Columbia Springs

“…every youth needs an occasional wilderness trip,in order to learn the meaning of this particular freedom.”

- Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac.

Our Mission 🌿 🐟

Columbia Springs offers a unique setting and educational experiences that foster a greater awareness of the natural world and inspire stewardship.

Who We Are 

Since its founding, Columbia Springs has been a welcoming place for anyone to experience nature. Whether it is individuals or families exploring the site on their own; community members enjoying a class on invasive species or forest yoga; kids attending a summer camp where they delve into our ecosystem; or a field trip during the school year, Columbia Springs is a place for people to gather in nature. 

What We Do 🌎 💚 

Every year we engage with over 8,000 community members and students through education and community programs. 

Education 

Columbia Springs youth programming has three goals. (1) To light a spark within students so they experience how fun science can be. (2) To support their learning, so students feel that they can be successful scientists. (3) To create an environment that welcomes all students, so they feel that nature is somewhere they belong. We serve students through three programs: 

🐌 Our science-based nature field trips provide hands-on experiences for over 6,000 students every year in our beautiful 100-acre outdoor classroom.

🌳 Three weeks of nature summer camps provide 80 campers with fun outdoor adventures.

🐟 The Salmon in the Classroom program engages students at 40 schools in project-based learning about the salmon lifecycle, biology, and habitat as they take care of their salmon throughout the year. By the time students release their salmon into local stream at the end of the school year, they feel connected to their salmon and personally invested in protecting them. Salmon in the Classroom is made possible through generous support from Clark Public Utilities as part of its commitment to education and stewardship.

Community Events

We host about 25 community events annually engaging over 1,000 community members. These events include free monthly Nature Days and guided tours, and the Circle of Life Chum Salmon Celebration. We also brought our annual Kids Fishing Festival to site. This event welcomes a diverse audience and equips the next generation with the tools and skills to continue the legacy of fishing in our region. Over 300 kids participated in 2025. 

Repair  

Our Repair program fixes broken household items – for free! Community members are encouraged to bring their broken household items to be repaired to quarterly events hosted at public spaces throughout Clark County. This program keeps hundreds of items out of the landfill annually in addition to fostering community relationships. 

Vancouver Trout Hatchery

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife rears hundreds of thousands of steelhead, rainbow trout, and chum salmon yearly. Rainbow trout are planted to support fisheries in local lakes and chum salmon are released as part of a statewide recovery program.