Adam Wicks-Arshack

About Adam's Community Action Project (CAP)

I am working with my local and very small school district to develop and implement an environmental education program. The focus of this initiative is to enhance our school’s connection to place, the ecosystem, and the community. And, the school owns a five-acre property, adjacent to a forested county park with soon-to-be ADA accessible trails. I am collaborating with the school’s administration to transform this property into an outdoor classroom. My community action project is two fold: 1) develop and implement an interdisciplinary place-based ecology curriculum for our elementary/middle school that is focused on the connection of salmon, forests and people; and (2) plan, fundraise, and build an outdoor classroom to support outdoor learning opportunities for our school and eventually regional/watershed neighboring school districts. This Community Action Project will be successful because of intentional and diverse relationships built on trust and a shared commitment to public education and outdoor learning that prioritizes students’ exploration of their connections to place and the environment.

About Adam

I live along the Skykomish River surrounded by the Cascade mountains. I have a small family and we are committed to our community and the valley we call home. I am an educator, lawyer, researcher and a wilderness river guide. I love to travel by boat, foot or bike. I have built 15+ canoes with schools and community groups. I value interdisciplinary learning and believe environmental education and outdoor learning are antidotes to the pitfalls of the technology takeover, AI, and hyper-specialization that are influencing and consuming our education system.

More About Me

What is your favorite memory of being in nature? 
Just last week I was with my wife and two toddlers walking along the river in our backyard  when a big black bear walked out of the woods across the river from us. We all had a special moment with the bear, the salmon, the river and truly felt connected to this place we call home

What is one fun fact people should know about you? 
In 2013, I (and many students, friends, and Columbia River Basin citizens) paddled over 1,500 miles upriver from the Pacific Ocean near Astoria, Oregon to the source of the Columbia River (and then down the Kootenai River) in the Canadian Rockies. We traveled in five dugout canoes that were carved by Indigenous youth. These five canoes were carved in honor of the five species of salmon that are blocked by dams from reaching their ancestral spawning grounds of the Upper Columbia River. Incredibly, in 2019 the Tribes reintroduced salmon above the blocked areas for ceremonial and experimental purpose.

If you could ask your future self one question, what would it be?  
When you had to make difficult decisions, did you listen to and were you guided by your heart?