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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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Wolf Camp Staff
Chris Chisholm, Founder & Coordinator
Chris with intro tracking campers in 2006 plus 3 youth mentors listed below: Patrick is 3rd from left; Morgan is 4th from left; Indigo is 2nd from right. Watch for the three boys between Morgan and Indigo on the Youth Mentor roster in the coming years!
Chris Chisholm, 38, grew up in the north woods of Minnesota, and he is author of the Wolf Journey earth skills curriculum. He moved west after earning a B.A. from the University of Wisconsin in 1991, and from 1992-95 he worked as a Level II Certified Youth Counselor at Sea Mar Community Health Centers. He taught Spanish from 1995-97 at the Whatcom Hills Waldorf School, and was an active member of the Whatcom County Chapter, Washington State Music Teachers Association from 1996-2003. He has received training in Search & Rescue Tracking by Joel Hardin and Tom Brown, Jr. He also received training in Wilderness First Aid, Emergency Water Rescue, and Site/Risk Management from the Wilderness Medicine Training Center. In addition to running Wolf Camp since 1996, he teaches for regional schools and organizations, like the Seattle Waldorf School and Classic Plant Nursery of Redmond just this week when we last updated this bio page April 14-18, 2008. Chris is considered a delightful storyteller, musician, teacher, counselor, outdoorsman and friend to all who have shared time with him at Wolf Camp. Click Here if you would like to listed to an Audo Recorded Camp Greeting from Chris for which you may need the free RealOne Player if it's not already installed in your system. Camps that Chris will likely participate in this year include:
• Teaching Adult Training Camps in June
• Supervising Weekend Stayovers July 26 - Aug 17
• Teaching These Overnight Summer Camps: Tracking Endangered Species, Sailing with Sealife, Natural Artists & Musicians, Ultimate Alpine, GeoTRIP.
• Co-Directing All Summer Day Camps
Nikki van Schyndel, Advisor, Herbalist, Survivalist, Artist
Nikki (33) is a 1999 graduate of the Dominion Herbal College, illustrated Wolf Journey - Trail of the Naturalist, and is currently publishing an account of her 2 year primitive living experience in the western wilderness, which you can preview by clicking on this Written Message from Nikki and there is also a Audio Recorded Camp Greeting from Nikki for you to listen to and for which you may need the free RealOne Player if it's not already installed in your system. She was personally mentored in wildlife photography by William Gibbons, a great Rocky Mountain wildlife photographer. She has also studied with leaders in the field of Earth Skills, including the Tom Brown, Frank & Karen Sherwood, and others. She has been a loved volunteer for Wolf Camp since 2000, and our most advanced student having progressed through the Wolf Journey course. Nikki is a natural teacher of children, balancing consistent discipline with extreme fun, nurturing care, and excellent tracking, herbalism, primitive living, and artisanry skills. Nikki just returned from a year and a half sabbatical, living in the wilderness at a primitive level with our apprenticeship graduate Micah Fay, where they succeeded in reaching the "stone age living" level all of us in the field wish we could pull off. It is an understatement to say that Nikki is now one of the most highly trained earth skills educators in the field. We don't know of more than a couple other people who claim to have accomplished what she has, and we are more than proud to have her advising us. She is trained in Wilderness First Aid and Search & Rescue. Camps that Nikki will likely participate in this year include: Teaching These Overnight Summer Camps: Secrets of the Ancient Scout; Ultimate Scout Survival.
Chris "Huck" Anderson, EMT, R.N., Assistant Camp Director, Founder of Lost & Found Adventures
Huck (25) served as our camp nurse and graduated from our Earth Skills Teaching Apprenticeship in 2005, when he also co-taught our Rock Climbing course and assisted with several day and overnight camps as well. In 2006 he ran the GeoTRIP, and he taught a variety of camps for us in 2007. He comes to us with a plethora of previous experience, including as an ambulance driver EMT (he is also a certified Wilderness EMT and also working on achieving his R.N.B.S.). He is a gifted musician, having played with many of the great jazz artists of our time who visited Arizona State University during his years there. Huck has now founded Lost & Found Adventures in Pheonix, AZ, and you can contact him through us or visit his website directly at www.lostandfoundadventures.com or telephone 602-228-0211 to find out about attending one of his great courses or to arrange a custom-designed program. Camps that Huck will likely participate in this year include:
• Teaching Wilderness First Aid during our July Training Week
• Supervising Summer Weekend Stayovers from July 5-20
• Co-Directing Summer Day Camps the Week of July 13-18
• Teaching These Overnight Youth Camps the Week of July 6-12: Forgotten Wilderness, Search & Rescue.
Advisor, Herbalist, Survivalist
Carol (40) began volunteering with us in 1998, and she is a member of our advisory union. She has extensive experience teaching in a variety of settings, and was co-founder of B.C. Primitive Adventures in 1996. She has worked as a counselor at Leyline for several years, and all the students who have attended Wolf Camp can attest to her fun, nurturing, and challenging leadership. She is a graduate of many Tracker School courses, including Advanced Scout, and has become a highly skilled herbalist, survivalist, and teacher. Come get to know her at camp, and receive the benefits of her excellent experience this summer. She is certified as a Wilderness First Responder. Camps that Carol may participate in this year include:
Overnight Youth Camps: Herbal Medicine and the Seaside Spa the week of July 20-26.
Jay Doyon, Advisor, Permaculture Specialist
Jay (25) is a permaculture activist, practitioner, and researcher. He has a few years of international cooperation work under his belt, and is engaged in the Ecovillage movement, especially at Earthaven in North Carolina where he did his year-long permaculture apprenticeship. Jay piloted our Permaculture Pioneer Case Study. He is currently studying the caretaking philosophy as defined by the field of earth skills in order to hone his land stewardship skills while making "forest gardening" his specialty. Jay went back to university and will be finishing up next spring, so we're looking forward to having him here in 2008 to facilitate our Cooperative Residential Intensives as well as run our Permaculture Pioneer courses. Jay will likely participate in the following programs this year:
• Assisting Adult Training Camps in June
• Assisting Summer Day Camps
• Assisting Overnight Youth Camp: The Permaculture Activist - Pioneering the Future.
Kate Hedges, Advisor, Founder of Blue Skies
Kate Hedges, 29, was the first graduate of the our Earth Skills Teaching Apprenticeship. She came specifically to learn earth skills and to learn how a functioning earth skills school ran in order to go back home to found the first official earth skills training institute in Scotland, all in the same year she graduated from the University of Edinburgh. Due to her skill, talents and fun, she made her Blue Skies earth skills training institute a popular success in its very first year! If you live in Europe or are travel in to the British Isles, contact her through us or visit her website directly at www.BlueSkiesEarthSkills.co.uk or telephone (international prefix varies) 0131 228 9608/ 07984 893436 to find out about attending one of her great courses or to arrange a custom-designed programme. Most exciting is that Kate recently acquired a new permanent home for Blue Skies, a beautiful piece of land called Roeburn Wood, and it is situated about 30 minutes walk from Helensburgh, west of Glasgow. It is best accessed by train to Helenburgh Central railway station, a short journey from Glasgow. It's harder and harder for Kate to get free to fly over and teach with us anymore due to her packed schedule at Blue Skies. Nevertheless, we're planning to fly over there and have her guide us during the Ultimate Tracker in Scotland 2009.
Bill Baroch, M.Ed., Lead Instructor, Storyteller
 (45) Bear Rock has been teaching with us for eight years, and he is a member of our advisory union. He's a fun environmental educator, consistently disciplined and flexible, hardworking and patient. Bill is very knowledgeable in the realms of ecology and natural history. He has developed a stunningly effective style using story as a technique for subtly sharing insight and information, having been a Professional Storyteller since 1997. He presents to school groups, town festivals, holiday celebrations and private parties, emphasizing stories which celebrate the natural world and human-nature interactions. From 1991-98, Bill was Co-Director & Instructor at Free Spirit Nature Camp in Warwick, NY, conducting six-week summertime camps for 4-12 year olds, presenting pre-camp staff orientation, acting as camp medical director, and planning/implementing activities focusing on nature study and exploration, survival skills and conflict resolution. Bill was also Program Director at Pathfinder Outdoor School in Mountain Center, CA from 1991-92 & 1993-94, administrating the residential outdoor education program, communicating with schools to set schedules, giving school site presentations to students and parents, developing/implementing new classes and programs, and teaching classes in natural science and other outdoor pursuits. Bill was also Teaching Fellow at Montclair State University's N.J. School of Conservation in Branchville, NJ, from 1992-93, where he taught environmental education classes and developed teacher training workshops. From 1990-91, bill was a Naturalist Instructor at Greenkill Environmental Education Center in Huguenot, NY, where he designed and taught classes natural history to grades 410 during 3-5 day visits, using Project Adventure, High Ropes and the Climbing Wall to establish cooperative learning. Bill was also an Environmental Education Intern at Clemmie Gill School of Science and Conservation in Springville, CA from 1989-90, at Ryerson Conservation Area in Deerfield, IL , and at Northcoast Environmental Center in Arcata, CA in 1988. Bill was also a Docent at the Nature Conservancy's Lanphere-Christensen Dunes Preserve in Arcata, CA from 1985-88, leading interpretive walks for school groups and the general public which focused on the geology and ecology of the dunes. He was a trail crew member for the U.S. Forest Service in Tongass National Forest,, Misty Fjords National Monument in Alaska in 1985, a Wildlife Technician for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game in Fairbanks, AK in 1994, working on the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge, and again a Wildlife Technician for the U.S. Forest Service, Institute of Northern Forestry in Fairbanks in 1993, assisting a biologist on a moose foraging ecology study in Denali National Park. He has been living near Deming, Washington, for the past 6 years. Camps that Bill will likely help teach this year include:
• Guiding the Alpine Quest and assisting day and overnight camps during the survival week of July 13-19.
Lorien MacAuley, Lead Instructor, Advisor
Lorien MacAuley, 29, B.S. in Biology, graduated from our Earth Skills Teaching Apprenticeship in the summer of 2004, and due to her expertise in wildlife tracking & birding, already was a lead day camp instructor in August of that year. She and her husband Scott lived at Wolf Camp for a year and a half as part of our Wolf Journey Naturalist Survey, helping to develop our organic gardens and farm animals while also studying earth skills to a great depth. Lorien lead several of our camps in 2005-06, and although she and Scott are thinking of starting their own program in West Virginia, they are also looking forward to returning to teach here as much as possible as well. She is Wilderness First Responder certified, and trained in Site/Risk Management. Lorien did environmental research in the Ecuadorian Amazon Rainforest during the summer of 2007. Camps that Lorien will likely help teach this year include:
• Teaching Summer Day Camps: Wildlife Tracking & Birding the week of July 28 - Aug 2.
• Teaching Overnight Youth Camps: The Forgotten Wilderness, Survival Week of July 13-19, Sailing with Sealife.
Scott Fanello, Lead Instructor, Advisor
Scott Fanello, 29, B.S. in Biology, graduated from our Earth Skills Teaching Apprenticeship in the summer of 2004, and due to his overwhelming experience, he already was a lead day camp instructor in August. He and his wife Lorien lived at Wolf Camp for a year and a half as part of our Wolf Journey Naturalist Survey, helping to develop our organic gardens and farm animals while also studying earth skills to a great depth. Scott lead several of our camps in 2005, including the development of the Old School Pioneers camp, and although he and Lorien are thinking of starting their own program in West Virginia, they are also looking forward to returning to teach here as much as possible as well. He is Wilderness First Responder certified, and trained in Site/Risk Management. We were fortunate to have Scottt with us for the last part of the summer again in 2006. Camps that Scott will likely help teach this year include:
• Teaching Summer Day Camps: Wild Chefs & Healers; Wildlife Tracking & Birding.
• Teaching Overnight Youth Camps: The Forgotten Wilderness and assisting Herbal Medicine and the Seaside Spa.
Griz Chambers, Artisan, EMR, Lead Instructor
Griz, 21, graduated from the Earth Skills Teaching Apprenticeship in the summer of 2004. He first came to Wolf Camp as a young camper in 2001, then returned in 2003 as the first graduate of our Youth Mentoring CIT Program. Bill specializes in Primitive Artisanry, with expertise in hunting, fishing, and tracking. He lead our Primitive Fishing and Stone Age Technologies camps, plus co-taught a variety of day camps in 2005. He is Wilderness First Responder certified, and trained in Site/Risk Management. He resides during the off-season in his hometown near Crow's Nest Pass, Alberta, and currently working on becoming an Emergency Medical Technician. Camps that Griz will likely participate in this year, though subject to visa, include:
• Overnight Summer Camps: The Forgotten Wilderness
• Summer Day Camps: Future Survivors Fun
Ryan Tarbell, Lead Instructor
Ryan Tarbell, 25, completed our Earth Skills Teaching Apprenticeship in 2003, and he holds a bachelor of science degree in environmental education and forestry at Warren Wilson University. He grew up practicing earth skills, and due to receiving the highest recommendation of any staff member in Wilderness First Responder scenarios. He taught camps for us throughout the summers of 2004 and 2005, and has started his own sustainable forestry program back east.
Dan Thomas, Camp Instructor
Dan Thomas, 40, was a student at Wolf Camp for several years before leading his first school contracts for us in 2004, including Animal Tracks & Language of the Birds. He is a naturally disciplined and engaging teacher, and highly experienced backcountry travellor, and also a skilled wilderness survivalist. Dan works as an arborist and environmental technician with City of Bellingham Parks & Recreation, and he is also certified as a Wilderness First Responder.
Jason Patterson, Camp Instructor, Artisan & Craftsman
Jason (33) comes to us with many years experience guiding wilderness therapy courses, and many years of dirt time with survival skills. He is co-teaching a variety of day camps with us this summer, and has been a great help to our program since starting to work with us over two years ago. Camps that Jason may teach this year include:
• Overnight Summer Camps: Stone Age Artisan
• Summer Day Camps: Future Survivors Fun, Games of the Forest Dweller
Glen MacKay, Camp Instructor
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: Advanced Arts of the Scout
Andrew Twele, Camp Instructor, Hide Tanning & Primitive Skills Specialist
  
Andrew with bass from our lake, followed by pics of his home inside the stump.
Andrew Twele completed our Earth Skills Teaching Apprenticeship in 2007 and is now focusing on a Primitive Living Experience at Wolf Camp. He has been here since March 2007, and he already came to us with great experience teaching hide tanning and other earth skills. Andrew is now carrying out an internship with Outward Bound in Baltimore & Philidelphia. Camps that Andrew will likely teach in this year include:
• Overnight Summer Camps: The Forgotten Wilderness; Living with Primitive Food Fire & Shelter; Stone Age Artisan; Advanced Arts of the Scout
Rachel Rothman, M.Ed., Camp Instructor
Rachel Rothman, 29, graduated from our Earth Skills Teaching Apprenticeship in the summer of 2004. She has many years experience as a summer camp counselor, and she used to guide adjudicated youth in wilderness survival programs, and she studies permaculture and appropriate technologies at Aprovecho Research Center. She just graduated Oregon State University to earn her masters teaching degree, and has been hired as the special education teacher for her school district beginning in the fall of 2005. Rachel is Wilderness First Responder certified, and trained in Risk Management.
Krista Rome, Advisor, Environmental Consultant
Krista Rome, 31, holds a bachelors degree in environmental studies from WWU Huxley College and works at a prestigious wetlands consulting firm in Washington State. She has extensive experience working with native plants, and guiding school groups in habitat restoration. She is also a talented basket and drum maker, and her passion is to live as sustainably as possible on the land, and to teach those around her the values and joys of simple living. Krista was also certified as a Wilderness First Responder. She graduated from our Earth Skills Teaching Apprenticeship in the summer of 2003 after returning from the Peace Corps in Uganda, taught camps all summer in 2004, and continues to be a close advisor throughout the year.
Morgan Tidd, Apprentice
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! 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. Camps that Morgan will likely assist with this year include:
• All Training Camps in June
• Overnight Summer Camps: The Forgotten Wilderness; Living with Primitive Food Fire & Shelter; Sailing with Sealife; Assisting the weeks of July 27 - Aug 16; Ultimate Scout Survival.
• Summer Day Camps: Wildlife Tracking & Birding, Games of the Forest Dweller.
Patrick Wiley, Apprentice
Doing his impression of "Thorton the Gamer"
Patrick first came to camp in 2004, and has since completed a majority of our summer courses, including the Ultimate Tracker. He completed our week-long Naturalist Mentoring CIT course in 2006, and then served as a youth mentor for Secrets of the Ancient Scout, plus a variety of camps in 2007. He lives with his family in Oregon. Camps that Patrick may assist with this year include:
• All Training Camps in June
• Overnight Summer Camps: Tracking Endangered Species; Herbal Medicine and the Seaside Spa; Ultimate Alpine.
• Summer Day Camps: Wild Chefs & Healers, Wildlife Tracking & Birding, Games of the Forest Dweller.
Rebecca Chavarria, Apprentice
Rebecca first came to camp in 2002, and has graduated from our ancient scout, tracking, hunter-gatherer and survival series of courses. She returned at age 13 as part of our Youth Mentoring CIT Program in 2004, still holding the record as our youngest-ever youth mentor. She lives with her family in Idaho. Camps that Rebecca may assist with this year include:
Alexandra "Squirrel" Bunker, Apprentice
  
Cute as a button at age 11 in 2001. A young lady during her year abroad in Italy 2006.
Alex first came to camp in 2001 as part of our wilderness survival and seaside kayaking courses. She returned at age 15 to help with our rock climbing and GeoTRIP courses as part of our Youth Mentoring CIT Program in 2004. She is also the youngest graduate of a Wilderness First Responder course that we know of, and after returning from studying in Italy last year, she has since become Florida's youngest public official as supervisor of the Seminole Soil and Water Conservation Disctrict! Camps that Alex may assist with this year include:
Elise Santa Maria, CIT
  
Elise's Senior Picture; Karate Studio Photo; and with beauty face mask during the Herbal Spa camp.
Elise first came to camp in 2002 as part of our Natural Arts & Music series, and she completed our week-long Naturalist Mentoring CIT course at age 15 in 2005 and served as a youth mentor for the Herbal Spa camp. She completed a summer internship through Teens in Public Service at the Nature Consorium in 2007 helping with nature based art classes for children in low-income houseing. She is also co-president of the Earth Serviice Corps at her school where she is completing her senior year. She's also been doing community service for a few years with the Feral Cat Spay/Neuter Clinic in Seattle. Camps that Elise may assist with this year include:
Anna "Leemahlyn" Flies, CIT
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, as we mention within our Wolf Tracks New Page. Camps that Lee may assist with this year include:
Indigo Tidd, CIT
Indigo first came to camp in 2005, and has since completed most of our summer courses, including the Ultimate Tracker and Ultimate Herbalist. She completed our week-long Naturalist Mentoring CIT course this summer, and she is looking forward to serving as a youth mentor for day and overnight youth camps next year. She lives with her family in California.Camps that Indigo may assist with this year include:
• Training Week the first week of July
• Overnight Summer Camps: Tracking Endangered Species; Survivors Side of the Mountain; Herbal Medicine and the Seaside Spa; Ultimate Alpine; Advanced Arts of the Scout; Ultimate Scout Survival.
• Summer Day Camps: The Crafty Artisan
Charlie Borrowman, CIT
Charlie first came to camp in 2006 after having attending Hawk Circle in Cherry Valley, NY, and has since completed most of our summer courses, including the Ultimate Tracker. He completed our week-long Naturalist Mentoring CIT course and is looking forward to serving as a youth mentor for day and overnight youth camps next year. He lives with his family in California. Camps that Charlie may assist with this year include:
• Overnight Summer Camps: Tracking Endangered Species; Living with Primitive Food Fire & Shelter; Sailing with Sealife; Stone Age Artisan; Ultimate Scout Survival.
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!
Employment:
We only need instructors with experience running camps and teaching in the field of Earth Skills, including Permaculture, Tracking, Primitive Artisanry, Advanced Herbalism, or Wilderness EMT training with real outdoor survival practice. If you would like experience as a teacher and learn skills of the Naturalist, Tracker, Herbalist, Scout, Hunter, Artisan, or Permaculture Pioneer, apply to become an instructor through our Earth Skills Teaching Apprenticeship.
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.
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