Fall 2025 Nature & Survival Series | Four Saturdays, Starts Sept 6

Make new friends, hike in new local habitats, and learn new skills!

In this apprenticeship style series, join Firecraft Northwest Instructors for a deep dive into nature awareness and survival skills. Our cohort will meet once a month on Saturdays for four sessions September through December.

We’ll cover a wide variety of subjects including survival basics, fire making, plant identification, bird language, wildlife tracking, tool use, sensory/nature awareness, fireside cooking, and more. Sessions utilize a blend of hands-on training, interactive activities, and detailed educational content. Every session the group will learn Naturalist Skills, Survival Skills, and practice one Wild Craft (detailed below). We will visit a new location each date for this course.

Here is the outline for what we’ll focus on. Please note that some locations or content is subject to change due to permits, weather and seasonal influences, participants, and location availability.

September 6 | Burfoot Co Park | 9:30 - 4:00

• Intro

  • Introductions and getting to know the group

  • Pick out your new knife and learn how to care for it!

• Naturalist Skills

  • Nature awareness

  • Plant ID, foraging, and honorable harvest

  • Fungi Basics

• Survival Skills

  • Introduction to knots, rope, and cordage

  • Prioritizing survival needs in an emergency + intro to fire concepts

• Wild Crafting

  • Learning to use a knife, knife safety, and carving our first project

October 4 | Deschutes River Ranch | 9:30-4:00

• Naturalist Skills

  • Introduction to wildlife tracking and track and sign identification

  • Plant and fungi ID continued

• Survival Skills

  • Shelter building and it’s role in emergency survival

  • Fire-building challenges

  • Campfire cooking and cooking apparatuses in the field
    (learn 2 easy recipes you can use in the field!)

• Wild Crafting

  • Two hand-made camp-cooking tools

  • Fungi spore prints

November 8 | Margaret McKenny | 9:30-3:30

• Naturalist Skills

  • Intro to nature awareness and bird language

• Survival Skills

  • Navigation, map reading, compass 101

  • Additional knots and quick-deploy tarps

• Wild Crafting

  • Try sticks - notching techniques for tarp/camping set up and camp cooking

December 13 | Millersylvania State Park | 9:30-3:30

• Naturalist Skills

  • Ethnobotany + useful plants for fire starting/off-season survival

  • Starvation foods

  • Putting it all together - the big picture of ecology and sensory awareness

• Survival Skills

  • Rainy day fires - tips and tricks

  • Fire challenges and practicing with different ignition types

• Wild Crafting

  • Backpack-ready fire kits

Tuition: $325

Registration for new participants to the program also includes:

• A belt knife (Morakniv) to keep

• All materials for each outing

• Carving projects

• Backpack ready fire kit

• Paracord for knot tying practice