July 1, 2008 — Young people can spice up summer by participating in a Friends of V.I. National Park Eco-Camp at the V.I. Environmental Resource Center at Lameshur Bay, St. John.
"It's an educational summer experience that takes advantage of the island's terrestrial and marine ecology," said Karen Brady, Friends development director. "And they have fun while doing it."
The camps are for children ages 7 to 14. They sleep in cabins with showers and toilets in a central building. They are grouped in the cabins by age and sex, Irving said.
While the camps follow a curriculum, there is also time for play. This is important because today's children live organized lives with little or no time to go exploring on their own, Brady said.
"This is a remote side of St. John with no TV, no video games, no cell phones," she said. "All they have is nature and themselves."
The youths will go on seashore walks and hikes with park rangers, and learn to swim. Those who already know how to swim will learn to snorkel, and those who can snorkel will go on snorkeling excursions.
"Our children are so fortunate they have a national park as a playground," Brady said.
The campers will explore what they learned on their seashore walk in the classroom through the use of microscopes and water tables, said Hilary Maynard, the camp's environmental educator.
A garden demonstration will show how compost made from food and other waste can be used to feed the camp's plants.
"And we use waste gray water to water the plants," Maynard said.
This year the students will learn about sustainability, said Jamie Irving, VIERS manager.
"Sustainability is an important issue wherever you are, but on an island the need for sustainability is magnified, because everything comes in in a cardboard box," Irving said.
The students will receive complimentary copies of Island Peak to Coral Reef, a plant and marine field guide written by local authors Barry Devine and Toni Thomas. They will also get a copy of a book about the national park.
Camp 1 is July 14 – 16, Camp 2 is July 18 – 20, Camp 3 is July 21 – 23, Camp 4 is July 25 – 27, and Camp 5 is July 28 – 30.
Camps are filling up fast, so early registration is prudent, Irving said.
The camps are free to V.I. residents, but there is a $30 refundable registration fee. Campers can opt to donate their registration fee to Friends of VIERS to fund its works. Non residents pay $250, with no additional registration fee.
The Friends expect to spend $33,500 to fund the eco-camps, Brady said. That money will pay for more than 120 youths to attend camp.
To register or for more information, call VIERS at 776-6721 or click here.
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