Kittitas Environmental Education Network
KEEN's mission is to foster an understanding of climate change impacts on the endangered shrub-steppe and promote environmental stewardship through culturally relevant, nature-based education. Our main project is the Yakima Canyon Interpretive Center (YCIC) at Helen McCabe Park near Ellensburg, WA, managed since 2004 under a lease. We restore native plant communities, control invasive weeds, build trails, run nature school programs, and enhance recreational and educational use at YCIC. KEEN hosts annual events, engages lifelong learners, offers K-12 outdoor adventures, provides Wilderness First Aid training, and creates educational materials. KEEN envisions a community connected to nature, fostering stewardship, education, and well-being through immersive outdoor experiences. KEEN Celebrates 25 Years in 2025!
What Does KEEN Do?
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KEEN Nature School Programming
KEEN’s Nature School and direct environmental education programming is expanding. Our goal is nature-immersion programming for all ages. We have tuition-based programs, Pond to Pines Summer Camp, KEEN's Mountaineers, and KEEN's Adventure Apprentice Program, and free community programs including Windy City Park Rangers and 4th Grade Camp.
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Yakima Canyon Interpretive Center
This project represents an unparalleled opportunity to engage visitors and community members of all ages in outdoor education, draw tourists to Central Washington, undertake environmental stewardship and habitat restoration, and accomplish protection of the endangered shrub-steppe biome.
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Special Events
KEEN believes in lifelong-learning and provides informal environmental educational opportunities for kids, adults and seniors. KEEN hosts annual events including Get Intimate with the Shrub-Steppe & Yakima River Canyon Bird Fest and WindFall Cider Fest. We collaborate with subject-area experts for field trip leaders, speakers, and provide learning opportunities and connections to affinity groups at all our events.
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Habitat Restoration
Since 2004, KEEN has worked to re-establish native plant communities, build trails, teach outdoor classes, and expand the use and stewardship of Helen McCabe Park. Our goal is to share and build the strong sense of place that KEEN recognizes in Kittitas County, particularly the endangered shrub-steppe habitat.
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KEEN Camp Facility & Infrastructure
We are excited to announce that KEEN has successfully secured $518,000 in funding to improve, design, and construct infrastructure in support of our summer camps, snow camps, and YCIC security project!
We are starting an ad-hoc committee that will plan for the best way to spend the funding over the next few years.
Join us!
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Shop & Support
All donations support KEEN's work to bring nature-based learning to our community and visitors to our area. 40% of all unrestricted donations support our operations, 40% support the Yakima Canyon Interpretive Center, and 20% support our endowment fund.
Legacy giving opportunities include naming elements of the Yakima Canyon Interpretive Center project.
Our Vision
KEEN envisions a community deeply connected to nature, where environmental stewardship, educational achievement, and personal well-being are fostered through immersive, hands-on outdoor experiences. By leveraging the natural landscapes of the Yakima River Canyon and beyond, KEEN aims to cultivate informed, inspired, and active individuals who are committed to sustaining and enriching their environments for future generations.
Land Acknowledgement
The future home of the Yakima Canyon Interpretive Center rests on the ancestral lands of the Pshwánapam people (fourteen Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation). The people of the Yakama Nation inhabited more than 12 million acres across Adams, Benton, Chelan, Douglas, Franklin, Grant, Kittitas, Klickitat, and Yakima Counties. We honor those peoples who are tied to the land through history, legends, and culture. We acknowledge their descendants who live in the world today. We thank the caretakers of this land, who have lived here and continue to live here since time immemorial.
An acknowledgment is a simple, powerful way to show respect, and a step toward correcting the stories and practices that erase Indigenous people’s history and culture. It also honors the truth.