The Newberry Soil and Water Conservation District (NSWCD) wrapped up our annual Camp Conservation at the end of June. The five-day summer camp is put on annually at the end of June to have kids ages 6-14 to be outside and up close with nature.
One of my duties as district coordinator is to organize the camp, I worked to put a wide range of activities togethers to teach campers about different aspects of conservation. I rely heavily on presenters for our programs, I try to bring in people who are established in different fields and like spreading that information to kids to do hands on activities.
Each day consisted of at least three different activities and were related to areas such as plant components, wildlife behavior, and water quality. We tried to hit different topics each day, so campers always had something they would be interested in.
Examples of activities include a lesson on vermicomposting, composting with worms and insects, where campers got to dig through active compost to find and identify bugs. Another activity was put on through workers from Palmetto Pride, where they came in and had campers plant flowers and talked about their beautification goals around the state. Then had the kids assemble fishing line disposal bins while talking about litter prevention and how monofilament line doesn’t do well in nature and should be disposed of and recycled in a certain manner.
Campers went off site for a trip to the City of Newberry water treatment plant, where they toured the facility and learned how the water the plant provides is sources, filtered, and cleaned to service its users. They also toured a Timber Resource Inc. timber farm where they learned how they balance planting trees for harvest as well as to maximize wildlife habitat for hunting.
One of the small joys throughout the weeks was seeing how much the kids retained lessons and information. I put on a lesson about prescribed fire, and reducing fuel loads in forests one day, and the next day when we had the Youth Conservation Corp, with the Sumter National Forest, do an activity they asked if they knew anything about prescribed fire and the campers jumped at the bit to tell them what they had already learned.
Camp was not all schooling however, during the week we had ISE America come out and talk about what all goes into getting eggs from a chicken to the table, as well as the different parts of the egg. After their lesson they partnered an activity where campers got to do different field day type games dealing with eggs including who could crack a dozen the fastest without shells.
Other activities including an airsoft shooting trailer from the Clemson Extension Service, and chance to seine and fish the onsite pond, and a tour of the campsite with a wildlife biologist from the Sumter National Forest.
Campers also got to take some of their lessons home, like the homemade water filters they developed with the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources to purify dirty water. That activity was fun because kids got develop their own combination of materials to clean the water, and a lot of them went with a lot of charcoal over other material because they learned the water treatment plant used something that resembled that to clean their water.
Camp Conservation is one of our major education and outreach efforts, and right up there with our movie night on the farm, but it wouldn’t be possible without all our volunteers and partners to come out and be with the kids throughout the week. It helps to provide a fun time and show kids that being outside is a good time and teach them something for them to take into later in life.