What's Your Nature?

Become a Nature Up North explorer to share your encounters with wild things and wild places in New York's North Country. Post your wildlife sightings, landscape shots, photos from your outings, and even your organization's events!

In the Schools - Nature Up North in North Country Classrooms

The Benefits of Place Based Learning in Environmental Education and Outdoor Education

By Roisin Creedon-Carey on
Nestled in the corner of St. Lawrence county, St. Lawrence University students participating in the Adirondack Semester can be found waking up in their yurts to misty mornings in a forest of snow-dusted eastern hemlocks. Every Fall, a handful of college students live in Childwold, New York to better understand the ecology and land of the North Country. My sophomore year St. Lawrence, I was a…
Students outside looking in container of water at aquatic life , Teachers discussing water sampling lesson by river

Teacher Workshop August 9th & 10th - Cancelled

By Kayla Edmunds on
Are you a St. Lawrence County teacher interested in incorporating more nature-based learning into your lessons? Do you want to increase opportunities for integrating outdoor learning with STEM content? We're excited to bring back our annual summer teacher workshop in two parts!  This first of our two-part workshop is focused on incorporating nature-based STEM learning into classroom curriculum. …
5 people standing in a circle in front of a river all holding pieces of paper and looking at a clear vial of water , 3 people, one man pointing up into the trees, two women looking in that direction

Climate Action in the North Country Ramping Up

By Alex Calk on
On Friday, December 6th, a group of people sang together in harmony in the Canton Park.  We were bundled up in coats, hats, and gloves as icy wind and snow swept through town. The lyrics, I’m Dreaming of a Green Christmas, joined us for a singular purpose - climate activism. As cars sped by and people passed with children, we raised our voices in song. The goal of all 50 people present, old and…

Local Climate Vigils Expand to Potsdam

By Alex Calk on
Our next Monthly Climate Action Vigil is this Friday, December 6th, from 4-5 in Canton. It is cold, so wear warm clothes!  At our November vigil, we were joined by candidate for U.S. Congress, Tedra Cobb.  Tedra has since garnered national attention to her campaign and raised over 1 million dollars. Tedra also spoke on the SLU campus on November 13th to more than 50 students about the Climate…

SLU Students Host Conversation after Oct. 4th Climate Vigil

By Alex Calk on
*to learn about the history of the Monthly Climate Action Vigil, started by Little River Community School high school student Alex Calk with support from North Country 350 Alliance, read Alex’s October 3rd, 2019 ‘In the Schools’ blog post.   I'm currently a senior at Little River Community School in Canton and since last March I've been helping to organize the Monthly Climate Action Vigil.  On…

The Story Behind the Monthly Climate Action Vigil in Canton

By Alex Calk on
Once a month, a group of people stand on the corner of the local park, a handmade sign reading “Monthly Climate Action Vigil, Join Us!” erected behind them. People as young as 12 and as old as 86 hold signs or flags protesting the climate crisis. Some give speeches, some lead chants. Others interact with people walking down the street, encouraging them to get involved in climate action. But our…

Registration Open! Teacher Workshop, July 30-31

By Emlyn Crocker on
This workshop has passed. To learn about upcoming workshops or to inquire about working with Nature Up North as an educator, please contact us at info@natureupnorth.org. Visit www.natureupnorth.org/educator-resources to explore our teacher resources.   Are you a St. Lawrence County teacher interested in incorporating more nature-based learning into your lessons? Do you want to increase…

Nature Up North visits St. Lawrence - Lewis BOCES Tech Camp!

By Erika Barthelmess on
The Nature Up North team was delighted to be able to present at the annual Tech Camp presented by the Model Schools team. Our goal was to provide an overview of the resources we have at Nature Up North to support environmental learning in K-12 classrooms.  We featured two of our citizen science projects, Monitor My Maple and North Country Wild, and also looked over a variety of other resources…

Teachers Get Outside the Classroom

A small crowd assembles with various instruments, test sets and other equipment in preparation for the lab assignment. Carefully they organize ampules, sample nets and data sheets. These citizen scientists are sampling the waters for invertebrate animals, dissolved oxygen levels, pH (acidity) and phosphorus and nitrogen levels. This is not an indoor lab, but right on the Grasse River in Canton.…

Trees and Streams: Citizen Science in the Schools

By Emlyn Crocker on
A student shouts— “This one! This one’s ours!” and runs back for a measuring tape. She and her partner have found their assigned maple tree on the school lawn, and are about to record seasonal observations for the first of many weeks this fall. The student, a 7th grader at Norwood-Norfolk Middle School, is participating in Monitor My Maple - one of several citizen science initiatives at Nature Up…