Kids Learn Ecology, Repsect For Nature
Despite bitter cold and heavy snow in past weeks, warmer weather will eventually come, and the State is getting ready by opening enrollment for its annual Summer Camp Program- now in its 67th year.
Run by the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), the week-long camping sessions are open to kids ages 11 to 17 starting June 29.
Environmental education camps are offered for kids 11-13 and Teen Ecology Workshops are offered for teens 14-17.
“For more than six decades, DEC’s environmental education summer camps have nurtured New York’s youth to become stewards of our state’s natural resources,” said DEC Commissioner Joe Martens. “Campers explore the outdoors under the guidance of caring camp staff, learning about the natural world and their place in it.”
Campers will get a chance to participate in activities like fishing, bird watching, fly-tying, archery, canoeing, hiking, camping, orienteering and optional hunter safety education at one of four staterun camps.
The counsellors, who have two years college-level environmental or education courses, also teach campers about conservation techniques.
For the first time in more than two decades, campers age 11-13 can take a trapper education course taught by DEC-certified instructors. The course will be offered July 27-Aug.2 (week 5) at Camp Colby and Aug. 10-16 (week 7) at Camp Rushford.
The week-long sessions will be held at seven camps throughout the state. The cost is $350 per camper, per week.
The camps will offer seven oneweek sessions (Sunday to Saturday), and campers may register for multiple sessions, but the will not be allowed to stay overnight on Saturdays, and parents must make alternate arrangements for the intercession, it was noted.
Sports clubs, civic groups and environmental organizations are encouraged to sponsor children for camp, according to the DEC. Groups that sponsor six campers will receive a sponsorship for a seventh.
Parents may register campers online at www.dec.ny.gov/ education/29.html. Families without internet access should call the camp office at 518-402-8014 for information on how to register for camp alternatively, it was noted.
