Kitchen remodel anticipation! Wolf Ridge alumni, Judy Gibbs, and her spouse Shawn Wentz were looking forward to renovating their 1946 kitchen. Wolf Ridge had taken on the Living Building Challenge (LBC) for our new staff housing and student dormitory. These two events were about to come together. After visiting the Wolf Ridge Open House of […]
Read Full PostAs I begin my second year as Chair of the Wolf Ridge Board of Trustees, I am reminded of how proud I am of the accomplishments of this amazing organization. Your support of Wolf Ridge has been critical in the success of Wolf Ridge. Wolf Ridge has educated students and adults for over 45 years. […]
Read Full PostSeptember at Wolf Ridge is the start of our year. Since we are a school, I imagine you’re not surprised by that way of viewing September. We welcomed 15 new students into our naturalist training program. Here they learn to be effective educators, whether in a formal K-12 classroom or hiking with kids along the […]
Read Full PostWhen you first view Lake Superior on the way to Wolf Ridge, it’s the size that makes the biggest impression. The vast and occasionally fog-shrouded lake keeps asking you to look at it as you drive along its shore. Large bodies of water have that attraction and this body of water is indeed large. It […]
Read Full PostOn Saturday, June 3, 2017 we gathered to celebrate the culmination of two important milestones in the Making Waves $9.4 million capital campaign – completion of the Lakeview Staff House and Maintenance Buildings, and kicking off Phase 2, the Margaret A. Cargill Lodge and Lake Superior classroom access. These milestones would not be possible without YOU! Here’s […]
Read Full PostI’ve often thought of the West Dorm as a “home away from home.” School kids move in on Mondays ready to make the place their own. They haul their sleeping bags and clothes off the bus and up into their rooms, thrilled to be on this grand adventure north. Summer campers gather around the […]
Read Full PostBy Lori Walewski and Shannon Walz Living Building Challenge believes that beauty inspires caring for communities and the environment. The Beauty Petal challenges LBC projects to recalibrate what people accept for the built environment. The purpose is to create joy and inspiration. There are two imperatives – 1) Beauty and Spirit and 2) Inspiration and […]
Read Full PostBy Lori Walewski and Shannon Walz Freshwater is a precious resource. Access to freshwater is becoming a serious issue around the world due to climate change, pollution and our current water habits around water use. The Water Petal’s intent is to rethink our water usage and what happens with wastewater so that buildings, campuses and […]
Read Full PostBy Lori Walewski and Shannon Walz Living Building Challenge has been mentioned many times in this blog. Living Building Certification consists of three steps. Registration – Wolf Ridge registered the West Dorm remodel to the LBC version 2.1 in September 2014. Documentation and Operation – We are currently in this phase which includes constructions and […]
Read Full PostWith 2016 behind us, we are looking forward to wrapping up work on some of the pieces of a house that people don’t often think about – the electric wiring, heating, plumbing, and more. In the case of the Naturalist House, this also includes special wiring that will transmit information to the graduate student naturalists who will live there. The […]
Read Full PostOver the holiday weekend, Wolf Ridge got a fresh covering of snow. It is a quiet week here from a programming standpoint – besides staff on campus the only others onsite are our furry and feathered friends; however, this is not a quiet week for our builders as construction presses on with the Maintenance Building […]
Read Full PostPost By John Chandler, Wolf Ridge Development Director If you walked on site this week, you would see some major transformations in our Maintenance building. It actually looks like a building! The windows are in and the siding is on. The much welcomed “warm-up” is speeding along the interior work in the Staff House as […]
Read Full PostI recently had a great conversation with Curtis Martinson, our on-site construction foreman. He loves waking up in the woods with a fresh cup of coffee, photography, and he can wax poetic about the promise of new technologies in building design and construction. While most of our updates are about things like boards, rafters and concrete, today we’ll do something […]
Read Full PostBy John Chandler, Wolf Ridge Development Director We’ve had some exciting rainy, snowy, icy weather the last few days but our construction teams are hard at work. The windows have been installed in the Naturalist House and they are working on getting the metal roof on when they can. With the windows installed the construction […]
Read Full PostThis year we are building both a new naturalist house as well as a new maintenance building. This week the materials for the maintenance building have arrived and the building is quickly being framed! Our new maintenance facility will allow our hard working Maintenance and Grounds team to work on vehicles in a heated shop […]
Read Full PostThe roof is on the Naturalist House! With the framing up and now a roof above, construction crews will soon be able to work without worrying about snow. Windows will go in next week, as well as weatherproofing the outer walls. LEED vs. LBC, Part One While there are a number “green building” initiatives out in the […]
Read Full PostWolf Ridge is buzzing with activity The construction projects have begun! In August, we began construction on our new Naturalist Housing and Maintenance shop. The Naturalist House is nearly entirely framed up and the roof should be on early next week. Our capital campaign has hit its mid-distance stride and the construction projects will soon […]
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