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Adult & Family

Training Camp Weeks (for adults, teens with prereqs)

Fall-Spring Class Series (for adults and teens)

Summer Weekend Stayovers (for youth and families)

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Summer Residential Intensives:

Earth Skills Teaching Apprenticship

Permaculture Pioneer Facilitators Program

Recreational Administration Internship

Youth Mentoring CIT Program

Fall-Spring Residential Intensives:

Wolf Journey Naturalist Survey

Permaculture Pioneer Case Study

Future Scout Tracking Intensive

Wild Healers Herbal Exploration

Seasonal Primitive Skills Preparation leading to the Stone Age Living Experience

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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.

The Recreational Administration Internship 2009

Scroll Down or Click for Specifics:

• Program Dates, Deadlines, Prerequisites, Benefits;
• Goals of the Recreational Administration Internship;
• Skills Covered In This Program;
• Program Schedule & Tuition Breakdown;
• Program History;
• How to Apply for this Program;

Program Dates: June 13 - August 16, with optional extension as late as November 7th.

Registration Deadlines: Apply by March 31st and the price will be $3,000. We have availability for 2 individuals in this program for 2009, so reserve your spot by applying right away.

Prerequisites: None, but it is open to adults only. This program is designed for those who wish to become excellent administrators of outdoor recreational programs. You will have greater success if you have experience with as many of the following activities as possible:

• Photography & Recording; Writing & Journaling
• Office Experience (computer use, typing skills, filing, ordering, phone etiquette, personal presentation)
• Management Experience (supervising employees, program development, ethical decision making)
• Community Living Experiences
• Time Outdoors (especially growing up playing in the woods, deserts, or beaches around your home; harvesting fruits and vegetables, fish and animals both domestic and wild, as a youth; plus taking adventures on the mountains, prairies, and waterways of this beautiful earth as a young adult)
• Skills and knowledge of Wildlife Biology, Permaculture & Pioneering, Survival & Crafts, Music & Artwork;
• Wilderness First Aid, Search & Rescue; Lifeguarding; EMT Training

Overview & Benefits

This summer cooperative residential program is open to adults only, includes 3 initial training weeks, and involves helping to administer 7 youth camp weeks which have historically been the greatest of learning experiences for interns.

Beyond your initial tuition and health insurance, you need not incur any other expense during the summer. Wolf Camp assistant camp director Chris "Huck" Anderson will be your mentor through this experience, with guidance from office manager Kim Allen and camp coordinator Chris Chisholm.

In exchange for the volunteer work you do over the summer, you may complimentarily attend any of the courses we offer in the fall and spring for as long as your relationship to the Wolf Camp community remains healthy and happy. Of course whenever living on campus between fall and spring, we all contribute at least 10 hrs/wk work trade, and we cover our own travel and some food expenses, required health insurance, and fees for participation in external courses.

We are also hoping that at least one of the Recreational Administrative Internship graduates will return in the summer of 2010 to become our full-time camp administrator, and to help mentor new interns that year. Whatever your future plans, you will gain a solid foundation to work at any outdoor program, and even to develop your own outdoor educational business.

Goals of the Internship

In addition to participating in intensive training courses, the objective of this program is to learn administrative and business skills while helping to make Wolf Camp the best organized, healthiest, and happiest camp possible. Also develop your own personal medicine wheel of health while living as close to the land as possible.

You will be in charge of the camp store, selling all sorts of earth skills crafts, summer camp paraphernalia, and farm produce in order to learn about sales. In addition to communicating, welcoming and orienting campers and their families, one of your primary responsibilities will be to photograph campers, video tape activities, and post blogs every camp day.

No matter your previous experience, you will be expected to fully participate in every possible training opportunity to push your skills to a higher level of excellence, although your health, including rest and rejuvenation, will be the priority. The goal is to always develop ourselves into better and better specialists.

Recreational Administration Skills Learned
• Risk Management (assessing sites, planning activities, mitigating hazards)
• Emergency Rescue, Advanced First Aid, CPR (wilderness and water settings)
• Health & Organizational Strategies (western lineal and medicine wheel use for self, lessons, projects)
• Cost-Effective Event Promotions
• Event Management
• Fiscal Administration
• Event Management
• Supply ordering, distribution, and sales
• Ordering and organizing food, and providing healthy food according to regulations
• Policy manual development
• Website construction and maintenance
• Efficient Office Management (streamlining work, avoiding burnout, improving health, best use of available technology)
• Supervisory Skills (with various age groups)
• Incorporating Earth Skills & Starting New Schools (examples of non-profits, partnerships, sole ventures, and communities)
• Preventative Health & Herbal Spas
• Political Environmentalism (left and right wing strategies, legislative and artistic strategies)
• Best skills to introduce to each age group (3-6, 7-9, 10-12, 13-15, 16-18, 19-21, young adults, parents, elders)
• Most effective teaching methods to use with each age group (didactic/wolf, questioning/coyote, imagining/fox, imitation/dog)
• Delivery of age appropriate stories (personal, european, african, persian, chinese, other eastern, indigenous)
• Influences of Nature on Spirituality (buddhist, christian, hindi, indigenous, jewish, muslim) including opportunities of retreats and quests, sweat lodges and fasts

Earth Skills Introduced
• Backpacking & Camping
• Land Mapping & Water Navigation (orienteering with and without modern aids)
• Sailing, Kayaking, Canoeing, Raft Making
• Rock Climbing & Alpine Mountaineering
• Wildlife Tracking & Animal Surveying
• Birding & Bird Language
• Naturalist Sketching & Journaling (using sit spots, drawing instruction, quick journaling strategies)
• Skills of the Ancient Scout
• Wild Edible Foraging & Preparation
• Primitive Cooking & Food Storage
• Medicinal Herb Collection & Preservation
• Emergency Shelter & Primitive Shelter
• Wet Fire Maintenance & Fire by Friction
• Flintknapping & Primitive Tool Making
• Bow & Arrow Making
• Primitive Fishing
• Natural Water Purification (seeps, filters, rock boiling, and locating natural springs)
• Bowls & Cordage Making
• Primitive Hunting
• Hide Tanning
• Natural Selection Forestry
• Sustainable Building & Permaculture
• Organic & Biodynamic Gardening
• Farm Animal Care & Cultivation
• Human Tracking
• Clay Harvesting, Molding & Firing
• Parfleching (carrying cases, drum making, sheaths and quivers with fur and tanned hide)
• Bioregional Ecosystems (old growth temperate rainforest, glaciated alpine meadow, intertidal and estuary, river and lake, wetland and bog, desert and sagebrush steppe, mixed pine and subalpine forest)
• Music and the Arts (flute making, drumming, songwriting, poetry, clay sculpting, natural paints, singing and pianos/guitars on hand)

Schedule & Tuition Breakdown

See our Calendar of courses for a visual perspective, take a look at Training Camp Weeks for descriptions of initial courses. International Students: The INS just added some extra hurdles, so please inquire as to the latest status on obtaining a visa for study with us.

Your tuition includes participation in all programs at Wolf Camp throughout the length of your training period. There are discounts given for previous relevant trainings you may have taken, and when additional family members register. You can also lower the price of your tuition by arriving at camp as early as May 12th to do work trade, with your minimum financial contribution bottoming out at $1,500. Remember, however, that 10 hrs/wk work trade is also required to live on campus in exchange for camping, rustic facilities, and shared meals.

Your Tuition: Apply by March 31st and the price will be $3,000.

• Administrative Mentoring fee of $1,500 is included in your tuition.
• June 13-15: Cooperative Intensives Orientation, with tentative trip to Lummi Indian Stommish Festival, is complimentary.
• June 16-20 Training Camp: Overview of Earth Skills & Permaculture or the Earth Skills Proficiency Challenge, depending on your experience. (This week represents $500 of your tuition.)
• June 21: Solstice Celebration is complimentary for cooperative intensive participants and alumni.
• June 22-28 Training Camp: Pedagogy of Permaculture & Earth Skills Education - Preparing for Summer. (This week represents $500 of your tuition.)
• June 28: Three Amongst the Wolves presentation by world-renown adventurist Helen Thayer, also author of Polar Dream and Walking the Gobi, is complimentary.
• June 29: You'll be assisting with the Wolf Camp Open House, Visiting Day, Work-A-Thon, and Barbecue.
• June 30 - July 4 Training Camp: Outdoor Mentoring, Risk Management, First Aid, Lifeguarding & CPR. (This week represents $500 of your tuition.)
• July 5-6: We'll all have some time off, and help facilitate the weekend stayover theme of Wildlife Tracking & Birding.
• July 6-12 You'll help facilitate these overnight youth camps: The Hidden Wilderness - Animal Tracks & Bird Voices or Tracking Endangered Species, Search & Rescue.
• July 12-13: You will either have a day off, or help facilitate the weekend stayover theme of Firemaking.
• July 13-19 You'll help facilitate these overnight youth camps: Survivors Side of the Mountain or Living with Primitive Food, Fire & Shelter and these kids day camps: Wild Chefs & Healers or Future Survivors Fun.
• July 19-20: You will either have a day off, or help facilitate the weekend stayover theme of Ethnobotany.
• July 20-26 You'll help facilitate and participate in these overnight youth camps: Herbal Medicine and the Seaside Spa or Sailing with Sealife - Marine Mammals, Fishing & Foraging from Kayaks.
• July 26-27: You will either have a day off, or help facilitate the weekend stayover theme of Arts (primitive crafts and the composition of poetry, painting, and music)
• July 27 - Aug 2 You'll help facilitate these overnight youth camps: Natural Artists & Musicians or The Stone Age Artisan and these kids day camps: The Crafty Artisan or Wildlife Tracking & Birding.
• August 2-3: You will either have a day off, or help facilitate the weekend stayover theme of 4x4 Essentials (preparations for backcountry travel)
• August 3-9 You'll help facilitate and participate in these overnight camps: The Alpine Quest - Navigating, Camping & Composing or the Ultimate Herbalist: Wisdom of the Alpine.
• August 9-10: You will either have a day off, or help facilitate the weekend stayover theme of Scouting (with unique schedule due to Stilliguamish River Festival)
August 10-16 You'll help facilitate these overnight youth camps: The Permaculture Activist - Pioneering the Future or Secrets of the Ancient Scout and these kids day camps: Games of the Forest Dweller or Old School Pioneers.
• August 16-17: You will either have a day off, or facilitate the weekend stayover theme of Maps (geographies of washington and scotland)

Optional Schedule Add-Ons:

• August 17-23 You can help facilitate and attend the following overnight youth camp: The GeoTRIP
• August 17-30 You can help facilitate and attend the following overnight youth camp for an additional fee of $2,000 for round-trip flight, room and board: Ultimate Tracker in Scotland.
• August 25-29 You can help facilitate and attend the following alumni group projects: Ultimate Survivalist: Harvesting Preparations, Primitive Test and Hunter Education Options.
• September 1-5 You can help facilitate and attend one of the following alumni group projects: Wild Harvesting or Archery Hunting.
• Sept 6 - Onwards: You can live at Wolf Camp in order to participate in one of the Fall-Spring Cooperative Intensives, studying Wolf Journey Tracking & Herbal Field Exercises, Pioneer Patch Projects, and/or Primitive Living Preparations, in exchange for 10 hrs/wk work trade.
• Sept 7-11, Sept 29 - Oct 3, Oct 20-24 You can help facilitate and attend any of the following cooperative classes (travel and materials not included) if space remains available: Wolf Journey Reflections, Wilderness Medicine & Mushrooms on Mondays, Herbal Gardening and Seashore Wildcrafting on Tuesdays, Preparing for the Stone Age - Processing Plants & Animals, Shelter Building and Trapping on Wednesdays, Search & Rescue plus Tracking the Pines, Alpines, Dunes & Canyonlands on Thursdays, Farming, Forestry & Appropriate Technology Design on Fridays.
• Sept 13-19 You can travel to the Rabbitstick Rendezvous with us at your own expense.
• September 20 You can help facilitate and attend our International Day of Peace & Equinox Bonfire, Medicine Lodge & Feast for alumni.
• October 5-11 You can travel to the Falling Leaves Rendezvous with us at your own expense.
• October 13-17 You can help facilitate and attend the following alumni group project at your own travel expense: Hunting & Harvesting the Dry Side.
• October 17-19 You can travel to the Okanogan Family Barter Faire or the International Tracking Symposium with us at your own expense.
• October 25-26 You can help facilitate and attend our 12th Annual Harvest Party for alumni, friends and family.
• Nov 3-7 You can help facilitate and attend the following alumni group project: Pioneer & Primitive Living Experiences.

Recreational Administration Internship History:

2005 was the pilot year of our recreational management and administration internship program, and was developed by John Volk, our first participant. He called up in the spring and asked if he could come here and complete his rec admin internship requirement for graduating from college since he already has wilderness survival experience and wanted to participate in our programs at the same time as doing his internship.

Camp instructor Lorien MacAuley also helped to develop the administrative internship in 2005-06 after completing her apprenticeship, and then Kim Allen, a parent of two campers and a member of the WOLF Foundation board of directors, came on board as our office manager in 2006-07. Now we feel ready to open up the Recreational Administration Internship to 2-3 participants in 2008 in preparation for an expected large increase in enrollment.

Here's what Lorien had to say about working with Chris: Nowhere else could I have had this experience but at Wolf Camp. It's truly an amazing thing to learn earth skills in this beautiful place surrounding Woods Lake, because you are living in nature and at the same time, learning how to relate to it in a healthy, natural way, as our ancestors did since the dawn of humanity. Wolf Camp is a place where these ideals come to life in a flowing system where you are part of wild beauty. By learning not only survival skills but also how to teach them, I feel I am better prepared for the awesome challenge we face of saving the planet. Chris is a fantastic teacher, and by learning his tricks and ideas, you're learning from the best. I also believe his direction is what made my year so life-changing and personally enriching, as he is a great counselor and promotes an extremely therapeutic and emotionally safe environment.

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.

Application Process for the Recreational Administration Internship

This cooperative intensive program requires a lengthy application process to ensure that this is the right choice for you, and that you are the right choice for us. To apply, first call Chris Chisholm at 360-799-1997 or email us with questions.

Your application should contain:

• Completed and signed registration form.
• 3 year driving record with a copy of your current driver's license.
• Police background check
• Copies of all past relevant certifications you have received, particularly in Wilderness Medicine and water-related rescue training. If you do not have a recent 24 class-hour or longer Wilderness First Aid training, then you will need to show that you have registered for such an upcoming course (regular first aid is not sufficient).
• Your most recent educational transcripts. If you do not have a high school diploma, then you will need to schedule a date for taking the GED exam.
• A cover letter detailing your passion as an outdoor educator or earth skills specialist, and your intention to complete this apprenticeship opportunity.
• A description of any training, skills or experience you have in teaching, coordinating and guiding outdoor educational activities.
• A description of any previous environmental education you have received, including academic work, mentoring during your childhood, personal dirt time, and trainings at other earth skills schools.
• A letter of recommendation from a recent employer, and a letter of recommendation from a recent teacher.
• $1,500 deposit, which will be refunded (only) if your application is not accepted and you do not wish to attend any of the scheduled training courses.
• Your balance will be due on June 15th. Please request an exact price quote from Chris on what your costs will total, and after your application is accepted, he will include that on your apprenticeship contract. If at any time you decide against completing the apprenticeship after applying, you will receive a full credit (not a refund) toward the cost of any Wolf Camp programs you wish to attend in the coming year for which you meet the prerequisites. In addition, like all students being required to follow our behavioral agreements, our policy is that if Chris asks you to leave Wolf Camp for breaking the agreements and not being able to prove that you won't break them again, you will receive no refund or credit for any payments you have made. Please ask Chris to clarify this policy if you need a better sense of its context. Thanks!
• After being accepted, you will need to review our web site to understand Wolf Camp offerings and its full schedule, plus read the Wolf Journey Handbook for Students & Teachers which we will send you before arriving.

Word to the Wise: All those who have kept their applications concise and focused have been accepted without exception. We generally don't get applications from people not eligible because the very detailed description of the program on this page has turned out to be an excellent filter. In other words, you decide if this program is what you most need in your life next year. Those who wrote rambling essays or thought we weren't completely serious about our drug policy, for instance, weren't successful. Suggestions for your biography include any previous training, skills or experience in teaching (including age groups and a description of knowledge of their needs), a list of any nature awareness and survival skills you know and your level of study with them, and a description of your method of continuing education in these skills.

Potential for future work will depend on enrollment in camps, the number and size of school contracts that become available, your progress on improving your skills, the number of camps for which you assisted in the past, your previous education and work experience, and our assessment of your skills. Remember, this is an internship designed for people who really want to work with students of all ages. Beyond the training period, you will be learning the skills vicariously while on the job, and ultimately, it is up to you to practice on your own during the off-season to become accomplished in these skills, although you may enroll in any of our fall-spring Cooperative Intensives as well. During the summer, the needs of our youth campers will be our focus. If you simply want to learn the skills instead of spending time assisting children this summer and teaching (here or elsewhere) in the future, we encourage you to consider another program.

Responsibilities at Camp

The most important behavioral expectations while enrolled in the apprenticeship programs include: pouring your greatest effort into learning these earth skills and administrative skills; maintaining professional hygiene (including appearance and smell of body, hair and clothes) and behavior (including the very same agreements which youth campers must uphold during camps and contracts guaranteeing the physical and emotional safety of all participants - see youth camp pages to read these agreements - obvious exceptions include provisions for married persons, for example) throughout the summer youth camp season; remaining free of drugs (including alcohol, tobacco, and illicits) during the youth camp season; never harboring any illegal items, people or behavior on or in the vicinity of Wolf Camp; never having participated in child abuse or workplace sexual misconduct, nor having any impulse to do so; not unfairly discriminating against anyone based on color, ethnicity, origin, sex, sexual orientation, religious preference, or handicap; and performing in a professional, safe manner to help make Wolf Camp the most excellent outdoor educational program possible.

Living on campus also means sharing responsibility for maintenance of all common facilities as well as your own shelter space (usually tent under tarp in the summer, or in a yurt or cabin in the fall-spring) just like if you were renting a house elsewhere and needing to spend time cleaning, etc. However, it is much more efficient to live in a community like this where you are taking turns cooking, cleaning, recycling, shopping, organizing supplies, caretaking farm animals, etc., , rather than having to do all that on your own, and thereby leaving more time for your studies. Blog entries, making foods from scratch, maintenance checks and first aid drills can also take up some time, and they are important aspects of your learning program. However, many community living projects are counted toward work-trade depending on your prior skill level, such as gardening, mechanical repairs, seasonal grounds maintenance, building improvements, etc., as prioritized by your program facilitator.

I’m looking forward to receiving your application, and helping us celebrate our wonderful camp location on Woods Lake. It’s gorgeous, full of trout, surrounded by lush forests, and backed up against state land and vast wilderness. We’re just 30 minutes from Puget Sound in one direction, and the Cascade Mountains in the other. We’re also just 90 minutes from sagebrush country. How could it get any better? With you joining us! There is so much to gain and to give with this program - I'm looking forward to sharing a wonderful time together.

Until then! - Chris Chisholm

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.

SITE MAP This site is updated often, so be sure to tell us if you find a missing link, erroneous information or other problem. Thanks!