignity of work, and the ability of a small group of people to accomplish the impossible; to quite literally transform the world."

Jim passed away 2 winters ago. His spirit still radiates through all parts of the landscape at the Spruce Knob Mountain Center, and his memory is a constant inspiration and guide.

~Nathan Hayes, nhayes@mountain.org

The Spruce Work Weekend

2008-04-24T08:40:00.004-04:00

Greetings once again from Spruce Knob! I am writing to let you know about this year’s Volunteer Work Weekend. The dates are June 6-8th. We would love to have you on that Saturday or for the whole weekend if you’re able. There will be all manner of unique tasks lined up and it will be a good time all the way around. The original thought was that this would be the best time to perform the Ulan Bator Re-roofing. That was before we were fortunate enough to secure a crew from the National Civilian Community Corps to do the work! With luck the finished product will be the first thing you see coming over the hill, and we’ll be left with the time to tackle a few other very necessary items. Among them are a bridge to Dave and Ruth Ann’s, a new chimney for Almati, flower boxes out front, and possibly even a new yurt.

You can come as early as you’d like on Friday. Meals will be provided beginning Friday night through Sunday lunch. If you are coming Friday we’ll have a potluck that night, so feel free to contribute something to that, and also any snacks to help carry us through the weekend. There will be plenty of room in the dorms, and of course camping is always an option if you like to have more space or privacy. So come up, enjoy the satisfaction of a job (possibly more than one) well done. If possible, call or write let me know you’re coming. This will help us plan for food. I can supply directions if you need them. Finally, bring your tools, creative energy, new jokes, old jokes, stories and musical instruments. I’m putting my intentions out there for good weather and hope you will do the same. I look forward to hear from you soon.
All the best,

Chris Royer, Caretaker
The Mountain Institute, Spruce Knob
croyer@mountain.org
304.567.2632

Chris the Caretaker's Cross-Country Quest & Work Weekend

2008-04-04T07:55:00.004-04:00

Greetings all! Chris Royer here, recently returned from my winter travels for another year at Spruce. I ran a retreat up at the Yurts in January which went well – we got a great deal of rest, enjoyed the challenges of simple living in the cold and found what we came for in the way of meditation, exercise, and good company. At the end however, there was still a long time before spring and the road was calling. I hit New Jersey for a Tracker School class, stopped by Ohio to visit family, and continued swiftly out to Oregon for a gathering there, seeing the oceans on both coasts in a week, which was something. From there I ran up the coast seeing some old friends and TMI co-workers, ending with a week camping on Vancouver Island. After that it was back east and down to see the folks wintering in Driggs, Idaho, back to the Midwest via Colorado, and up into Canada again before heading home to WV. I’d never had an adventure quite like it, the cross-country drive, and enjoyed a lot of other firsts along the way.

It’s been busy here since I got back, getting everything ready for our first visitors of the season, and other staff are starting to arrive. I’ll be trying on the Caretaker hat this year, fixing things and generally looking to improve the place and how we work with it. This will involve such satisfying things as getting the freezer to close properly, installing stairs to the Waterfront yurt, and discovering our true storage capacity with a deep clean of some long-neglected corners of the Library and Shower Shack. There are also bigger projects in the works, like re-roofing the big yurt, Ulan Bator. A new Bubble is part of the deal as well, in case you were worried. This seems like the appropriate place to add a plug for our Volunteer Work Weekend - June 6-8, if you’re at all interested. Email me at croyer@mountain.org for all the details!

In short, the year is off to a good start. I’m looking forward to seeing new and old faces and making it out to Dolly Sods for a good long hike at some point. With luck we’ll see you up here. Till then,

Go in balance,
Chris

Augusta Heritage Center

2008-04-01T15:08:00.009-04:00

We at the Appalachia Program are excited about offering a new program for the kids of participants in the Augusta Heritage Center programs in Elkins, WV. The students will have the opportunity to explore Randolph County's rich cultural and environmental resources during the day, and spend the evening with their parents listening to and playing music at the many jams and concerts.

More info on the Augusta Heritage Center...

Augusta was the historic name of West Virginia in its period of earliest settlement. In 1973, "Augusta Heritage Arts Workshops" was the name given to a summer program that was set up to help preserve the Appalachian heritage and traditions. In 1981, Davis & Elkins College became the sponsor of the program, renamed Augusta Heritage Center. In the 26 years since then, it has flourished and grown. Augusta Heritage Center is a non-profit organization known nationally and internationally for its activities relating to traditional folklife and folk arts of many regions and cultures.

Augusta Heritage Center is best known for intensive week-long workshops that attract several hundred participants annually. Thousands more attend our public concerts, dances, and festivals. Augusta’s full-time staff, plus volunteers, seasonal staff, and work-study students, produce a great variety of quality workshops. These world-renowned workshops and festivals have brought together master artists, musicians, dancers, craftspeople, and enthusiasts of all ages.

Please check out their program offerings at http://www.augustaheritage.com/.

How Do from The Mountain Institute!

2008-03-27T09:28:00.006-04:00

It feels great to finally be apart of the team. I first came up hear four years ago as part of a Davis and Elkins College freshmen experience program called Woods. It was a lot of fun and made an impression on me. It’s a little fuzzy looking back at it now, but what I remember were some crazy looking buildings up on a mountain somewhere and people living a working in the woods. I have a little bit better understanding of where TMI is now and what were up here doing. “It’s good stuff,” so says Dave.

I came up last week, still early in the season, and have been enjoying myself thoroughly, working hard, playing hard and getting dirty all the time. Paradise doesn’t just happen, it takes a lot of work…and that’s what we’re doing. Organizing, cleaning, stacking wood, hauling “resources”, and restoring our transit system aka Woodlands Way. Plenty to keep an eager intern busy (in fact I’m sore all over). After five o’clock it’s another story all together. I’ve been every excited to be in such close proximity to the North Fork Valley. A few days ago I was down at Judy Gap, up on the fins checking out the sweet air up there. Just yesterday I was out on the boulder field atop Spruce running around like mad, ‘oh at this one” and “well maybe if I try it like this”. I’ll have to take a lesson from Dave sometime soon.

There aren’t too many people up on the mountain in March, but its certainly not quiet. Winds whipping around, rain storms, snow, sunshine, fog, mist, sleet and that’s before noon; if she came in like a lamb she’s going out like a lion for sure! Very happy to be here and looking forward to a great session.

Entry by Patrick Dunnagan, intern

Wilderness First Aid Class

2008-03-17T14:11:00.005-04:00

We are offering a Wilderness First Aid/ Wilderness First Responder Recert course up at the Spruce Knob Mountain Center April 19-20, 2008. The class will be taught by SOLO, and the cost of the course is $240. That includes food, lodging, and instruction. If you are interested or have any questions, call us at 1-800-874-3050.

Hope to see you up on the mountain!

Those Who Become Legend

2008-03-13T09:00:00.004-04:00

Whoa! Look at this crew. There are many folks who spend time at Spruce who become a part of Spruce legend. Here are a bunch of those folks. This picture looks like it is taken this time of year in mid-nineties. It was a time when all we ran were courses in the spring. There were no summer camps or fall courses.

If anyone is in touch with any of these folks, you should send the link their way. If you have anything you'd like to share, send it my way. Email is nhayes@mountain.org.

Pictured... Standing (left to right) is Ben McKean, Marcie Demmy, Carl Bolyard, Dave Martin, Ruth Ann Colby, Carrie Hawkins, Natalie Boyland, and Rex Linville. Kneeling (left to right) is Kent Richards, an unidentified dog, Katie Donaghy, Stacy Kay, Dave Clark, Jason Espie, and Jim Underwood.

Our Mission, Our Muse

2008-03-04T14:46:00.009-05:00

It seems like a good idea from time to time to revisit our mission, ask ourselves the important questions, and review for others. What are we doing here? So here are my ideas.

It's the mission of Mountain Learning Programs to help people become powerful, secure, knowledgeable individuals with a clear vision of their responsibilities and potential for improving the human condition and the natural world.

This mission statement has been passed down throughout the years. The earliest printed version I've found is on an old Woodlands Institute "Resource for Schools" catalog circa 1982. Those were the days when we offered a program called "Sheep to Shirt." My favorite part of the mission statement is the first 10 words. I enjoy the idea of helping people where they need it, and achieving our mission in different ways. It is also the idea of helping people become better people. It could be engaging a group of 5th graders out of the classroom identifying trees and igniting a connection with nature, or it might be roughing it with a group of middle school students in the woods for a week of nasty weather learning what it means to help each other overcome challenges.

Although it isn't said in the above mission statement, it is clear that another idea that has been woven into the Spruce Knob Mountain Center fabric is community. It is the notion of creating a community that we care to live in where we work hard, share, help each other out, and play together. In a perfect world, I would like to see our students and participants walk away with a passion for improving communities wherever they may be, and becoming stewards and champions of all wild places.

If anyone has any other ideas, email me at nhayes@mountain.org.

Thanks to Jim Clark for letting us use his amazing photos!

Fragments from the Spruce Archives

2008-02-26T10:26:00.005-05:00

While searching for some maps in the depths of our Earth Shelter office, I came across some remnants(what the mice didn't get) of other generations of dedicated Spruce Knob Mountain Center employees.

This is whats left from a clipping from the Daily News-Record dated Monday, January 11, 1982. The picture shows Michael Meador, then co-director of technology, walking up the hill from base camp, which is the farmhouse where Dave, Ruth Ann, and Annie Martin currently reside. It's really amazing how clear those hill sides where then. They are now more or less covered with forest.

Mountain Adventures Summer Camp

2008-02-20T14:49:00.004-05:00

The Mountain Adventure Summer Camps are scheduled, priced and ready to go. In years past, we offered different camps each week. Now, we are offering 3 weeks of camps all with a smorgasboard of our traditional activities. We'll do some of the same activities we've done in the past, and as usual have a fantastic time. Hope to see you up on the mountain!

When:

Week 1: June 22-29, 2008

Week 2: June 29-July 6, 2008

Week 3: July 6-13, 2008

For more information check out http://www.tmisummercamp.org/.

Who wants a sticker?

2008-02-11T17:05:00.001-05:00

I was recently chided for not posting anything on the blog. That made me wonder if people actually read the blog. I think a few do. So this is my experiment.

Anybody want a sticker?

It's a nice sticker of the picture in the top left corner of the screen (the sunset and spruce tree). I must say that it isn't a proper bumpersticker or a scratch and sniff, but, boy oh boy does it stick. You can stick these things all over the place like on water bottles, refrigerators, lunch boxes, dash boards, notebooks, journals, etc. I don't advocate sticking them to stop signs, dogs, or other peoples' dashboards.

If you want a sticker or two or have a comment about my riveting blog entries email me at nhayes@mountain.org.

Quiet On the Mountain

2007-12-10T14:29:00.000-05:00

Wow! It's already December. Almost everyone has gone off to some other place.

Josh, Bret, and Beth B. are living in Driggs, ID. Josh has skied waist deep powder multiple times already this year. John is up in Boston town working landscaping for a little while. Chris and Kara are coming back to Spruce to enjoy the quiet of the winter. Kimmy is living nearby in Thomas, WV. Zach is a fly fishing guide catching monster trout on the tributaries of Lake Erie. Emily is back in graduate school in Corvalis, OR probably praying for an end to her schooling. Katrina is living in Switzerland. Brittany is back to work with Augusta Heritage in Elkins, WV. Jen is at home getting ready for another semester at Bethany College. And Abram...well, I'm not sure where Abram is. I am sure though that his fiddle is not far from his side. And I believe Heather had her sites pointed back to California. KB is the proud mother of a beautiful little girl, Avah. They are both doing well. Sophie is back in Art School in Baltimore, and Matt Tate is in Mill Point, WV tinkering with his biodiesel.

Dave, Ruth Ann, and Annie are due back today from a 3 week excursion to New England. Beth A. and I are poking around skiing when there is snow and moping around when there isn't. Well, I'm the mopey one. I can admit it. Anyway, I fixed our smelly toilet and built a ski rack. We also rebuilt a hoop house that belonged to the Underwoods. Beth will use it as a tool in her quest to produce fresh greens all year round.

One of the most special things about this place is that we always pull in such great people. Somehow they find their way to this mountain in West "By God" Virginia. We had an amazing staff this year and a bunch of fun. We all deserve a break after a bustling season like the last one. Thanks for everybody's help in making this place work.

Cheers.

5th Annual Pig Roast!!!

2007-09-19T10:17:00.000-04:00

Swing on by and help us celebrate another stellar year by attending the 5th annual Pig Roast!

When: Saturday, October 20, 2007 3pm-9pm

Where: The Mountain Institute's Spruce Knob Mountain Center

We will have a smorgasbord of food items and beverages, most importantly… freshly roasted pig! Feel free to bring your favorite dish, instruments, games or just your smile.

Please RSVP to Kimmy at 304.567.2644 or
email her at kclements@mountain.org by October 15th.

You're Building a What?

2007-09-19T09:46:00.000-04:00

I wonder how many times they heard that question in June of 1975? Thanks to Joanna Allen for these wonderful shots. If anyone has anymore pictures from back in the day, I'd love to share them.

Joe the Star Guy

2007-09-06T14:01:00.000-04:00

Just after 10 p.m., a tired group of students and their parents walked slowly up Back Ridge, heading for the highest point on The Mountain Institute’s high plains. As the group approaches the crest of the ridge, they can make out the shadow of their objective, Back Ridge Observatory. Once there, they are greeted by a tall, excited man that seems very happy to see everyone. He welcomes the group, introduces himself and begins to point out stars, planets, and constellations throughout the night sky. The group soon moves inside where they gaze through a telescope so large that they must climb a ladder to reach the eye piece. The night sky is crystal clear, brilliant, with no light expect for that of the millions of stars shimmering light years away.

The man is Dr. Joe Morris and Back Ridge Observatory is his creation, his vision become reality. The group, organized by Johns Hopkins University, had members from all over the eastern United States, none whom had ever seen a night sky as magnificent as it was that summer night. It was the pilot run of the observatory and ran seamlessly.

The Mountain Institute’s Spruce Knob Mountain Center is located in the heart of the Monongahela National Forest and provides visitors with ‘the darkest skies east of the Mississippi River. Many visitors immediately realize what a unique experience this provides for astronomy; Joe Morris realized this nearly a decade ago. “Urban dwellers are gradually being robbed of the pleasure of seeing the beautiful night sky,” wrote Joe in a letter to TMI headquarters. One night while sharing observations with a group of TMI students, he watched and listened to them, in awe of the sparkling stars and deep sky objects that they had never been able to see before because of light pollution. Light pollution exists in areas where there is a significant amount of outdoor lighting at night, usually in and near urban areas. The glow reaches up into the night sky and drowns out the light of the stars and planets. When he saw the students’ reactions, Joe realized that astronomy fits in very well with TMI’s mission in Appalachia.

To learn more check out the fall edition of the Spruce Knob News. If you don't get the SK News, then email Josh Nease and demand that you be put on the list immediately. His email is jnease@mountain.org. Article by Josh Nease.

What Happened to Summer?

2007-08-24T08:12:00.000-04:00

It's coming. Fall is creeping in under our noses. The mountains are progressively reddening announcing another natural transition. It's the time of year when I find myself quietly humming the 1965 Byrds hit Turn! Turn! Turn! The color change helps remind us of our own transitions here as we look ahead to many school groups in the coming months.

What did happen to summer? The staff were out working their tails off clearing trails in the Monongahela National Forest. I don't know for sure how many miles of trails they cleared, but I think I can safely say hundreds. A large group of amateur astronomers visited the Spruce Knob Mountain Center with the Almost Heaven Star Party to check out our wonderfully dark skies. Unfortunately, we had some inclement weather, but they did get some good viewing in. The Hero's Journey ran two weeks of programming utilizing our beautiful campus. The West Virginia Scholars Alumni visited for a reunion weekend to reconnect with old friends and the place again. We've had all kinds of good folks wander through our gates this summer. There are really too many to mention in this posting.

We are looking forward to 17 different classes from West Virginia Schools this fall. Some will be participating in our BWET program. (See earlier post for more details.) Others will be exploring and investigating our living laboratory for 2 or 3 days, and the rest we'll meet for a 3 day residency for all 5th graders in Randolph County. We are also looking forward to 4 solid weeks of our core 5 day wilderness courses, and a History Along the Potomac trip where a Virginia public school will travel by canoe studying key events in our nation's history. There will be a couple of college courses, and we'll finish off most of the fall with our 4th Annual Pig Roast that will be up at Spruce on October 20th, 2007. You should go, it's fun. Call us for more details.

The Appalachia Program staff are getting busier every year. The truth is that we still have room for more programs. If you know of any schools, teachers, or groups that would be interested in taking part in our programs you should give us a call at 1-800-874-3050 or drop an email to me at nhayes@mountain.org.

Potomac Stream Samplers

2007-08-07T10:45:00.000-04:00

The 2007 Teacher Training for Potomac Stream Samplers is currently underway. Teachers from the 8 West Virginia counties in the Chesapeake Bay watershed are invited to participate in the tiered water monitoring program. It's mission is to promote awareness of the connections between West Virginia's uplands and downstream environments and our responsibilities as stewards of our watersheds. We currently hoping to expand this model to all the counties in West Virginia.

Potomac Stream Samplers begins with the teachers spending 3 days at the Spruce Knob Mountain Center where they learn the current stream monitoring standards set up by the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection(Save Our Streams). Once school begins we visit their students in the classroom introducing the project and the themes that they'll be learning about. The class then travels to Spruce Knob to learn the water monitoring process with Spruce Knob Mountain Center staff. The final chapter is to use thier water monitoring skills to investigate a stream in thier local community.

For more information: http://www.mountain.org/work/mtlearn/teachers/2004bwet.htm or call Beth Altemus, Appalachia Program's Outreach and Education Coordinator, at 1-800-874-3050.

Praise for Summer Programs

2007-07-25T09:50:00.000-04:00

"The Johns Hopkins University Center for Talented Youth (CTY) Family Academic Programs joined forces with The Mountain Institute in July to provide CTY families an absolutely wonderful 4-day environmental experience at Spruce Knob Mountain Center. These families were enthralled by the beauty of the area; impressed by the dedication and knowledge of the staff; and thrilled by the many activities---hiking, birding, exploring a cave, as well as learning about astronomy, navigation techniques, mountain geography, hydrology, and much more. The only complaint by the participants was the program wasn't long enough! CTY looks forward to doing another exciting and challenging program with The Mountain Institute next summer."

Thanks to Mary Crowley of CTY for her kind words and to the staff of the Appalachia Program for their dedication and hard work. We hope to have Johns Hopkins University Center for Talented Youth up on the mountain for many years to come. For more information regarding customized programs at the Spruce Knob Mountain Center please call Nathan at 1-800-874-3050 or email nhayes@mountain.org.

Our First Post

2007-07-20T15:26:00.001-04:00

I want to congratulate our own John Broderick for making us proud and winning the Durbin Days "Greased Pig Contest." He persevered and beat out almost 20 other folks, and brought home the almost 150 lbs hog named Oliver. Oliver and our other hog, The Colonel, are getting to know each other. Way to go John!