Youth Conservation Camps: WI Land+Water Conservation Camp 2019

This year's WI Land+Water Youth Conservation Camp was held June 17-20, 2019 in Manitowish Waters at the North Lakeland Discovery Center for students entering 9-12th grades. Twenty-five students from across the state attended camp and had a wonderful time learning about conservation stewardship, lots of fun outdoor experiences and making friends. This year's camp had a number of returning campers as well as graduates from Sand Lake camp.

Campers kicked off the week with a canoe and t-rescue lesson, team building exercises, journaling, t-shirt tie dying and building bluebird houses. Other fun activities included a hike to Corrigan's Lookout, learning about terrestrial invasive species and lunch at Lake Superior. The day wrapped up with a hike to Superior Falls' waterfall. Later that night campers had the opportunity to watch two movies, Charlie and the Curious Otters about an Otter rescue and rehab facility and Our Planet, Frozen Worlds learning how climate change is impacting the polar bears, walruses, seals and penguins.

A day long canoe trip down the North fork of the Flambeau River was filled with campers showing off their canoe skills while traversing a few challenging rapids. The lunch break was spent with Sue Reinecke fisheries biologist at the US Forest Service who talked about streambank restoration projects on the Flambeau River. The night ended with tasty s'mores, conservation talk and singing around the campfire. Camp wrapped up with a hands on lesson about bird banding, and an ecology talk and walk through a local bog with Carol Warden, an Invasive Species Outreach Specialist with UW Trout Lake Station. Before campers packed up for their trip home, fishing awards were presented to the campers who showed off their fishing skills throughout the week.

Camp was filled with lots of outdoor activities, learning about conservation stewardship, journaling and making new friends. A special thanks to Iron, Shawano, Portage, Sauk, Langlade County Land+Water Conservation departments and the Green Bay Chapter of Trout Unlimited for providing scholarships for campers. A big thank you to all of the resource professionals who spent time talking about their conservation projects and jobs and to our camp counselors who put a lot of time into developing a fun week of conservation activities. Best of luck to our graduates and thanks for a great week up North!

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