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Kids invited to Natural Resources Camp |
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February 18, 2012 |
The 53rd annual Natural Resources Camp may have
found a formula to make five nights of camping
in Idaho’s scenic Sawtooth Mountains with plenty
of fun activities and scientific explorations
even more fun: add an afternoon’s swim at Easley
Hot Springs.
The camp is held June 25-30 at the Central Idaho
4-H Camp east of Ketchum. Boys and girls sleep
in log bunkhouses and take field trips in the
area to learn about Idaho’s natural resources.
Sponsored by University of Idaho Extension and
the Idaho Association of Soil conservation
Districts, the camp allows campers ages 12 to 14
to learn about natural resources from wildlife
and rangeland to forests, water and soil.
Camp instructors from University of Idaho
Extension and other agencies help campers
develop a new understanding of Idaho’s natural
resources through experiments and outdoor
projects. Activities include hiking, fishing,
volleyball, firearms safety and target shooting
and other camp activities.
The trip to swim at nearby Easley Hot Springs,
which is part of the Cathedral Pines Camp, is a
new addition that Camp Director Amber Moore
expects to be popular. “We decided to add it as
a little reward for campers at the end of the
week,” said Moore, a University of Idaho
Extension soils specialist at Twin Falls.
The camp typically attracts about 70 boys and
girls, Moore said, although it can take as many
as 90.
The goal of the camp is to give campers basic
facts about Idaho’s natural resources and to
encourage them to think about whether Idaho will
still have them in abundance in 20 years.
Campers discuss and debate natural resources
issues while learning their responsibilities as
citizens.
The camp registration fee, which includes bed,
board and all activities, will cost $235 until
May 21. The fee goes up $20 for registrations
after that date.
Scholarships are available through soil
conservation districts throughout Idaho.
More information about scholarships is available
from Nancy Weatherstone at (208) 888-1890, ext.
102, at the Idaho Association of Soil
Conservation Districts office in Boise.
Other agencies cooperating in the camp’s
operation include the USDA Natural Resources
Conservation Service, Idaho Department of Fish
and Game, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Idaho
Department of Lands, Idaho Soil Conservation
Commission and USDA Forest Service.
More information about the camp is available by
calling Megan Satterwhite, camp coordinator for
University of Idaho Extension, at (208) 736-3634
at the Twin Falls Research and Extension Center
or online at
http://www.extension.uidaho.edu/nrc. |
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