Director's Message:

Off to a Great Start!
 
The sounds of children's voices once again filled the Monkton woods, as the 34th season of Nature Camps got under way. The session was full of excitement and new opportunities for children to experience nature. While some children took a hike along a fern-lined trail and found deer tracks, some found baby toads, and some discovered themselves on the Adventure Challenge Ropes Course. The TA's learned firsthand about farm life, milking cows, shearing sheep, and cleaning and spinning wool. Teens and their TA leaders, along with most of NC Staff enjoyed a fun-filled evening of Folk and Contra Dancing at Lovely Lane Church in Baltimore. Camp Wonder built a fort in the woods, explored faerie homes using mirrors (dental mirrors), experienced the joy of getting muddy, and giggled and grinned while swinging on the big swings. The first session wrapped up with a 'formal' dance as only Nature Camps can host. Translation: this isn't your average prom, people! Campers and staff spent the last afternoon of the session smiling and dancing to live music, a la NC Staff musicians, wearing the most unique collection of formal attire imaginable! 

NC Intentionally Capsizes Children!
 
In this spring's staff ACA canoe training at Eden Mill Nature Center, we added a key component. Six children of staff members, wearing life jackets, volunteered to fall out of canoes. Counselors practiced quick, efficient, and safe ways of getting campers back into the canoes. As in all aspects of Nature Camps adventure programs, we are always looking for ways to improve safety. As the day progressed, counselors became more adept at righting the canoes and getting the children back in them calmly and quickly.
 
Speaking of canoeing, we have relocated our campers' canoeing experience to Deer Creek near Eden Mill. It provides a shadier environment and allows the children to wade safely in protected waters. They have especially enjoyed seeing wildlife while they are paddling, including turtles and ducks, and popping in to visit the Nature Center.

Preserving the Legacy, Embracing Change
 
Nature Camps is pleased that the Gunpowder Youth Camps property has been sold to Al Henneman. Recently, Al sent the following letter:

 Hi, Nature Camps Families,
 
My name is Al Henneman, and I just recently purchased the 228-acre property formerly known as Camp Alkor and Camp Kalor. I am going to rename the camps RUNNING BEAR and DANCING BEAR (my wife Suzie is a dancer). I am "IN LOVE" with the property. I love the woods, the stream, the river, the animals . . . I have paid a huge amount of money to preserve the beauty of this land and I intend for this property to stay with my family forever.
 
My mission is simple, I want to have as many children as possible leave their computers and video games to become one with nature on this magnificent property. My Labrador retrievers and I walk the land almost daily; and they started their swimming in the Gunpowder in January while I am just about ready to join them now in late June.
 
I started working to beautify the camps about a month ago. The bathroom at Dancing Bear is being restored and painted inside and out. Who could have been so thoughtless as to have covered this building with graffiti? I have an extensive list of projects that need to be completed to raise the camp property to much higher standards. I am currently covered with flecks of blue and white paint - I am not a watcher, I am a doer!
 
Don Webb's NATURE CAMPS have been a fixture on this land for decades. It is my sincere hope that the camp will continue its great work with young children eager to learn about and explore nature. That said, I must in all honesty say that the property must be shared with several other programs that I hope to bring to the property next summer. If it is meant to be, NATURE CAMPS will always have a place here to call home.
 
I intend to spend a lot of time here this summer, and I would enjoy the opportunity to speak with each and every one of you.
 
Sincerely,
Al Henneman