Late spring in the North Country sees the welcome of new goslings, cubs, pups, kits, chicks and fawns and this year at Nature Up North, interns! For Summer 2013 two St. Lawrence students, Jack Holby and David Pynchon, will join the program and help kick off the first season of Nature Up North programming.

Jack is from Upper Black Eddy, PA and is an outdoor recreation enthusiast. He is the vice president of SLU’s outing club and a Hadwen Guide for St. Lawrence University’s Outing Program. Jack is excited to share some of his favorites North Country spots and tricks to tackling the adventure park in our backyards.

David did not have to venture far from home to join the team.  He is from Canton, NY and hopes to use his years of hiking around the area to show people what an amazing ecosystem we have right outside our doors.  David has worked as a canoe trip leader in the Adirondack Park and spent last fall living in a yurt on the banks of Massewepie Lake.

Nature Up North’s first summer will be packed with events and activities for North Country Explorers of all ages and experience levels.  As more and more of us acquire TVs bigger than our windows and internet faster than sound it becomes easier for us to dismiss a day outdoors, maybe slightly overcast or a bit too warm, in favor of a few episodes of our favorite show or a couple hours of web browsing.  We reason that the St. Lawrence River is too far of a drive and the mountains are too much to conquer for today.  What we forget is the amazing place that we have here in the North Country.  St. Lawrence County alone is home to over thirty state forests, a handful of state parks, and countless other areas boasting unique aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, as well as beautiful scenery that we easily overlook in our day-to-day routines.

This summer, coupled with the launch of our website, Nature Up North will also be engaging in real-time with North Country locals through an array of programs held all over the region, from Canton and Potsdam to Massena and Ogdensburg and everywhere in between.  Night hikes will be held every two weeks at different locations to help engage participants in using their five senses to explore the nighttime and learn about nocturnal critters that have amazing adaptations to live in the dark. Every two weeks there will also be a community campfire held by the Little River Bridge in Canton at St. Lawrence’s Wachtmeister Field Station.   The campfires will be for friends of all ages and will include entertainment from local folk singers, storytellers, and back country cooking experts.

Along with the bi-weekly activities, Nature Up North will also be offering one-time workshops with a variety of themes.  Plans for workshops in canoe paddling skills, dendrology (tree study!), nighttime photography, macro-invertebrates, astronomy, beginner fishing skills, orienteering, and wilderness survival skills are all in the works!  Programs will be led by Nature Up North staff and are free to the public and open to explorers of all ages (unless otherwise noted).

Come get your nature on and join us this summer for any or all of the events we have planned!