Company Profile
North Cascades Institute
Company Overview
North Cascades Institute is a dynamic conservation organization focused on outdoor learning in the mountains, rivers, forests and communities of the North Cascades ecosystem.The Institute’s mission is to inspire environmental stewardship through transformative learning experiences in nature. Since 1986 we have helped connect people, nature and community through science, art, literature and the hands-on study of natural and cultural history. Our goal is to help people of all ages and backgrounds experience and enjoy the mountains, rivers, forests, people and wildlife of the Pacific Northwest – so all will care for and protect this special place. The Institute is committed to innovation and excellence in environmental learning and leadership in the nonprofit community. We believe that sustainable communities are built on healthy environments, vibrant economies and social equity.
North Cascades Institute, www.ncascades.org, is a respected, national leader among U.S. environmental education organizations. The Institute is in sound financial health with a $4 million budget and strong reserves, and 15 four-star ratings with Charity Navigator.
Company History
North Cascades Institute began as the dream of a group of five close friends – Tom Fleischner, Ed Grumbine, Jeff Hardesty, Tim Jordan and Saul Weisberg. Living in the Northwest and teaching at nature centers and in environmental education programs around the United States, they had a vision of starting a field-based wilderness education school in the Pacific Northwest. In 1983 their dream led to the formation of the Shuksan Institute, a nonprofit collective offering programs in partnership with the Sierra Institute (University of California Santa Cruz), Antioch University (Seattle) and Western Washington University (Bellingham).
On February 13, 1986, with support from North Cascades National Park, the Shuksan Institute was reborn as North Cascades Institute. It offered 23 adult field seminars in the spring and summer of 1986 to overwhelming public response. The founding Board of Directors included Margie Allen, Tom Fleischner, John Miles, John Reynolds, Sylvia Thorpe and Saul Weisberg. Partnerships with North Cascades National Park, the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie, Okanogan and Wenatchee National Forests, and Western Washington University were instrumental in the Institute’s early success. Tom Fleischner and Saul Weisberg served as co-directors until 1988 when Tom joined the faculty of Prescott College (Arizona) and Saul was selected as Executive Director.
Today, in the middle of this 13 million acre ecosystem (7 million acres of which are protected as public lands on both sides of the border), the Institute operates the Environmental Learning Center, an amazing campus on the shores of Diablo Lake that serves thousands of people every year. We have a spectrum of transformative youth programs including Mountain School and Youth Leadership Adventures, a Foodshed program that connects locally-grown food and farmers to hungry learners, and a professional staff of 60 and committed board of directors dedicated to conserve and restore Northwest environments through education.