Each year the Birch Creek Center operates, supports, or hosts numerous and various programs. From 1st graders discovering how trees grow so tall to grandparents fly-fishing with their grandchildren, the Birch Creek Center is where explorations as well as memories are made. Click on a program link to learn more about specific programs.
Each spring and fall, the Birch Creek Center hosts and helps to teach hundreds of school children from western Montana to learn about the ecology of streams, ponds, forests, rangeland, geology, and night-time life.
In 1993, the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest and the University of Montana-Western formed a partnership to enhance the K-12 environmental education opportunities at the Center. Through this partnership, a successful environmental education program, called Pioneering Discoveries has been developed at the Birch Creek Center for fifth through eighth grade students. Pioneering Discoveries provides elementary school teachers with lesson plans for conducting experiential, interdisciplinary studies of the native ecosystems at Birch Creek.
Students discovering the forest in a not-so usual way
Students at the Annual Rural and Home School Day are introduced to the trees around Birch Creek by Forest Service personnel
Pioneering Discoveries utilizes the natural resources on site as a basis for learning about the environment. It provides a blueprint for conducting specialized studies for ponds, stream and riparian areas, forest, rangeland, nightlife, and geology. The curriculum guides students through a learning progression from discovery to investigation, data collection to analysis, and finally into application, or action, as a result of the learning experience. Furthermore, it leads pre- and post-field activities to prepare and extend the field experience into the classroom.
Through assistance from the Community Youth Initiative, U.S. Forest Service, and Americorps, an extensive low ropes course was added to the Birch Creek Center in 1999. The Low Ropes Course is used to develop team-building skills and to foster self-confidence. Groups are taken through the low ropes course by the Center's trained facilitators. Courses range from 3-8 hours depending on the focus and goals of the group. Groups utilizing the course are quite diverse. Some previous groups have included preschool teacher training groups, school groups, Montana Youth Challenge, and university freshman orientation.
Various workshops, conferences, and trainings are conducted at the Birch Creek Center each year. Examples of these opportunities include the annual "Writer's Conference", "Art Workshop", "French Impressionist Painting Workshop", and "Pioneering Discoveries Teacher Training". Please call the Birch Creek Center for dates and more information regarding these and other continuing education offerings.
A little rock work
Service Elderhostel group after restoring the historic "Captain's Cabin" and turning it into the only CCC museum in Montana
Southwest Montana is ideal for the study of geologic processes for a number of reasons; 1) The rocks cover a spectrum of the geologic time scale from the Archean to the Quaternary, 2) The tectonic environments consist of extensional and compressional structures. The "Block Mountain" area, for example, is one of the best fold and thrust belt structures in the United States, and 3) The geology is well exposed, there is easy access to the field, there is minimal topographic relief and many of the map areas are located on public land.
In addition to all of the educational programs at the Birch Creek Center, we also host relaxed and heartwarming family reunions and weddings. We can accommodate up to 80 people overnight and up to 200 for a daytime event. Most of our weddings take place at the outdoor "Amphitheater" followed by a reception around the deck of the Bender Conference Center with Torrey Mountain offering a picturesque backdrop. Go to top
Each year the Birch Creek Center operates, supports, or hosts numerous and various programs. From 1st graders discovering how trees grow so tall to grandparents fly-fishing with their grandchildren, the Birch Creek Center is where explorations as well as memories are made. Click on a program link to learn more about specific programs.
