July 9th E-Newsletter

Programs

A blue background with an animated outline of a bird

Wenatchee Bird Walk

TOMORROW, July 10th

8:00AM-10:00AM

Enjoy a guided 1-mile bird walk with knowledgeable WRI staff along the Columbia River at an easygoing pace. Meet near the bathrooms at Walla Walla Point Park's north parking lot. This is a free event with no registration. Just show up and get ready to bird!

Bird Here

A silhouette of a man on a Stand Up Paddle Board on the Wenatchee River with the morning fog close to the water

River Discovery Tour

Friday, July 11th OR

Friday, July 18th

5:00PM-7:30PM

Explore the Wenatchee River on this relaxing paddle with WRI and the Leavenworth Outdoor Center. This guided trip will introduce you to the plants and animals of our diverse river area. Expect a great introduction to river travel and nature observation along your float. Paddleboard or kayak, and life preserver rental are included with registration. Only 3 spots left on both tours!

Float Here

A student with blond hair painting with lichen as a medium

Paint and Stroll

TOMORROW, July 10th,

Friday, July 11th,

Friday, July 18th,

and more!

1:30PM - 2:30PM

Get inspired by the amazing artists at the Village Art in the Park, then join us for a short walk down to the river and take some creative time for yourself. This free program is great for children and adults. Simple art supplies are provided. No registration required – just show up ready to create. Click the button below for a full list of dates throughout the summer!

Paint Here

Step Into Nature

Tuesday, July 15th and/or

Tuesday, July 22nd

5:00PM-6:00PM

Do you want to take your family hiking or camping but feel unsure where to start? Experts from WRI are here to help! The July 15th session will be indoors at the Wenatchee Public Library, with information for grown-ups and interactive games for kids. On July 22nd, meet at Kenzie's Landing (2105 Maiden Lane) for a guided hike. Be ready to look for quail, swallows, desert plants, and explore the hidden beauty of summer in the Sage Hills. Join us for one or both!

Step Into Nature Here

A graphic with a photo of a rocky surface on a mountain and text

Lake Chelan Mountain Citizen Science Surveys

July 18th-20th

Volunteer with WDFW biologists and backpack a route near Lake Chelan to help survey Mountain Goats and gather data. Learn more details and RSVP at the button below!

Survey Here

A graphic with mountains with the sun setting behind them and a group of people camping and roasting marshmallows

Save the Date:

4th annual Sunset & S'mores

Wednesday, October 1st

Come gather with us at WRI for an evening of food, drinks, and s'more fun! Early bird registration will open soon, but for now, mark your calendars! We hope to see you there.

Youth Programs

Summer is officially here, and that means WRI's Summer Camps have officially begun! We are excited to share some highlights with you throughout the summer. Read below for summer fun!

Three students observing an elk at Nature's Window

Four students learning from James Munly about the trails at Ski Hill

Explorer Camp with Wenatchee School District

Wenatchee River Institute partnered with Newbery, and Lewis and Clark Elementary Schools in Wenatchee to offer a three-day summer camp for 50 students! Each day, they embarked on a new adventure at a new location. On their first day, they came to the WRI campus to explore the trails, do some inflatable archery, and team building. Indigenous educator, Amanda Keewatinawin, taught campers about her culture and led a beading project. On their second day, they went to Leavenworth Ski Hill to explore the trails there and do some trail stewardship with James Munly from Evergreen Mountain Bike Alliance and Leavenworth Winter Sports Club. Finally, they went to Lake Chelan State Park to explore the area and visited Nature’s Window in Chelan. Special thanks to Shannon Kollmeyer for opening the museum just for these students, and guiding them to learn more about conservation and animals!

A group of middle schoolers in their PFDs by the river smiling for the camera

Middle School Adventure Camp

(Entering grades 7-9)

Middle schoolers embarked on four days of adventure! Their field trips included hiking to Hidden Lake and visiting Lake Wenatchee State Park, participating in a challenge course at Tierra Learning Center (facilitated by Seth Wendzel with WSU Chelan/Douglas County Extension and 4-H), indoor rock climbing at Riverfront Rock Gym, and paddle boarding the Wenatchee River with Leavenworth Outdoor Center. Throughout all of these adventures, they learned how to work together as a team – and had fun while doing it!

Three young girls holding their cups with water and salmon fry before they release them in the river

Cool Critters Camp

(Entering grades 1-3)

Campers had four themed days of fun at WRI! On their first day, they learned about bugs and created a dragonfly art piece. Next, they learned about birds and went on a bird walk with binoculars along the river. Then they learned about bears! They made bear headbands and went on a bear tracking adventure where they found bear prints and some bear scat (aka a smushed up Clif bar!). Finally, they went to the Leavenworth National Fish Hatchery on their last day to tour their facility, release some of the salmon fry that have been at WRI, and learn more about salmon and native plants.

A high school student volunteering with Creativity Camp last summer

Middle and High School Student Volunteer Opportunity

WRI is piloting a middle and high school volunteer opportunity this summer to help with WRI's summer camps. There is an opportunity for one student volunteer to join us for each of the following camps:

*Only high school age volunteers can volunteer for grades 4-6 camps

Student volunteers will assist WRI staff in education activities. Volunteer time would be from 9:30am-3:30pm each day, and would need to commit to help the full week of their chosen camp. Please note that the student will need to attend a training on Wednesday, July 16th from 3:30PM-4:30PM.

If you or your student is interested in volunteering, please email Randee with their interest by Sunday, July 13th.

Need more summer camps for your kiddos?

WRI's summer camps may be full for the summer, but our friends at Icicle Creek Center for the Arts still have space in their camps for campers entering grades 1-12! Check out some of their offerings here.

Place

Welcome to the Team, Angela!

We are so excited to welcome Angela Crampton to the WRI Team as Outreach Coordinator! Angela brings a dynamic blend of outdoor industry experience, nonprofit leadership, and storytelling expertise to her work. Originally from Pennsylvania, Angela grew up camping with her family—an early introduction to the outdoors that shaped both her personal life and professional path. Angela moved to Washington in 2012, where she fell in love with the Cascade Mountains. She enjoys camping, skiing, hiking, fly fishing, climbing, photography, reading, and knitting. Outdoor education and accessibility are deeply rooted in her values, especially as she looks toward a future where more generations grow up loving and protecting the outdoors. We look forward to you meeting her!

A native tiger swallowtail butterfly visiting a Penstemon on the WRI campus

Land Steward Observations

Summer is in full swing! Most people take this season as a time to enjoy the hot weather, the rivers and lakes, and to relax. But for me, summer means an endless procession of flowers and butterflies! The gardens around WRI are popping with dozens of different flower species and even more pollinators. While the butterflies are the most obvious and graceful, taking the time to look closer for some of our smaller pollinators can lead to some very cute discoveries. We have a multitude of native bumblebees, and small native bees, wasps, beetles, and flies – some with some pretty impressive color patterns that come close to rivaling the beauty of butterflies. While I am enamored with all plants, the native plants are really where it’s at. A genus of plant that is a pollinator powerhouse is the Penstemon. These plants are also known as “beardtongues” due to the hairy stamen inside the open “mouth “ of the flower tube. Penstemon species around here tend to be some shade of purple (but can range from hot pink to almost blue as well). One of the earlier blooming ones is Penstemon fruticosus – the bush penstemon. Our native tiger swallowtail butterflies go absolutely nuts on the nectar produced by this plant, as well as the spreading dogbane that flowers all around it. Get out there and meet some new pollinators friends!

Written by Tiffa Theden, WRI's Land Steward

Thank you to our donors from the past 2 weeks!

Calla and Peter Crowley

Patricia and Tom Freeburg in honor of Katrina Freeburg

Martin Straub and Diane Blake

Lynn Dickinson - Sustaining

Karen and Curt Haire - Sustaining

Nelson Miller

Steve and Betsy Backstrom in honor of Arne Backstrom - Sustaining

Gro Buer and Bruce Williams - Sustaining

Laura and Greg Reichlin - Sustaining

Mall Boyd - Sustaining