Televisions off, nature on

June 5, 2007

By Will Elliott/Frontiersman

PALMER - If you ask most Valley kids whether they'd like to trade a week of summer vacation for classes in geology, ecology and anthropology chances are they'd politely decline the offer. But if you hold those classes in the woods near Palmer, then throw in hiking, camping and hands-on experiments you might get a different answer.

Trailside Discovery Camp will celebrate its 25th anniversary this year with five week-long sessions at Spring Creek Farm in Palmer, an Alaska Pacific University (APU) campus. As a program of non-profit Alaska Center for the Environment (ACE), the camp combines environmental studies and social growth. That means while students are learning about nature, organizers say, they're also developing the better parts of human nature through team-building activities and leadership.

&#8220Our main goal is to get them outdoors to have fun and be active,” said Tom Burek, director of the program for ACE. &#8220But through the social aspects, they learn some things they'll use all year.”

Each week the camp offers a different program for kids 6 to 12 years old. Some focus on a single environmental studies subject. For example, the Geology Surveyors session inquires into the planet's past through fossils and mineralogy.

The Spring Creek Expedition session sends students on a scientific mission to determine the health of the Spring Creek watershed in Palmer, while for the Woodland Wizards session, students will investigate mushrooms and edible plants.

Other programs focus on outdoor skills, teaching woods wisdom through hikes and camping.

The Survival Challenge session covers animal tracking, building shelters and living off the country, while the Alaska Quest II session takes students on a multi-day campout at Eklutna Lake.

Trailside outreach director Eric Stuart says these sessions are a far cry from boring classes. Throughout the sessions, students learn first-hand and in the field, not through textbooks. Most importantly, Stuart said, the emphasis is on fun and staying active.

&#8220Our motto for this year is ‘No Child Left Inside,'” Burek said.

Students come away from these sessions with a depth of knowledge that may seem surprising, according to Burek. &#8220Parents will come back and tell me they're amazed at the things their kids tell them on camping trips,” he said, about bear safety, wild plants, and other subjects covered on the courses.

The camp also combines its social and environmental aspects with stewardship. &#8220Youth like to feel as though they are making a positive impact in their worlds,” the camp's Web site explains, hence the service work. Past projects have included tree planting, trail maintenance, and streamed erosion control.

Besides the obvious benefits of encouraging learning and physical activity, Burek said, the camp can also have an effect on students' psychological health.

Two recent University of Illinois studies of children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) concluded that playing in a natural, green setting reduces children's ADHD symptoms. Activities in paved settings or indoors were worst for ADHD symptoms, the studies showed.

&#8220In a time when kids are spending more and more time indoors, in front of the computer or the TV, it really helps to get them outside,” Burek said. &#8220At Trailside, they experience direct, meaningful contact, instead of experiencing everything secondhand through media. And the studies show that helps them be more calm, more relaxed.”

Burek suggested the camp benefits the community in other ways. For one thing, when kids know more about their community and environment than their parents do, it gives them something on which to base a sense of ownership and commitment to that community. In this case, familiarity breeds concern.

&#8220Those competencies and skills go on to serve them throughout life,” Burek said. &#8220It's not just environmental.”

Accredited by the American Camp Association, Trailside Discovery Camp is the largest environmental education and adventure camp in Alaska. Instructors are professionals, and most this year are Valley residents enrolled in the graduate Outdoor Studies program at APU. Cost for the five Valley sessions is $130 per week, though scholarships are available. Outside the Valley, Trailside Discovery Camp offers 45 additional sessions in Anchorage and elsewhere, from day programs with preschoolers to extended climbing and kayaking trips for teens.

Sessions begin each morning and end in the afternoon, with daycare available before and after. Students can sign up now for the July through August dates by calling 907-274-KIDS.

Contact Will Elliott at 352-2252 or will.elliott@frontiersman.com.