Forestry camp registration announced

By Tom Purdom
Staff Writer

GRANTS — Kids in Cibola and McKinley counties wanting a unique summer experience should check out the Forestry Camp.

The came is for teens ages 13 through 18 and will be run for five days only, from June 12 until June 17, at Rancho del Chaparral Scout Camp in the Jemez Mountains near Cuba.

Dan Ware, a New Mexico Forestry Division spokesman said to his knowledge no teens from McKinley County or Cibola County have attended the camp. The state forestry camp is actually an outdoor workshop sponsored by the Cuba Soil and Water Conservation District. Ware said resource professionals will work with the young campers to learn about trees, streams, wildland fire, range management, wildlife, geology, archaeology and camping.

Three solid meals a day are served in a main dining hall and virtually everyone at the camp, from the young campers to the counselors and staff sleep in platform tents.

The 2005 Forestry Camp will be the 16th annual camp.

Betty Jane Curry and Peggy Ohler, both members of the Cuba Soil and Water Conservation District came up with the idea for the camp when they saw young people basing decisions about range management and stream health on emotions rather than scientific expertise. After talking to experts in the field, Curry and Ohler held the first camp in 1989. With the exception of 1996 and 2000, when, according to Ware, "There were forest fires in the area in those years so camp was not held for the safety of the kids, the counselors and the staff," there has been a Forestry Camp every year. Counselors arrive in camp on Saturday for an orientation and the teens arrive Sunday. Campers quickly learn that life in a camp is one of shared duties.

The New Mexico Forestry Camp costs $170, which includes a $20 registration fee, if the applicant is accepted. Teens need to fill out an application found online at www.nmforestrycamp.org or by contacting the Cuba Soil and Water Conservation District at (505) 289-3950. Application deadline is April 23, however, if space is available, late enrollees may be accepted.

Teens learn about living in the wilderness as well as about studying the ecology of the wildlands. Not only do professionals teach the teens things, the teens are encouraged to discuss what they learn so the knowledge becomes part of them.

"By the end of the week, campers go home with a better understanding about how nature works and how humans should interact with it," said Ton Haines, New Mexico State Timber Management officer and Forestry Camp staff member.