WILD CASCARA
NATURALIST SCHOOL
Unstructured
Flow of LEARNING
Wild Cascara creates a space for students to learn at their own pace, both academically and emotionally. Autonomy and support lead to thriving and interdependence. Unstructured time encourages the absorption of learning, peer problem-solving, risk-taking, and natural learning. We prioritize preparing students, not just protecting them. Discovering strengths and growth edges prepares students intrinsically for the world.
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Learn more about unstructured learning here: Impacts of Unstructured Nature Play
Immersion in NATURE
Outdoor learning offers much more than just clean air and natural light. It provides hands-on, experiential education that stimulates imaginative play, creativity, hand-eye coordination, balance, physical strength, sensory exploration, and mental clarity.
Being in nature is our natural state, and when we reconnect with the Earth, we learn to move slowly and mindfully, in harmony with the rhythms and cycles of the natural world. Slowing down and spending time outdoors enhances student learning naturally.
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Learn more about Nature Immersion here:
PLACE-BASED Education & INQUIRY-BASED Learning
Place-based education uses the local community and environment to teach subjects like language arts, math, science, and social studies. It encourages hands-on learning to increase achievement and connect students to their community. Inquiry-based learning focuses on students asking questions, and problem-solving to promote understanding and a love of learning. Both approaches are inspired by David Sobel's "Place-based Education: Connecting Classrooms & Communities." They emphasize student-centered learning, hands-on experiences, and problem-solving to help students understand their environment and become engaged citizens.
RISK-taking environment & authentic PLAY
Creating a secure environment where children can take risks enhances their confidence and independence. Research indicates that students who experience natural risk-taking are more likely to challenge themselves later in life, with healthy boundaries and a strong sense of self-worth. In supportive environments, students learn their limits and potential based on intrinsic values, not external pressures. Play helps students collaborate and problem-solve on a peer level, allowing the brain to process information at a more natural pace. Emphasizing play at all ages supports mental rest and enhances learning.
What is an OUTDOOR NATURALIST school?
At Wild Cascara, we believe modern culture has distanced us from our innate connection with the land. As settlers on Turtle Island, we must acknowledge and repair our relationship with the history of this place, and we believe that by healing the land, we can also heal ourselves.
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Through outdoor education, we can connect with the diverse voices of plants, animals, and waters that require our attention. Walking on soil instead of pavement, being surrounded by trees, and matching our pace with the rhythm of the Earth all have positive impacts on our bodies and minds. By putting our hands in the dirt, growing our own food, and expanding our minds, we can escape from a system that values everything above life itself.
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Early education is essential in raising the next generation of land stewards who will care for our cities, air, and waters. By instilling a deep understanding of the Earth's needs at a young age, we can lead simpler lives that are more in harmony with nature.
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Benefits of OUTDOOR learning
WILD CASCARA Naturalist School's
team of EDUCATORS
At Wild Cascara, Teacher Juniper leads a team of dedicated individuals who play an integral role in weaving and creating our programs. We believe in a collective approach rather than a top-down administration, where everyone's input and contributions are valued. While you may see or hear from some of our team members on a regular basis, others work tirelessly behind the scenes, serving as caring supporters for our school.
Juniper Birch
Founder & Teacher
Juniper Post, founder and lead teacher of Wild Cascara Naturalist School brings extensive experience from both public and private education sectors in Oregon. Her teaching philosophy prioritizes Indigenous ways of knowing and socially just practices, with a strong emphasis on land-based knowledge. Juniper values plant life and supports local food sovereignty while fostering compassionate communication.
Growing up in the Central Valley of California at the base of the Eastern Sierra Nevadas, Juniper's earliest memories include sitting on the earth surrounded by books and nature. She acknowledges the privilege of being exposed to the magic of the Giant Sequoia trees as her first tree kin by her parents. As a single mother of two young men, Juniper is continually growing in her role as a mother and educator.
Education:
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CedarSong Way Instructional Educator - in progress
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Masters in Curriculum and Design, with an endorsement in Reading | Portland State University
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Bachelors in English Language Arts | Cal State Fullerton
Certifications:
Juniper has completed training with Colette Gardnier at the Golden Web Mystery school, as well as courses with Sharon Blackie, Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Michale Meade, and Lindsay Mack. She is also certified in first aid and CPR.
BETH MADISON
Part-Time Administrator & Board Member
Beth Madison is a retired middle school principal and Spanish teacher and is Wild Cascara's grandma (and has six grandkids of her own). A mobile nomad, Beth loves rustic living, the great outdoors, and running around the nation. She volunteers as the treasurer of two local non-profits that work to gain inclusion for children with disabilities. You may see her in the woods with clippers or a shovel because she is always up to something. Beth's support of Wild Cascara includes administration and anything else requested by Teacher Juniper.
Education:
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BA/BS Home Economics Education, Oregon State University, 1987
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BA, Spanish, Oregon State University, 1987
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MA, Spanish, University of Oregon, 1991
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MSDEPM, Education Administration, University of Oregon, 1995
TRINITY CAPILI
Part-time Administration
Trinity Capili is a movement therapist, teacher, and pleasure enthusiast here to inspire a joyful existence and unconditional love for/through/with the human body.
​Her experience is wrapped in two decades of field work in movement, yoga, and self-awareness practices. It's Trinity's life work to encouraging real conversations between people and their own parts. She believes conscious embodiment is a choice and daily commitment. ​Trinity teaches body-positive meditations, holistic ergonomics, and facilitates embodiment workshops for young people, business leaders and educators. She is a teacher and demonstrator of the movement technique, The Thinking Body- The Feeling Mind®. Trinity offers one-on-one coaching for those seeking a connection or deeper conversation with their bodies.
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Trinity created Creaturepace® as a resource to help bodies be who they are and do what they love for longer.
SUE BURNS
Board Member
Sue Burns (Portland, OR) is a feminist, witch, writer, herbalist, mother. She is renewed in bodies of water, puts salt in her coffee, and looks for magick everywhere. Sue Burns has worked with words and women her whole life. This has led into circles of children, nature, and activism. She was also a high school teacher, a bookstore manager, and now works to publish We’Moon. As such, she is an asset to the advisory board of Wild Cascara Naturalist School. Her daughter attended for 2 school years and many summers and now she is honored to advise Juniper on the school guidebook and wherever else she may be helpful.
TIM MAKARCHECK
Land Owner & Land Steward
Tim Makarcheck has lived on the land for eight years. His passion is caring for the health and wellness of the native Oaks on the land and learning ways to restore the property for the benefit of the inhabitants at Cascara Forest Farms. His first five years were spent cleaning up trash and blackberries as the land was abandoned for 45 years. He has set the groundwork for creating a space that welcomes the native flora, fauna, animals, and insects back to their habitat. A minimalist with a passion for creating with his hands, naturescaping, and maintaining a small footprint in all ways possible. Loves him his dogs at the end of the day and loves long walks amongst the lake basins of the Eastern Sierra Nevadas.
Education & Experience:
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Bachelors in Kinesiology, Emphasis on Health Education; Western Oregon University, 2005
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Canby Youth Conservation Core Program Director, Canby High School, 2007