Community Development

We believe that the communities of the Mt. Adams regions have the ability and resources to thrive. By working closely with community members, businesses, and schools we hope to develop the communities we call home.

Community-Development-Meeting

Working Together

Our local communities are full of individuals who are passionate about their way of life and rural living. We’ve worked with partners on projects that have included the development of a community garden and greenhouse that seeks to educate students while providing them with an annual harvest that they can be proud of.

Partnerships are key to success and we enjoy close working relationships with local businesses, individuals, school districts, county government, and local 4-H clubs. Through these partnerships we’ve been able to launch programs and see plans come to life and continue to grow over the years.


Community Garden and Greenhouse Project

Working with the Glenwood School District and Mt. Adams Community 4-H Gardening Club, MARS built the Glenwood School Greenhouse to provide youth and community members a place to come together in a healthy environment.

Growing Green Thumbs

Working with the Glenwood School District and Mt. Adams Community 4-H Gardening Club, MARS built the Glenwood School Greenhouse to provide youth and community members a place to come together in a healthy environment. Project planning began in late 2006 after students, school staff and 4-H participants expressed interest in a greenhouse to help gardening enthusiasts grow and learn in our challenging mountain climate. Today the greenhouse provides a laboratory for school projects and connects local families with the opportunity to grow their own food. Students reap the benefits of harvest through after school snack and lunch programs, and the annual spring “veggie starts” sale produces income for ongoing programs.


Natural Resource Academy

We’ve partnered with Glenwood School District to provide resources and field opportunities to students so they can learn more about what makes the NW and the Mt. Adams region unique.

Sustaining our Professional Knowledge Base

Mt. Adams Resource Stewards works with the Glenwood School District to provide curricula and field based opportunities for the natural resources academy – a professional skills course series for high school age students across the region. Initial courses have focused on sustainable forestry and utilize Mt. Adams Community Forest lands. Planned future courses will work with local ranchers and farmers to build understanding about these mainstay professions.


Renewable Energy

Through delivery of the region’s first Solar-4R-Schools project in 2011 we were able able to support an interest in increasing the understanding of opportunities surrounding renewable energy for our youth and local communities.

Exploring Tomorrow’s Energy Sources Today

In 2011 MARS secured funding for the region’s first Solar-4R-Schools Project through the Bonneville Environmental Foundation. The project entailed installation of a 5.7 kW solar array as well as development of new educational curricula. Today students can observe, moment-by-moment, the contribution of the array to the school’s energy use and link that understanding to courses in the natural sciences and mathematics.

As a component of our renewable energy consulting work, we continue to explore possible inks between biomass, small-scale hydro and solar energy and learning opportunities for students.


Rural Broadband Access

One of the challenges of living in a rural community is connecting to the outside world. In 2013 the Glenwood Valley welcomed it’s first broadband service provider via a wireless network connection.

Goodbye dial-up!

In 2013 the community celebrated the arrival of broadband internet access to the Glenwood Valley. Working with multiple partners, MARS aided the development of broadband internet infrastructure to unserved areas of Klickitat County to assist in economic diversification and local economic competitiveness. While we continue to work on developing access for many corners of the community and the County at large, this first step was a welcome advance.