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Wolf Camp was voted 1 of 2 Best Camps in the Northwest Family News Reader's Poll of 2001, the only year they ran a poll, and we were also chosen as one of the five "best camps ever" by YM Magazine in its March 2003 issue.
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Wolf Camp Staff
Chris Chisholm, Founder & Coordinator
Chris with intro tracking campers in 2006 plus 3 youth mentors listed below: Patrick is 3rd from left; Morgan is 4th from left; Indigo is 2nd from right. Watch for the three boys between Morgan and Indigo on the Youth Mentor roster in the coming years!
Chris Chisholm, 39, grew up in the north woods of Minnesota, and he is author of the Wolf Journey earth skills curriculum. He moved west after earning a B.A. from the University of Wisconsin in 1991, and from 1992-95 he worked as a Level II Certified Youth Counselor at Sea Mar Community Health Centers. He taught Spanish from 1995-97 at the Whatcom Hills Waldorf School, and was an active member of the Whatcom County Chapter, Washington State Music Teachers Association from 1996-2003. He has received training in Search & Rescue Tracking by Joel Hardin and Tom Brown, Jr. He also received training in Wilderness First Aid, Emergency Water Rescue, and Site/Risk Management from the Wilderness Medicine Training Center. In addition to running Wolf Camp since 1996, he teaches for regional schools and organizations. Chris is considered a delightful storyteller, musician, teacher, counselor, outdoorsman and friend to all who have shared time with him at Wolf Camp. Click Here if you would like to listed to an Audo Recorded Camp Greeting from Chris for which you may need the free RealOne Player if it's not already installed in your system.
Nikki van Schyndel, Advisor, Herbalist, Survivalist, Artist
Nikki (33) is a 1999 graduate of the Dominion Herbal College, illustrated Wolf Journey - Trail of the Naturalist, and is currently publishing an account of her 2 year primitive living experience in the western wilderness, which you can preview by clicking on this Written Message from Nikki and there is also a Audio Recorded Camp Greeting from Nikki for you to listen to and for which you may need the free RealOne Player if it's not already installed in your system. She was personally mentored in wildlife photography by William Gibbons, a great Rocky Mountain wildlife photographer. She has also studied with leaders in the field of Earth Skills, including the Tom Brown, Frank & Karen Sherwood, and others. She has been a loved volunteer for Wolf Camp since 2000, and our most advanced student having progressed through the Wolf Journey course. Nikki is a natural teacher of children, balancing consistent discipline with extreme fun, nurturing care, and excellent tracking, herbalism, primitive living, and artisanry skills. Nikki just returned from a year and a half sabbatical, living in the wilderness at a primitive level with our apprenticeship graduate Micah Fay, where they succeeded in reaching the "stone age living" level all of us in the field wish we could pull off. It is an understatement to say that Nikki is now one of the most highly trained earth skills educators in the field. We don't know of more than a couple other people who claim to have accomplished what she has, and we are more than proud to have her advising us. She is trained in Wilderness First Aid and Search & Rescue.
Chris "Huck" Anderson, EMT, R.N., Assistant Camp Director, Founder of Lost & Found Adventures
Huck (25) served as our camp nurse and graduated from our Earth Skills Teaching Apprenticeship in 2005, when he also co-taught our Rock Climbing course and assisted with several day and overnight camps as well. In 2006 he ran the GeoTRIP, and he taught a variety of camps for us in 2007. He comes to us with a plethora of previous experience, including as an ambulance driver EMT (he is also a certified Wilderness EMT and also working on achieving his R.N.B.S.). He is a gifted musician, having played with many of the great jazz artists of our time who visited Arizona State University during his years there. Huck has now founded Lost & Found Adventures in Pheonix, AZ, and you can contact him through us or visit his website directly at www.lostandfoundadventures.com or telephone 602-228-0211 to find out about attending one of his great courses or to arrange a custom-designed program.
Advisor, Herbalist, Survivalist
Carol (40) began volunteering with us in 1998, and she is a member of our advisory union. She has extensive experience teaching in a variety of settings, and was co-founder of B.C. Primitive Adventures in 1996. She has worked as a counselor at Leyline for several years, and all the students who have attended Wolf Camp can attest to her fun, nurturing, and challenging leadership. She is a graduate of many Tracker School courses, including Advanced Scout, and has become a highly skilled herbalist, survivalist, and teacher. Come get to know her at camp, and receive the benefits of her excellent experience this summer. She is certified as a Wilderness First Responder.
Jay Doyon, Advisor, Permaculture Specialist
Jay (25) is a permaculture activist, practitioner, and researcher. He has a few years of international cooperation work under his belt, and is engaged in the Ecovillage movement, especially at Earthaven in North Carolina where he did his year-long permaculture apprenticeship. Jay piloted our Permaculture Pioneer Case Study. He is currently studying the caretaking philosophy as defined by the field of earth skills in order to hone his land stewardship skills while making "forest gardening" his specialty. Jay went back to university and will be finishing up next spring, so we're looking forward to having him here in 2008 to facilitate our Cooperative Residential Intensives as well as run our Permaculture Pioneer courses.
Kate Hedges, Advisor, Founder of Blue Skies
Kate Hedges, 29, was the first graduate of the our Earth Skills Teaching Apprenticeship. She came specifically to learn earth skills and to learn how a functioning earth skills school ran in order to go back home to found the first official earth skills training institute in Scotland, all in the same year she graduated from the University of Edinburgh. Due to her skill, talents and fun, she made her Blue Skies earth skills training institute a popular success in its very first year! If you live in Europe or are travel in to the British Isles, contact her through us or visit her website directly at www.BlueSkiesEarthSkills.co.uk or telephone (international prefix varies) 0131 228 9608/ 07984 893436 to find out about attending one of her great courses or to arrange a custom-designed programme. Most exciting is that Kate recently acquired a new permanent home for Blue Skies, a beautiful piece of land called Roeburn Wood, and it is situated about 30 minutes walk from Helensburgh, west of Glasgow. It is best accessed by train to Helenburgh Central railway station, a short journey from Glasgow. It's harder and harder for Kate to get free to fly over and teach with us anymore due to her packed schedule at Blue Skies.
Bill Baroch, M.Ed., Lead Instructor, Storyteller
 (45) Bear Rock has been teaching with us for eight years, and he is a member of our advisory union. He's a fun environmental educator, consistently disciplined and flexible, hardworking and patient. Bill is very knowledgeable in the realms of ecology and natural history. He has developed a stunningly effective style using story as a technique for subtly sharing insight and information, having been a Professional Storyteller since 1997. He presents to school groups, town festivals, holiday celebrations and private parties, emphasizing stories which celebrate the natural world and human-nature interactions. From 1991-98, Bill was Co-Director & Instructor at Free Spirit Nature Camp in Warwick, NY, conducting six-week summertime camps for 4-12 year olds, presenting pre-camp staff orientation, acting as camp medical director, and planning/implementing activities focusing on nature study and exploration, survival skills and conflict resolution. Bill was also Program Director at Pathfinder Outdoor School in Mountain Center, CA from 1991-92 & 1993-94, administrating the residential outdoor education program, communicating with schools to set schedules, giving school site presentations to students and parents, developing/implementing new classes and programs, and teaching classes in natural science and other outdoor pursuits. Bill was also Teaching Fellow at Montclair State University's N.J. School of Conservation in Branchville, NJ, from 1992-93, where he taught environmental education classes and developed teacher training workshops. From 1990-91, bill was a Naturalist Instructor at Greenkill Environmental Education Center in Huguenot, NY, where he designed and taught classes natural history to grades 410 during 3-5 day visits, using Project Adventure, High Ropes and the Climbing Wall to establish cooperative learning. Bill was also an Environmental Education Intern at Clemmie Gill School of Science and Conservation in Springville, CA from 1989-90, at Ryerson Conservation Area in Deerfield, IL , and at Northcoast Environmental Center in Arcata, CA in 1988. Bill was also a Docent at the Nature Conservancy's Lanphere-Christensen Dunes Preserve in Arcata, CA from 1985-88, leading interpretive walks for school groups and the general public which focused on the geology and ecology of the dunes. He was a trail crew member for the U.S. Forest Service in Tongass National Forest,, Misty Fjords National Monument in Alaska in 1985, a Wildlife Technician for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game in Fairbanks, AK in 1994, working on the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge, and again a Wildlife Technician for the U.S. Forest Service, Institute of Northern Forestry in Fairbanks in 1993, assisting a biologist on a moose foraging ecology study in Denali National Park. He has been living near Deming, Washington, for the past 10 years.
Lorien MacAuley, Lead Instructor, Advisor
Lorien MacAuley, 29, B.S. in Biology, graduated from our Earth Skills Teaching Apprenticeship in the summer of 2004, and due to her expertise in wildlife tracking & birding, already was a lead day camp instructor in August of that year. She and her husband Scott lived at Wolf Camp for a year and a half as part of our Wolf Journey Naturalist Survey, helping to develop our organic gardens and farm animals while also studying earth skills to a great depth. Lorien lead several of our camps in 2005-06, and although she and Scott are thinking of starting their own program in West Virginia, they are also looking forward to returning to teach here as much as possible as well. She is Wilderness First Responder certified, and trained in Site/Risk Management. Lorien did environmental research in the Ecuadorian Amazon Rainforest during the summer of 2007.
Scott Fanello, Lead Instructor, Advisor
Scott Fanello, 29, B.S. in Biology, graduated from our Earth Skills Teaching Apprenticeship in the summer of 2004, and due to his overwhelming experience, he already was a lead day camp instructor in August. He and his wife Lorien lived at Wolf Camp for a year and a half as part of our Wolf Journey Naturalist Survey, helping to develop our organic gardens and farm animals while also studying earth skills to a great depth. Scott lead several of our camps in 2005, including the development of the Old School Pioneers camp, and although he and Lorien are thinking of starting their own program in West Virginia, they are also looking forward to returning to teach here as much as possible as well. He is Wilderness First Responder certified, and trained in Site/Risk Management. We were fortunate to have Scottt with us for the last part of the summer again in 2006.
Griz Chambers, Artisan, EMR, Lead Instructor
Griz, 21, graduated from the Earth Skills Teaching Apprenticeship in the summer of 2004. He first came to Wolf Camp as a young camper in 2001, then returned in 2003 as the first graduate of our Youth Mentoring CIT Program. Bill specializes in Primitive Artisanry, with expertise in hunting, fishing, and tracking. He lead our Primitive Fishing and Stone Age Technologies camps, plus co-taught a variety of day camps in 2005. He is Wilderness First Responder certified, and trained in Site/Risk Management. He resides during the off-season in his hometown near Crow's Nest Pass, Alberta, and currently working on becoming an Emergency Medical Technician.
Jason Patterson, Camp Instructor, Artisan & Craftsman
Jason (33) comes to us with many years experience guiding wilderness therapy courses, and many years of dirt time with survival skills. He is co-teaching a variety of day camps with us this summer, and has been a great help to our program since starting to work with us over two years ago.
Glen MacKay, Camp Instructor
Glen first came to camp in 2002, and has graduated from our ancient scout, tracking, hunter-gatherer and survival series of courses. He returned at age 16 as part of our Youth Mentoring CIT Program in 2004, and completed much of his Earth Skills Teaching Apprenticeship during the summer in 2006. He graduated from high school this year, and for his senior project, he did a solo survival trek and is completed a senior thesis about it. You can read a summary by clicking on Survival Trek Log. Glen is now attending Oberlin College in Ohio on a a full-ride scholarship, as we mention within our Blog & Forum.
Andrew Twele, Camp Instructor, Hide Tanning & Primitive Skills Specialist
  
Andrew with bass from our lake, followed by pics of his home inside the stump.
Andrew completed our Earth Skills Teaching Apprenticeship in 2007 and is then focused on a Primitive Living Experience at Wolf Camp. He has been here since March 2007, and he already came to us with great experience teaching hide tanning and other earth skills. Andrew is now carrying out an internship with Outward Bound in Baltimore & Philidelphia.
Rachel Rothman, M.Ed., Camp Instructor
Rachel Rothman, 29, graduated from our Earth Skills Teaching Apprenticeship in the summer of 2004. She has many years experience as a summer camp counselor, and she used to guide adjudicated youth in wilderness survival programs, and she studies permaculture and appropriate technologies at Aprovecho Research Center. She just graduated Oregon State University to earn her masters teaching degree, and has been hired as the special education teacher for her school district beginning in the fall of 2005. Rachel is Wilderness First Responder certified, and trained in Risk Management.
Ryan Tarbell, Lead Instructor
Ryan Tarbell, 25, completed our Earth Skills Teaching Apprenticeship in 2003, and he holds a bachelor of science degree in environmental education and forestry at Warren Wilson University. He grew up practicing earth skills, and due to receiving the highest recommendation of any staff member in Wilderness First Responder scenarios. He taught camps for us throughout the summers of 2004 and 2005, and has started his own sustainable forestry program back east.
Dan Thomas, Camp Instructor
Dan Thomas, 40, was a student at Wolf Camp for several years before leading his first school contracts for us in 2004, including Animal Tracks & Language of the Birds. He is a naturally disciplined and engaging teacher, and highly experienced backcountry travellor, and also a skilled wilderness survivalist. Dan works as an arborist and environmental technician with City of Bellingham Parks & Recreation, and he is also certified as a Wilderness First Responder.
Krista Rome, Advisor, Environmental Consultant
Krista Rome, 31, holds a bachelors degree in environmental studies from WWU Huxley College and works at a prestigious wetlands consulting firm in Washington State. She has extensive experience working with native plants, and guiding school groups in habitat restoration. She is also a talented basket and drum maker, and her passion is to live as sustainably as possible on the land, and to teach those around her the values and joys of simple living. Krista was also certified as a Wilderness First Responder. She graduated from our Earth Skills Teaching Apprenticeship in the summer of 2003 after returning from the Peace Corps in Uganda, taught camps all summer in 2004, and continues to be a close advisor throughout the year.
Morgan Tidd, Assistant Camp Instructor
Morgan first came to camp in 2004, completing our ancient scout, tracking, wild foods and survival series of courses. She completed our week-long Naturalist Mentoring CIT course as well as site management and open water rescue courses at age 14 in 2005. She remained for most of the summer served as a youth mentor for day and overnight youth camps. We were fortunate to have Morgan here the entire summer of 2006, and she's planning to return in 2008 to teach the kayaking aspects of our Sailing with Sealife / Herbal Medicine and the Seaside Spa camp week. She's more than qualified, too, having mentored that very camp 2 years running, and now having become the 2007 National Junior Women's Whitewater Freestyling Champion! Her family runs Turtle River Rafting Company in California, and she is currently studying abroad in China while kayaking much of the Mekong River, as you can see in her extremely creative cartoon blog if you click on this link. Camps that Morgan will likely assist with this year include:
• All Training Camps in June
• Overnight Summer Camps: The Forgotten Wilderness; Living with Primitive Food Fire & Shelter; Sailing with Sealife; Assisting the weeks of July 27 - Aug 16; Ultimate Scout Survival.
• Summer Day Camps: Wildlife Tracking & Birding, Games of the Forest Dweller.
Patrick Wiley, Camp Instructor
Doing his impression of "Thorton the Gamer"
Patrick first came to camp in 2004, and has since completed a majority of our summer courses, including the Ultimate Tracker. He completed our week-long Naturalist Mentoring CIT course in 2006, and then served as a youth mentor for Secrets of the Ancient Scout, plus a variety of camps in 2007. He lives with his family in Oregon. Camps that Patrick may assist with this year include:
• All Training Camps in June
• Overnight Summer Camps: Tracking Endangered Species; Herbal Medicine and the Seaside Spa; Ultimate Alpine.
• Summer Day Camps: Wild Chefs & Healers, Wildlife Tracking & Birding, Games of the Forest Dweller.
Indigo Tidd, Assistant Camp Instructor
Indigo first came to camp in 2005, and has since completed most of our summer courses, including the Ultimate Tracker and Ultimate Herbalist. She completed our week-long Naturalist Mentoring CIT course this summer, and she is looking forward to serving as a youth mentor for day and overnight youth camps next year. She lives with her family in California.Camps that Indigo may assist with this year include:
• Training Week the first week of July
• Overnight Summer Camps: Tracking Endangered Species; Survivors Side of the Mountain; Herbal Medicine and the Seaside Spa; Ultimate Alpine; Advanced Arts of the Scout; Ultimate Scout Survival.
• Summer Day Camps: The Crafty Artisan
Rebecca Chavarria, CIT
Rebecca first came to camp in 2002, and has graduated from our ancient scout, tracking, hunter-gatherer and survival series of courses. She returned at age 13 as part of our Youth Mentoring CIT Program in 2004, still holding the record as our youngest-ever youth mentor. She lives with her family in Idaho. Camps that Rebecca may assist with this year include:
Alexandra "Squirrel" Bunker, CIT
  
Cute as a button at age 11 in 2001. A young lady during her year abroad in Italy 2006.
Alex first came to camp in 2001 as part of our wilderness survival and seaside kayaking courses. She returned at age 15 to help with our rock climbing and GeoTRIP courses as part of our Youth Mentoring CIT Program in 2004. She is also the youngest graduate of a Wilderness First Responder course that we know of, and after returning from studying in Italy last year, she has since become Florida's youngest public official as supervisor of the Seminole Soil and Water Conservation Disctrict! Camps that Alex may assist with this year include:
Elise Santa Maria, CIT
  
Elise's Senior Picture; Karate Studio Photo; and with beauty face mask during the Herbal Spa camp.
Elise first came to camp in 2002 as part of our Natural Arts & Music series, and she completed our week-long Naturalist Mentoring CIT course at age 15 in 2005 and served as a youth mentor for the Herbal Spa camp. She completed a summer internship through Teens in Public Service at the Nature Consorium in 2007 helping with nature based art classes for children in low-income houseing. She is also co-president of the Earth Serviice Corps at her school where she is completing her senior year. She's also been doing community service for a few years with the Feral Cat Spay/Neuter Clinic in Seattle. Camps that Elise may assist with this year include:
Anna "Leemahlyn" Flies, CIT
Lee first came to camp in 2003, and has graduated from our tracking, wild foods, and survival series of courses. She completed our week-long Naturalist Mentoring CIT course at age 15 in 2005 and served as a youth mentor for day and overnight youth camps. She lives with her family in Washington State. Lee was selected in the summer of 2006 to attend an Isreali-Palestinian Youth Peace Conference in Colorado, as we mention within our Wolf Tracks New Page. Camps that Lee may assist with this year include:
Charlie Borrowman, CIT
Charlie first came to camp in 2006 after having attending Hawk Circle in Cherry Valley, NY, and has since completed most of our summer courses, including the Ultimate Tracker. He completed our week-long Naturalist Mentoring CIT course and is looking forward to serving as a youth mentor for day and overnight youth camps next year. He lives with his family in California. Camps that Charlie may assist with this year include:
• Overnight Summer Camps: Tracking Endangered Species; Living with Primitive Food Fire & Shelter; Sailing with Sealife; Stone Age Artisan; Ultimate Scout Survival.
Come Meet Us
Click for a link to the Fall-Spring Class Series descriptions. All classes run from 6-9 p.m. including a pot-luck dinner. Classes take place at the new Wolf Camp home office at 1313 A 2nd St. in historic downtown Snohomish. Please park on "E" Street as there is no parking right around our home office. Costs vary, so see class descriptions for details.
AVAILABLE NOW:
Tuesdays: Permaculture Pot Luck begins January 6, 2009 and will run through Memorial Day, then pick back up again in the fall beginning September 22, 2009. This is a complimentary event for those who are currently engaged in permaculture projects and who will be preparing pot-luck dishes to share, while the public is also invited to attend at a $5.00 contribution level to learn about permaculture.
BEGINNING SPRING OF 2009:
Mondays: Cooperative Group Facilitation runs March 23 - May 19 in the Spring of 2009, and September 21 - November 16 in the Fall of 2009. The cost is $5.00 for those with demonstrated facilitation experience, and $10.00 per class for beginners.
Wednesdays: Earth Skills Study runs March 25 - May 21 in the Spring of 2009, and September 23 - November 18 in the Fall of 2009. There is no charge for those who are already teaching in the field of earth skills, or $5.00 for those who are actively studying the Wolf Journey or similar secret-spot-based curriculum, and $10.00 per class for everyone else.
Thursdays: Art & Music Composition runs March 26 - May 22 in the Spring of 2009, and September 23 - November 19 in the Fall of 2009. The cost is $5.00 for those who are currently teaching or professionally recording music and art, and $10.00 per class for beginners/intermediates. You can also try out your compositions on Friday nights at Open Mic Lives! located in the Thumbnail Theater just up the street from the Wolf Camp home office where Chris has some of his sound equipment on loan, and Chris will also help you schedule and promote cover performances of your compositions at the Thumbnail on Saturday nights if you like.
Cooperative Ownership Opportunity:
Wolf Camp is now mobile and able to operate wherever new partners wish, free of debt so new partners have limited liability, and simplified to the point where the business is affordable for any qualified partner to acquire a share. It is my goal is to find two women and one additional man to join in business partnership, creating a gender-balanced worker’s cooperative with the working title:
Wolf Camp
Cooperative Adventures in the
Principles of Permaculture
and Earth Skills Education
featuring traditional foods, fire, shelter, stories, arts and music
www.wolfcooperative.org
Looking at logistical details, the process of transforming Wolf Camp into a worker’s cooperative would entail removing it from under my current sole proprietorship business license (which I will instead use only for my personal publishing, music and counseling services) and instead, I suggest that the new group of us attain an S-Corp license, transferring the business name, website, database, and all other relevant assets to become property of the new official entity we create.
Initially, each of us would wear two “hats” as detailed on the attached model, until, one by one, we are able to attract yet another four worker-owners, totaling eight of us as equal business partners each owning 1/8 of the business, and each possessing one vote for group decisions. Until that time, I will ask that the cooperative business principle of “one person equals one vote” to be on hold in favor of an interim “percent ownership equals percent voting rights” agreement so that my initial financial interest is protected until at least half the value of the business is owned by others in the cooperative.
Of course with each new worker-owner, the cooperative vision will change, including policies on things like decision-making, determining the number of business partners, hiring additional employees, planning finances, producing products and services, etc. However, my current vision is that our cooperative strive to achieve consensus on every decision requiring worker-owner input, but failing that, a ¾ majority voting in favor of a (previously tabled) proposal would be enough to enact changes. I have drafted a full set of by-laws proposing policies such as these.
ROLES
My hope is to join forces with someone (a Health & Farm Coordinator as described on the model I'm working on uploading next) who has a working farm where educational programs can be added, plus someone who has excellent business management skills (Business & Site Manager) to administer finances and maintain equipment, and another person who has success in running earth skills educational programs (Earth Skills Specialist). I would continue in a role of program mentoring and promotion (Cooperative Camp Coordinator).
HEALTH & FARM COORDINATOR: One of the four primary roles would be to attract an active permaculture practitioner who also has herbal knowledge, or who has contacts in the field of herbal medicine so that s/he can hire qualified persons to assist in that role. The ideal candidate would also understand and appreciate earth skills education, but most important, have stable access to a working farm where we can also station some large educational programs. The Health & Farm Coordinator would be responsible for the development of all farm-to-market activities, management of its land/water resources, our conversion to appropriate technologies, and the expansion of educational programs such as our Permaculture Pioneer, Wild Healers, and other relevant programs.
BUSINESS & SITE MANAGER: The ideal candidate would be familiar with the concepts of earth skills education, permaculture, and a worker's cooperative, but most important, have excellent skills of business administration, experience in the fields of education and food sales. The first tasks of a new business manager will be to write our new business plan, reorganize our finances, ensure the maintenance of equipment (or hiring a custodian until a custodial worker-owner buys into the cooperative), help partners run the logistics of educational programs and farm-to-market enterprises. The Business & Site Manager would also help to develop our Recreational Administration internship and provide logistical support for all other programs.
COOPERATIVE CAMP COORDINATOR: My initial duties would be to mentor other worker-owners, hired instructors, employees and students to succeed in their roles, while also continuing to co-design and promote programs so that they successfully fill according to our business plan goals, until we find a worker-owner to take the latter “hat” as promoter/marketer. I would continue to serve as camp director in the summer, and supervise all other educational programs where needed. I hope that my 20 years of teaching experience, the majority running Wolf Camp programs, gives me the experience that such a mentor needs to provide excellent educational experiences for every age group, employing various methodologies including my favorite, the Waldorf curriculum, but also be very skilled in program administration and soliciting services contracts and filling programs. I would also continue to facilitate the Earth Skills Teaching Apprenticeship and the Wolf Journey Naturalist Survey.
EARTH SKILLS SPECIALIST: The final priority is to find additional trackers and primitive skills specialists, dedicated to the mission of our earth skills camp and permaculture cooperative, serving to bring greater and greater health and balance to our staff while providing excellent teaching skills at some of our courses for all ages, but especially helping to promote and lead our resident camps and adult apprenticeships. The Earth Skills Specialist would also help to expand and fully facilitate the Future Scout Trackers Training, the Seasonal Primitive Skills Program and Stone Age Living Experience, as well as other relevant programs.
INVESTMENT
Your initial investment to become a worker-owner of Wolf Camp would be based on buying a minimum 1/8 share of the value of our combined business assets, including property, materials, inventory, websites, projected revenue from returning clientele, good reputation, profit history, etc. Currently, I estimate $40,000 - $80,000 in assets, meaning that if no other assets are added before we incorporate as an S-Corp, then your minimum buy-in would be $5,000, plus 500 hours sweat-equity which would give worker-owners $10,000 initial ownership.
In addition to your initial investment, worker-owner responsibilities will include an 1/8 share of our yearly expenses, meaning that if we do not gain more revenue than the amount of money we spend, that loss would be spread evenly according to the share you own in the business. In addition, all worker-owners would need to agree to direct all earth skills related personal business revenue into the cooperative, with compensation coming back to you based on policies detailed in the by-laws we develop together.
Worker-owners may also buy additional shares (until such time we have an equal number of worker-owners owning equal shares) and sell shares at the annual co-op value assessment, decided by cooperative group decision by the then current cooperative owners of the purchaser. Your share of ownership is backed-up by our assets, although the value of those can fluctuate, including any land, buildings, boats, website, gear, kitchen equipment, food stores, furniture, appliances, camp store goods, library, experienced human resources, etc.
So if you, or someone you know, would like to consider buying a cooperative share of this business, please let me know. Based on the previous success of Wolf Camp, cooperative worker owners could see a significant return on their investment in a short time. Thank you for being interested! – Chris Chisholm, 425-248-0253.
Coop Owner Responsibilities
Initial investment ($5,000 plus 500 hours sweat-equity for an eighth share).
Future Annual Work Hours (500 hours per eighth share, number derived from the rationale of 10 hours per week for 50 weeks, paid at the rate set in the by-laws out of the budget we set together such as $10/hour, but as the next sentence states, you are responsible for that budget, so it is circular revenue).
Endeavor to ensure that the business makes a profit, or cover share of any loss.
Adherence to the bylaws set by the cooperative and dedication to the goals and future of Wolf Camp, including agreement to direct all relevant revenue to the cooperative business.
Coop Owner Benefits
Based on share percentage, cooperative ownership and voting control over programs and assets in this wonderful enterprise.
Annual dividend based on profits from Wolf Camp when we make money – your primary financial benefit based on the performance risk you take as a business owner.
Wages paid for annual sweat equity as set by budget (but that you are in turn responsible for as described above under responsibilities).
First priority for teaching positions (normally a significant additional salary) at Wolf Camp.
Opportunity to sell shares at a later date for any increase (or decrease) in business value.
The support of our Advisory Union (Lead Instructors at Wolf Camp), the WOLF Foundation Board of Directors, Students and Parents of Wolf Camp (Wolf Boosters).
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