Vashon Wilderness Program

Mission

Vashon Wilderness Program provides nature immersion experiences that cultivate a deep relationship between self, community and the natural world. 

Our transformational programs help youth live, learn, and lead with joy, vitality, peace, passion, and care. We tend the incredible journey from childhood through adolescence to help raise the next generation of compassionate, resilient protectors of the Earth.

We serve hundeds of children from Vashon, Seattle, Tacoma and Kitsap annually through our summer camps, weekly and monthly school-year programs, and partnership programs with our local school district. 

Let's Partner

Our programs are more than just fun adventures in the forest; they are sanctuaries of learning, healing, and belonging. They are places where children find solace in the embrace of towering trees, where teenagers uncover newfound strengths within themselves, and where families rediscover the joy of shared experiences under the open sky.

Our Equitable Access Fund ensures that all children can immerse themselves within the living land and learn to be powerful allies and protectors of all life. 

Our Salish Sea Fund helps uplift the voices of Indigenous families in our community and walk in rite relations through free enrollment in our programs.

Together are transforming the landscape of nature (re)connection mentoring toward reciprocity and mutual thriving.

Please donate today. Every gift makes a difference and helps us meet our goal of raising $10,000.

Every dollar contributes to a vision of hope and healing for the future generations. Thank you!

Recognition

We honor and acknowledge the sx̌ʷəbabs - known today as part of the Puyallup Tribe - and their traditional, unceded lands upon which we gather, work, and learn. Vashon and Maury Island are within the tribe's accustomed area for fishing and shellfish, and still today remain a vital part of the tribe's cultural sovereignty.

While many of the skills and crafts we teach have cultural roots all over the world, we recognize our responsibility to mentor the next generation in ways that honor the sx̌ʷəbabs and all indigenous peoples whose lives and culture are intricately woven with place, and who continue to face ongoing injustice.