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CONFIDENTIALITY:
Wolf Camp does not share its database — period.
COPPAct Notice:
Children 12 and under must obtain parental consent before contacting us.
Wolf Camp was voted 1 of 2 Best Camps in the Northwest Family News Reader's Poll of 2001, the only year they ran a poll, and we were also chosen as one of the five "best camps ever" by YM Magazine in its March 2003 issue.
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Click here to skip to THIS YEAR'S NEWS. • Click here to go to our BLOG & FORUM page for our daily journal where all the latest happenings are posted.
Click Here if you would like to listed to an Audo Recorded Camp Greeting from Wolf Camp founder and coordinator Chris Chisholm for which you may need the free RealOne Player if it's not already installed in your system, and there is also a Audio Recorded Camp Greeting from our top earth skills specialist Nikki for you to listen to if you like.
Mission of the Wolf Camp Cooperative
"I will always remember the first time flying to the Pacific Northwest. It was winter, the horizon filled thickly with tall trees, so lush and with rugged glaciated mountains, and seemingly hundreds of Puget Sound islands. That was 20 years ago, and I still feel awed by this beautiful place, so different from anywhere else I have ever been. 10 years ago, my two sons attended WOLF’s very first tracking class along with my husband and me. Chris Chisholm was my boys’ much loved Spanish instructor at their school, and we were duly impressed after experiencing nature in a new way with him. It was one of the most interesting classes I had ever taken. Your WOLF experience will add so much to your life. Locals will never take the Seattle-Vancouver area for granted again, and those coming from afar will surely be inspired by our land filled with gifts of unique geography and climate." - Valarie Gervais
The Wolf Camp Cooperative invites you into a world where life thrives according to its original design. As students of nature, we’ll step peacefully into modern society with renewed strength from the natural world, equipped to live a healthy life.
At Wolf Camp, we strive to create unique outdoor experiences for you to enjoy and grow in "earth skills" of the naturalist, tracker, herbalist, scout, hunter, artisan, and permaculture pioneer. We attract good role models to Wolf Camp, and help each person discover special talents in nature awareness and wilderness survival. We are serious about nurturing the growth and success of all our students, providing the rarest of positive experiences. Their physical, emotional, mental and spiritual health is our top priority, and we are able to achieve these priorities because all Wolf Camp instructors are seasoned teachers in the field of earth skills education.
We hope to strike a healthy balance between modern society and nature as it was originally created. We teach children and adults to seek their truth, develop self-sufficiency, respect hazards, strive for success, be emotionally sensitive, express art and music, improve physical health, honor their own religion or spirituality, be tolerant of differences between people, and recognize similarities amongst everyone on earth. We are looking forward to your participation in this wonderful experience, sharing new skills and stories with one another.
No person is turned away from enrollment in any Wolf Camp program due to financial constraints. See our Scholarships & Giving page for more information.
Wolf Tracks Update
From Chris Chisholm, Founder and Coordinator
Well, we're now working on our 12th year of serving you, and we send thanks for sharing with us many wonderful earth skills experiences in this beautiful region of mountains, waters, sagebrush canyons and temperate rain forests. We fondly remember those of you who have attended our camps and classes since the summer of 1996, and we would be very blessed to receive another vital year of support from you and from the many new people who will attend in 2008.
Click here to go to our BLOG & FORUM page for our daily journal where all the latest happenings are posted. Back from her two-year wilderness survival experience! Click here for a message from Nikki that will blow your mind and inspire your dreams!
APPRENTICE ALEXANDRA "SQUIRREL" BUNKER IN THE NEWS: (if you have news about yourself or your kids, please email us so we can keep the camp community informed)
For Immediate Release:
Seminole Soil and Water Conservation District
Contact: Chairman Tim Brodeur: 407-513-8254
Conservation Activist Alexandra Bunker Becomes the Youngest Public Official in Florida
Sanford, Fla.- Alexandra Bunker, 18, of Altamonte Springs has become the youngest public official in the state after being appointed as a Supervisor to fill a vacant position on the Seminole Soil and Water Conservation District (SSWCD) Board. Alex was appointed on Sept. 11 during the regular monthly board meeting.
Although only 18, Supervisor Bunker has been an advocate for nature in the region for five years. She’s lobbied local and state officials on behalf of the Wekiva River, and has testified a number of times before the Wekiva Basin Area Task Force, and the Wekiva River Basin Coordinating Committee. Because of her efforts, Gov. Jeb Bush invited her to speak at the official signing of the Wekiva Parkway and Protection Act at Wekiwa Springs State Park in 2004. She was also honored by the Friends of the Wekiva River, Inc. with a Conservation Award for her work in support of the river.
"I grew up swimming in Wekiva Springs and I loved it. It opened me up to appreciating the need to protect special places like that---they’re so rare and beautiful," says Alex. "In the process, I learned about nutrient loading, and recharge areas, and how the springs are under more pressure now than ever before."
Working on behalf of the League of Conservation Voters in 2003, Alex also helped educate the public on the effects of mercury poisoning and explained related conservation issues. In 2005, she was a Legislative Page for Sen. Lee Constantine. As a participant in the Rotary International Exchange Program, she spent a year living and studying in Rome, Italy in 2005-6. Alex has also mentored young adults in outdoor skills and environmental education at Wolf Camp in the Cascade Mountains of Washington State.
Currently, Alex is on the state-wide Climate Change Committee for the League of Women Voters of Florida, and is enrolled in the Honor’s Program at Seminole Community College. She plans to continue her education and attend law school to study environmental law. She works part time as an instructor at the Aiguille Rock Climbing Gym in Longwood.
"At SSWCD, I would really like to revitalize some of the programs there that have proven very successful in the past. They include Envirothon, WaterWise Yards, EnviroCamp, Adopt-a-Spot, Cameron Ranch, and the distribution of the reprinted environmental classic "From Eden to Sahara." I’ve been involved as a volunteer in several projects in the past, and hope to re-engage as many volunteers as I can in both new and revived programs."
The Seminole County Soil and Water Conservation District is a governmental subdivision of the state of Florida, formed under F.S. 582. There are five elected "Supervisors" who serve who serve four year terms. Our mission is to educate land users and water consumers, promote natural conservation technology and to provide the best land and water use management practices that will conserve, improve, and sustain the natural environment of Seminole County.
APPRENTICE MORGAN TIDD BECOMES 2007 JUNIOR WOMEN'S WHITEWATER FREESTYLING CHAMPION:
Morgan first came to camp in 2004, completing our ancient scout, tracking, wild foods and survival series of courses. She completed our week-long Naturalist Mentoring CIT course as well as site management and open water rescue courses at age 14 in 2005. She remained for most of the summer served as a youth mentor for day and overnight youth camps. We were fortunate to have Morgan here the entire summer of 2006, and she's planning to return in 2008 to teach the kayaking aspects of our Sailing with Sealife / Herbal Medicine and the Seaside Spa camp week. She's more than qualified, too, having mentored that very camp 2 years running, and now having become the 2007 National Junior Women's Whitewater Freestyling Champion!
NOW FOR NEWS FROM CHINA VIA MORGAN:
Her family runs Turtle River Rafting Company in California, and she is currently studying abroad in China while kayaking much of the Mekong River, as you can see in her extremely creative cartoon blog if you click on this link.
CAMPER-TURNED-INSTRUCTOR GLEN MACKAY RECEIVES FULL-RIDE SCHOLARSHIP TO OBERLIN COLLEGE:
Glen first came to camp in 2002, and has graduated from our ancient scout, tracking, hunter-gatherer and survival series of courses. He returned at age 16 as part of our Youth Mentoring CIT Program in 2004, and completed much of his Earth Skills Teaching Apprenticeship during the summer in 2006. He graduated from high school this year, and for his senior project, he did a solo survival trek and is completed a senior thesis about it. You can read a summary by clicking on Survival Trek Log. Glen is now attending Oberlin College in Ohio on a a full-ride scholarship, as we mention within our Wolf Tracks New Page. Camps that Glen will likely teach in this year include:
YOUTH MENTOR ANNA "LEE" FLIES SELECTED TO ATTEND ISREALI-PALESTINIAN YOUTH PEACE CONFERENCE:
Lee first came to camp in 2003, and has graduated from our tracking, wild foods, and survival series of courses. She completed our week-long Naturalist Mentoring CIT course at age 15 in 2005 and served as a youth mentor for day and overnight youth camps. She lives with her family in Washington State. Lee was selected in the summer of 2006 to attend an Isreali-Palestinian Youth Peace Conference in Colorado.
Come Meet Us
June 28, 2008, Saturday 2:00 p.m., Three Amongst the Wolves presentation by world-renown adventurist Helen Thayer, also author of Polar Dream and Walking the Gobi. We consider this the pinnacle event of our year, and believe us when we tell you that you will be absolutely grateful, profoundly moved, and totally delighted if you attend! Sustinance and refreshments provided, with donations accepted for Helen's world-wide youth education program, the Adventure Classroom. RSVP email required, or call 360-799-1997.
June 29, 2008, Sunday 10:00-5:00, Wolf Camp Open House, Visiting Day, Work-A-Thon, and Bar-B-Que. Come visit camp, joining us for the bar-b-que lunch by donation, or collect pledges to raise funds for your camp expeirence at the Work-A-Thon if you like. RSVP email required, and to request pledge forms.
September 21, 2008, Sunday 8:00-8:00, International Day of Peace bonfire, medicine lodge, autumnal feast and fast for cooperative intensive participants and alumni.
October 25, 2008, Saturday 5-8 pm, Twelve Year Anniversary Harvest Party for alumni, family and supporters. This is our way to say "thank you", with dinner provided plus inspirational music and stories with violin virtuoso and salishin bard Swil Kanim, tentative. You may arrive as early as 5:00 pm on Friday and stay as long as 5:00 pm on Sunday to help harvest and prepare for the winter. Our annual summer raffle runs throughout the summer, with winners drawn during the Harvest Party.
Click for a link to the Summer Weekend Stayovers course descriptions. Campers ages 9 and above who attended camp the week prior (or in the past) may stay by themselves. Otherwise, all ages are welcome with parent or legal guardian. The cost is $75 for the first family member, $50 for the second, and $25 for the third. No charge for children 5 and under. The weekend itinerary normally includes a pot-luck lunch on Saturday from Noon-1, clean-up and naps from 1-2, swimming and fishing from 2-4, pizza and pop from 4-5, clean-up and campfire prep from 5-6, nature movie from 6-8, and campfire music and stories from 8-10. Sunday starts with a nature walk and fishing from 8-9, breakfast runs 9-10, the weekend theme workshop runs from 10-12, lunch is from 1-2, camp clean-up is from 2-3, scavenger hunt prep is from 3-4, camp tours for newly arriving campers are from 4-5, and dinner is from 5-6.
June 28-29, 2008: Leadership Theme (Unique Schedule due to Helen Thayer presentation and Work-A-Thon)
July 5-6, 2008: Wildlife Theme (arts of tracking and bird language)
July 12-13, 2008: Firemaking Theme (fire by friction and hazards)
July 19-20, 2008: Ethnobotany Theme (wild and cultivated edible/medicinal plants)
July 26-27, 2008: Arts Theme (primitive crafts and the composition of poetry, painting, and music)
August 2-3, 2008: 4x4 Essencials Theme (preparations for backcountry travel)
August 9-10, 2008: Scouting Theme (history, philosophy and challenge, with unique schedule due to Stilliguamish River Festival)
August 16-17, 2008: Maps Theme (geographies of washington and scotland)
October 25-26, 2008: Thanksgiving Harvest Theme (Unique Schedule due to Swil Kanim performance and Harvest Party)
2008 Online Scholarship Fundraising Auction
June 15-22, 2008, Sunday-Sunday 8:00 pm - 8:00 pm, Online Auction for Max Davis Scholarships. This is the annual fundraiser upon which we depend for most of the year's scholarship funds, so please consider donating an item (by sending us an email with a description of the item, then we will arrange to pick it up) or by bidding on an item during the auction. Thanks!
Cooperative Ownership Opportunity:
We are now beginning a new phase in the life of Wolf Camp. It has been 10 years since I founded Wolf Camp, and I have run the programs with huge help from our great instructors, parents, and board members of the associated WOLF Foundation. However, my dream has always been to guide this enterprise into a cooperative business, and it is evident that the time has come. I no longer have the capacity to lead alone, and I want to ensure the longevity of this venture.
In addition to the energy that all the campers give me each summer, my motivation over the past two years has been the preservation of the new Wolf Camp property around Woods Lake. I cannot emphasize enough how critical it is to preserve this, the last remaining, undeveloped but easily accessible lake shore in the Puget Sound area, and without any significant road passing near that causes noise pollution. In particular, the bog which surrounds the lake is a rare jewel that must be protected. And to have earth skills education available for everyone to enjoy around it, that is amazing. It far surpasses my greatest wish.
The priority is to find a business manager, and the ideal candidate would be dedicated to the concepts of earth skills education, permaculture, and a worker's cooperative, but most important, have excellent skills of administration and marketing, especially in relation to adult education but also in relation to providing educational services to families. The first tasks of a new business manager will be to write our new business plan, reorganize our finances, market our programs effectively, and help to direct the logistics of summer camps in 2007.
Another priority is to find a director of day camps and contracts, and the ideal candidate would have great experience in childhood education, especially in earth skills and the Waldorf curriculum, but also be very skilled in program administration and soliciting service contracts since the logistics of running our day camps is daunting, and the solicitation of contracts with schools and other organizations for camp referrals and off-season programs is critical to the success of our venture.
Yet another priority is to find a permaculture activist and an herbalist, and the ideal candidate would really understand and appreciate earth skills education, but be ready to commit the next 10 years to the design of Wolf Camp, including the development of its farmlands, the management of its forests, our conversion to appropriate technologies, and the expansion of our educational programs, especially the Permaculture Pioneer Case Study and the Four Season Herbalist Exploration programs.
The final priority is to find additional trackers and primitive skills specialists, dedicated to the mission of our earth skills camp and permaculture cooperative, serving to bring greater and greater health and balance to our staff while providing excellent teaching skills at some of our courses for all ages, but especially helping to promote and lead our resident camps and adult apprenticeships.
So if you, or someone you know, would like to consider buying a cooperative share of this property to preserve it along with the educational services we employ, please let me know. I need at least one qualified person who is willing to walk into the springtime with me, and I hope that within a couple years there will be an initial group of 4 worker-owners who are running things, then break the shares down even further to extremely affordable amounts. Success is at hand, as revenues have grown at an average of about 20% per year since 1999. Therefore, cooperative worker owners could see a significant return on their investment in a short time.
Co-op owner responsibilities will include an approximately $25,000 initial investment, an eighth share of our projected $200,000 budget in 2008, and agreement to direct all earth skills related personal business revenue into the cooperative. This gives you 1/8 voting control and ownership of our business resources including buildings, boats, website, gear, kitchen equipment, food stores, furniture, appliances, camp store goods, library, experienced human resources, and our 30 timbered acres on Woods Lake with unlimited access to the property for relevant business and recreational use, subject to legal regulations.
Co-op owner may also buy additional shares (until such time we have an equal number of worker-owners owning equal shares) and sell shares at the annual co-op value assessment (decided by majority cooperative vote in November for the following year) at any time but subject to majority approval by the then current cooperative owners of the purchaser. Co-op owners will also have the option of camping on site or living year-round in a 200 square foot cabin, subject to legal regulations, with access to the entirety of our property infrastructure.
We will keep the same web address and format, but as you will see, I am changing the website banner and business letterhead to describe us as an Earth Skills Camp and Permaculture Cooperative, and adding www.wolfcooperative.org with portals to The Wolf Cooperative marketing adult education, to Wolf Camp which continues marketing to families, to the WOLF Foundation which continues to offer scholarships for earth skills and permaculture education, and to the whole website in various languages. As such, I am also hoping to find fluent speakers of Chinese and Japanese to be part of our new cooperative, since these are two of the target language populations in our long range business plan, in addition to Spanish, German, and French, for which we already have staff who can speak these languages.
Here is an outline of our Cooperative Ownership transition summary:
Initial Cooperative Structure (assuming one eighth shares)
Residential Programs Director (Chris Chisholm)
Business Manager
Day Camps / Contracts Director
Permaculture Specialist
Herbalist
Tracking Specialist
Primitive Skills Specialist
General Naturalist
Cooperative Supporters (outside of the business)
Advisory Union (Lead Instructors at Wolf Camp)
WOLF Foundation (Board of Directors and Employees)
Students and Parents of Wolf Camp (Wolf Boosters)
Coop Owner Responsibilities
Initial investment ($25,000 for an eighth share)
Work contribution based on share percentage (10 hours per week for 52 weeks = 520 hours total for an eighth share)
Adherence to the bylaws set by the cooperative
Dedication to the goals and future of Wolf Camp
Coop Owner Benefits
Based on share percentage, cooperative ownership and voting control over Wolf Camp assets and business resources (including the 30-acre property, cabins, boats, library, furniture, equipment, and gear).
Option of living on the property year round (camping or personal cabin)
Annual dividend based on profits from Wolf Camp
Minimum wage salary ($10/hr) based on coop work contribution
First priority for teaching positions (additional salary) at Wolf Camp
Opportunity to sell shares at a later date.
THANK YOU for donating to the new Wolf Camp property!
I really want to thank the people who have donated directly to Wolf Camp for the preservation of our new property. This transition - purchasing a rare piece of property - is perhaps the greatest step that Wolf Camp will ever make. We have the opportunity to save the last accessible, undeveloped lake in lowland Western Washington, preserving it for children and adults who are endeavoring to practice the earth skills we all value. As you know, these skills which are the focus at Wolf Camp are the most critical, yet nearly forgotten, skills which allow us to survive here on earth.
It is so important that we all support the skills and activities that children (of all ages) are able to experience at Wolf Camp. And it is a miracle that the lake, bog and surrounding forests at the new Wolf Camp still exist for this purpose. If we are successful in paying the expenses associated with the purchase and upkeep of this property, it will provide an idyllic home for Wolf Camp for generations to come.
The property is 45 acres of lake, bog, wetlands, and forest which borders Department of Natural Resources forestry lands, which continue uninterrupted all the way to the Mt. Baker - Snoqualmie National Forest covering the North Cascades mountain range. Let me emphasize how rare such an undeveloped lake, and especially its unspoiled bog, is in Western Washington. Due to rapid population growth and lakeshore development, no lake other than this one still exists here.
It is quiet, with the comfort of isolated rural noises, few cars driving near, full of rare species in the bog, plus mature forests throughout the property and surrounding the lake. I even found an old growth Western Hemlock tree that past loggers overlooked. The property is full of 90 year old cedars, sitka spruce, douglas fir, cascara sagrada, and incredible shore pines. The wildlife on the property is also astounding, and I have already found tracks of almost every animal you could imagine in the area.
A couple interesting things about the property include its striking resemblance to my family’s lakeside cabin property in Wisconsin where I first learned to slow down and observe nature. Another interesting aspect about the new property is its history as a boy scout camp in the first half of the last century. The house and other structures have since fallen into disrepair or disappeared over the last 50 years.
Somehow, no one got around to developing the property, and it has recently been downzoned to “forestry” status, which helped to keep its price affordable despite being an easy drive from Seattle, where land values continue to skyrocket. It is also just 90 minutes from Bellingham and from Wenatchee, so it is an ideal, central location for Wolf Camp to attract more and more business. That is good, because I will need another 50% increase in business in 2005 to pay for the land and other expenses.
Please call me directly at 360-799-1997 with questions, to schedule a personal tour of the new Wolf Camp property, or to go fishing together on the lake. Thank you so much for your support! And as always, I want to end by thanking Medicine Eagle and Waterlily for all their love, knowing that without them, none of this would have been possible. Yours, Chris
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