Camp Fire Central Oregon has launched a new environmental camp for Madras and La Pine this summer called ExplOregon Nature Chronicles, which hopes to target underserved communities that don’t often have specialized summer camps for their youth.

“We really take a lot of pride in the fact that we get to offer a lot of financial assistance for folks — and that’s really our driving force — is giving opportunities to explore outdoor programs, or just any kind of camp programs for families that typically couldn’t necessarily afford it, or if transportation is an issue,” said James DiRosa, the outdoor and environmental program coordinator. “So we try to work with families to give them some opportunities.”

The camp is also seen as an expansion of Camp Fire’s environmental and skills-based Tumalo Day Camp, which has been running in Tumalo State Park for over 30 years.

DiRosa has been with Camp Fire Central Oregon for several years, but creating ExplOregon and working with community partners to get camp sessions set up for the summer has been his main role lately

Learning about watersheds

The weeklong session in Madras’ Sahalee Park was last week, and the session in La Pine will take place in mid-August.

“The Madras camp is especially exciting, because we’ve been able to offer it for $25 for the week, which is a pretty low barrier for folks,” DiRosa said.

He said his biggest worry was getting participants this summer, especially in a community where Camp Fire Central Oregon didn’t previously have any presence.

The Madras session had 22 campers, which eased his worries. DiRosa set up partnerships with the Red Cross and the Jefferson County Library District and they each hosted an activity throughout the week. Campers also went over to one of the schools each day for the free lunch program.

Since it was an environmental camp, there was at least one STEM-focused activity each day, including learning about watersheds, soil types and leaf rubbings, among others.

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The camp also had three interns who worked as camp counselors and helped run, plan and organize the sessions.

Funding from Central Oregon Health Council

The camp in Madras was able to run at such a low cost due to grant funding from the Central Oregon Health Council that paid for operating costs, staff time and program supplies. Camp Fire Central Oregon also used fees from other programs to fund the camp.

Mary Bowker, Central Oregon Camp Fire’s grants manager, said the organization received a community health grant. The health council has priorities, including increasing physical health across communities and promoting individual wellbeing. The summer camps help increase resilience and build a sense of belonging, as well as work on campers’ physical health.

“Their grant funding is specifically for promoting community health,” said Bowker. “The grants in particular are aimed at helping specific communities that would be underserved. In this case, ExplOregon is targeting rural communities that probably don’t have access to programs like this as often as other, more urban environments.”

Since the pandemic, it’s been harder to have structured opportunities for youth, she said.

“(Increased screen time) has kind of elevated this idea of getting youth outside, getting them moving, getting them interacting with each other, as part of a health plan,” said Bowker.

Partnering with the parks district in La Pine

DiRosa partnered with the La Pine Park and Recreation District for the session in La Pine. Essentially, the park district’s regular summer camp will be extended by a week and Camp Fire will host ExplOregon Nature Chronicles for the week of Aug. 14-18.

“It’ll be a lot of crossover. There will be a little difference between the two camps,” said DiRosa. “One of the big differences is we’re trying to work with a local archery organization down in the La Pine area and offer an afternoon of archery for the kids, which would be really exciting.”

Project Good Earth is an environmental-based program that ran last spring for the first time. DiRosa said he essentially took the model and turned it into ExplOregon Nature Chronicles. He plans to run Project Good Earth again in the fall through Amity Creek Magnet at Thompson School and Sisters Middle School.

“We really want to get kids comfortable in the outdoors, whatever capacity that is, so that they then can understand why it’s important to care for our natural spaces, and then eventually they’ll feel a connection to that, and then make a commitment to caring in the future,” said DiRosa.

More information about ExplOregon Nature Chronicles can be found at their website: https://campfireco.org/exploregon/.

More information about how to sign up for the La Pine session August 14 through 18 can be found at the La Pine Parks and Recreation District website: https://www.lapineparks.org/adventuredays.