North Branch Nature Center

09/03/2026

🌿 The Fall Session of Robin’s Nest Nature Playgroup is here!

Join us on Thursdays from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm, September 3 through December 17. This free (donations welcome) program invites families to gather, learn, and play amidst the beauty of nature.

At NBNC, we believe that outdoor experiences are vital for children’s growth and development. Our sessions offer a delightful community atmosphere, where families can engage with the natural world while exploring new ways to learn through play. Enjoy two hours filled with spontaneous play, exploration, discovery, nature-inspired crafts, oral storytelling, and more.

Come dig, build, and grow alongside your little ones (ages 0-5), all while connecting with other families. Remember, our sessions are entirely outdoors, so dress accordingly, bring water and snacks, and prepare for some fun in the elements. We can’t wait to see you out there!

09/02/2026

🌟 PSA for birders! This weekend, join us for our first session of the Fall Birding Fridays Series on Friday, followed by our Monthly Birding Outing on Saturday. Best of all? There’s no need to register, and both events are 100% free!

Friday Morning Fall Birding
📆 Friday, September 4 | 7:30 am - 9:00 am
📍Berlin Pond South End – Please park along Mirror Lake Road

Monthly Birding Outings
📆 Every first Saturday of the month; this month: Saturday, September 5 | 8:00 am - 9:30 am
📍NBNC

Upcoming Fall 2026 Friday Morning Birding Series Locations:
Sept 11 – North Branch Nature Center
Sept 18 – S***m Pond – Park at S***m Pond Rd/Adamant Rd intersection (Location)
Sept 25 – North Branch Nature Center

09/02/2026

The Composting Association of Vermont is hosting a workshop on how healthy soils protect our waters! If you care about the health of the Lake Champlain waterway, this workshop is for you. Thank you to New England Interstate Water Pollution Control Commission (NEIWPCC) and the Lake Champlain Basin Program!

Join the Composting Association of Vermont and North Branch Nature Center for a FREE workshop on September 16!
Healthy Soils, Clean Waters: A Watershed Approach to Protecting the Lake Champlain Basin will explore practical ways to improve soil health, reduce erosion, and protect local waterways.

📅 Wednesday, September 16 | 5:30–7:00 PM
📍 North Branch Nature Center, Montpelier
🥨 Light refreshments provided!

Register for free: tinyurl.com/2wb9xddb

09/01/2026

If you would happily take a break from work to take a close look at a porcupine, this might be the workplace for you!

We are hiring a Forest Preschool (FPS) Inclusion Assistant to work one-on-one with a preschool student and help support the student's behavioral, academic, social, and emotional needs so that they can participate in child-centered play and learning with nature. The FPS Inclusion Assistant promotes best practices in inclusive and adaptive education in a nature-based setting. The FPS Inclusion Assistant is responsible for a regular teaching schedule during the hours this student is in attendance plus some additional hours for planning and team collaboration, providing ongoing student support throughout the school year, and working collaboratively with the FPS teaching team to support student safety and student behavior. The FPS Inclusion Assistant helps nurture student growth, and supports the FPS Director in family communication, FPS special events, and FPS files and documentation.

Compensation and Benefits: $21/hr hourly wage for 24 hours per week.
Job schedule and status: Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, 8:30am – 4:30pm, through mid-June 2026. This is a school year part-time, non-exempt, position.

Link in comments below 👇

08/31/2026

To celebrate NBNC’s 30th birthday this spring, we gathered 30 years worth of stories from current and former staff members, program participants, community members, and more! Head to our website to read these stories of belonging, adventure, rogue reptiles, and even the memories of former residents of the NBNC property!

Do you have an NBNC story? Share it with us at the same link!

🔗Link in bio: northbranchnaturecenter.org/stories

08/31/2026

Did you know that NBNC has a designated pollinator garden, a wildflower garden, a kitchen garden, a bird garden, and a rain garden? It’s true! Our wonderful Extension Master Gardeners volunteers help maintain these gardens, supporting the biodiversity of our landscape. With over 40 varieties of native wildlife, our gardens keep the bees, birds, butterflies, and lots of other non-B pollinators happy!

Come pay us a visit to get inspiration for your own backyard — there’s always something blooming at NBNC!

08/29/2026

We're flying up on cloud nine — because we're welcoming FlyAway Birding as a Mountain Level Business Partner!

While FlyAway Birding has generously increased their giving this year to become a Mountain Level Business Partner, their support for North Branch Nature Center has always been sky-high. Their trips are led by expert guides (and father-son duo) Chip and Sam Darmstadt. Chip served as NBNC's Executive Director for 25 years, and is now our official Birding Ambassador, leading a new Adventure Afar this spring to Ecuador! Likewise, Sam is an alum of many NBNC programs over the years as well as a lifelong naturalist. FlyAway Birding offers birding travel trips that connect curious naturalists with extraordinary birds, brilliant ecosystems, and the people working to protect them.

Inspired by FlyAway Birding's generous support? We offer business partnerships at all levels, so click here to learn more about how you can make a 100% tax-deductible gift to North Branch Nature Center today!

08/27/2026

If you've ever wondered how rivers work while you're splashing around in them, this workshop might be for you! We’ll explore basic concepts in river dynamics to learn how to “read” our streams and interpret their behavior over time. In this hands-on workshop and field outing, we’ll use a stream table to model river dynamics in the classroom, then walk to the North Branch to examine these processes in action. We’ll then apply these tools to understand why Central Vermont is so vulnerable to flooding. Instructed by Alison Spasyk (Lake Champlain Sea Grant) and Sean Beckett (North Branch Nature Center).

📆Offered 9/8 and 9/15
🖇️Link in bio or comment below!

And a big THANK YOU to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, New England Interstate Water Pollution Control Commission (NEIWPCC) and the Lake Champlain Basin Program!

08/25/2026

📢 We're announcing our FREE Fall 2026 Friday Morning Birding Series Locations!

If you love birding, add these to your calendar:
Sept 4 – Berlin Pond South End – Park along Mirror Lake Road (Location)
Sept 11 – North Branch Nature Center
Sept 18 – S***m Pond – Park at S***m Pond Rd/Adamant Rd intersection (Location)
Sept 25 – North Branch Nature Center

Our bird walks are from 7:30 am - 9:00 am on Fridays, so tell work you're going to be a little late and then show up full of vigor and energized by the power of birding!

Accessibility note: The trails at NBNC are 6’-wide grass paths over compacted dirt. The trails are flat with

08/22/2026

We want to give a special thank-you to Front Four Gallery for joining us as our newest Business Partner by supporting our DOTY Memorial School campaign!

Thanks to the generous support of our community, DOTY Memorial School in Worcester will get to keep the ECO program for the 2026-27 school year. ECO (Educating Children Outdoors) is a unique collaboration between North Branch Nature Center and 15 area public schools, which pairs our professional teacher-naturalists with classroom teachers.

This is why supporting local businesses matters: because they’re invested in supporting our local communities. Front Four Gallery connects artists from around the world to Stowe, Vermont, exhibiting regionally and internationally recognized artists working in a broad range of mediums. Please join us in thanking Front Four Gallery by popping in and checking out the beautiful art the next time you're on Stowe's Mountain Road.

Again, BIG shoutout to Front Four Gallery for being a first-time business sponsor and generously supporting nature education for children!

Check out their website to learn more: https://frontfourgallery.com/