Recent teacher outings Archives

Recent DSE teacher training classes & expeditions

Discovery began offering recertification classes for teachers within a few years of our founding, in the early 1990s. Place-based materials from these pre-digital workshops can be found in SCHOOLS>Schools of Áak’w & T’aakú Aaní, and more-generic subject-based materials (eg Birds, Geology) are in SCHOOLS>Nature near the schools: thematic workshops.

Teachers visited the ‘candelabra tree’ in Kanak‘aa, skinny (Seymour Canal) during our June, 2017 expedition.

For a decade or so into the new millenium, DSE offerings for teachers lapsed, then were revived in the form of expeditionary outings, led first by Icy Strait naturalists Bob Christensen and Hank Lentfer. Then, in 2016, Steve Merli and I began leading them again, this time with Discovery naturalist Kelly Sorensen.

2016: Hobbit Hole

This gathering was on invitation from the Inian Island Institute, now the Tidelands Institute. I had never been to Dakáa Xoo, among the sleeping man, and jumped at the chance to see this fabled place. My 56-page journal/course manual summarizes its natural and cultural history.

2017: Kanak‘aa

With help from ABAK Above & beyond Alaska, Discovery guided teachers on Xutsnoowú. Steve and I, with help from DSE naturalist-guide Maia Wolfe, ‘revived’ a tradition of bear-focused kayak-based classes begun by longtime Discovery supporter John Neary, back when he was a wilderness ranger on this island. My 68-page scoping document & journal chronicles this adventure.

For perhaps understandable reasons, it’s always been fairly easy for Discovery to fill teacher expeditions to exciting destinations like Pack Creek and Hobbit Hole. But teachers can’t bring classes to such remote locations. More recent outings have focused closer to Discovery’s daily ‘unroofed auditorium,’ the fascinating wildlands in walking and easy driving distances from local schools.

2018: Kaalahéenak’u & Áak’w Táak (Outer Point-&-Valley)

Transitioning to local, non-expeditionary teacher workshops, we launched a series emphasizing landforms, habitats and cultural history of favorite hiking destinations accessible from on CBJ roads. Although themes—geology, succession, settlement patterns, etc—were consistent year to year, locations change, so teachers can enroll in successive years without fear of redundancy. In this inaugural year, we paired a coastal site on Sayéik (D-word Island) with an ‘interior site,’ Áak’w Táak (M-word Valley)

2019: Kaxdigoowu Héen & Eeyák’w (Montana-Amalga)

Continuing the landforms and habitats focus, we featured another coastal-&-inland pair: Eeyák’w (Amalga meadows/Peterson) and Kaxdigoowu Héen (Montana Creek). My journals for 2018 and 2019 are incomplete, but do contain many useful maps and notes, and can be shared on request.

2020: Covid hiatus; Sealaska conferences

At Discovery, unable to offer our standard outdoor get-togethers, we felt that adding one more zoom conference to teachers’ lives was not in the cards. However, we’ve been deeply impressed with Sealaska’s successes extending teacher workshops and conferences into the digital realm, and have done our best to bring natural history expertise into these culturally-focused seminars.

2021: Places flat and steep

Finally, by early summer, 2021, Discovery naturalists felt safe convening unmasked (vaccinated!) groups outside. As followers of Goatlandia are by now aware, much of my energy since October has been directed to the very steep slopes where mountain goats winter. Planning for this year’s outings, Steve, Kelly and I decided to contrast the ecology of extremely flat estuaries with the vertical realms of Janwú. My 60-page scoping/journal pdf covers these memorable 4 days.

2022: Fish Creek delta & Eaglecrest

Partly in support of community discussion around CBJ’s Fish Creek Park, we selected this watershed for the summer-2022 Teacher outings. Discovery naturalist Bess Crandell took over this year from Kelly Sorensen as Instructor-of-record. As in 2021, our sessions were entirely outside, alternating between low (delta) and high (Eaglecrest) destinations, summarized in my 46-page scoping/journal pdf.

2023: Natural & cultural history of Goatlandia

June 1st is the average date of birth for Jánwu, mountain goat. It’s also when we typically offer the teacher outings. Dang! That’s crazy-making for an Oreamnos obsessive like me. Solution? Make the class about goats, duh! Discovery teamed with weaver Neech.yanagút Yéil—Laine Rinehart, Teeyhíttaan for the human connections to this amazing animal.Text for this outdoor seminar was the ultra-geeky Goatlandia 2024 calendar.

2024: The outdoor kitchen: Where’s the food?

Our subtitle: How habitats feed the animals of Lingít Aaní. Animals of course includes us. So this year we’re teaming with Tlingit traditional foods specialist Vivian Yéilkʼ Mork. With a focus on food, we explore several ‘foody’ habitats through the lens of the animals who live or visit there. I’m setting up a content page for the seminar where we can place links to helpful documents and media.

Teachers at Fish Creek, 2022

Teachers’ outings 2021

Teachers’ outings, 2021

Teachers at Dakáa Xoo (Inian Islands).

Teachers at Kanak’aa (Seymour Canal)

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