Thank you for your interest in a position at one of OMSI’s Science Camps – Cascade Science School, Hancock Field Station, and Pacific Marine Science Camp and the NSF-ITEST grant-funded Salmon Camp. Science education at all the camps is field-based, hands-on, and experiential in nature, involving students in field work in forest, arid land and stream ecology, coastal ecology, geology, astronomy, and cultural history. Outdoor skills are also offered including orienteering, tracking, canoeing, rafting, outdoor skills and backpacking.

Hancock is a natural science field camp located in the juniper-grasslands of the John Day River Valley in a geographically remote area of Central Oregon. It is at a low elevation inside the boundaries of the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument where the weather is hot in the summer and mild in spring and fall. The focus of instruction at Hancock is an interdisciplinary program of geology, life sciences, paleontology, archaeology and astronomy.

Cascade Science School is located in the Deschutes National Forest in a former log and stone ski lodge built in the 1930s. Tumalo Creek flows past the lodge and ponderosa pine forests surround it. The lodge lies just 10 miles west of Bend just below the Three Sisters Wilderness area. This location is optimal for studying forest and fire ecology, volcanic geology, stream ecology, and glaciation. The temperature is mild in the summer, with cool springs and falls.

The coastal programs teach coastal ecology and geology with some cultural history and forest ecology. Camp Kiwanilong is on the northern Oregon Coast near Astoria and is within walking distance of the beach and Camp Magruder is on the north central coast near Tillamook. These are used in Spring only. We also do programs based in the San Juan Islands and the California Redwoods during the summer.

During the spring and fall, OMSI Science Camps host a variety of groups, including elementary, secondary and college students, and families. The focus is primarily outdoor science education. During the summer, we offer natural science camps for students ages 8-18. In-class time consists of a 20-30 minute pre- and post-field classes in the day’s topic. Hikes of at least two miles per day are taken and up to five miles on some days. During summer camps, some instructors lead extensive backpacking trips throughout the Northwest.