Displaying items by tag: Nature camp

How to Use the Plan 

Wisconsin’s Plan for Environmentally Literate and Sustainable Communities is 
not an organization, but rather a document that serves as the state strategic plan 
requiring partnerships and collaboration . It is designed to serve as reference 
material for individuals, businesses, and communities . Those who influence 
environmental literacy and sustainability in Wisconsin such as community 
leaders, traditional and non-formal educators and administrators, resources 
developers and providers, policy makers, funders and researchers will find the 
Plan useful as a guide in setting priorities and making decisions . Over the course 
of the next decade, the Plan’s desired outcomes will be central to environmental 
literacy and sustainability efforts across the state . As Wisconsin people work 
toward achieving the four main outcomes of the Plan, this document can help 
guide attitudes, planning, actions, and endeavors . 

• habitat loss and degradation
• overharvest of wild turtles for food, traditional medicines, and pets
• mortality from roads, agricultural machinery, fishing bycatch, and predators
• invasive exotic species and diseases
• loss of unique genetic makeup due to hybridization
• climate change

• A downloadable turtle photo calendar for each month, including a photo contest – your photo could be in the calendar!
• Information about turtle conservation efforts and groups, and how you can help
• Interviews with turtle experts, and answers to selected questions that YOU send us!
• Information on how you can help spread the word about turtles
• Educational materials
• Turtle art, poetry, and cultural information
• ... and much, MUCH, more!
• At Swift Nature Camp you can learn more with hands on studies with turtles.

Summer camp is all about making relationships and connections while many of the other gifts given these days isolate children from each other. instead this year give the gift that will reconnect them.
 
Consider giving your children the gift of CAMP! Camp doesn't need wrapping and its batteries won't wear out. And, unlike this year's hot, new toy, it is a gift your kids will remember well into adulthood ... we promise!
 
And camp will bring them other wonderful gifts, such as confidence, independence and self-discovery. Not to mention the gift of summer friendships.

It's true that we all have our moments in which we just want to chill out in front of a lit-up screen. But summer is an ideal time for your child to take an extended break from all the electronics and become immersed in the real world, in realtime with real experiences and real opportunities for genuine growth. It is the ultimate 24/7 playdate -- and it is the ultimate gift you can give your child.
 
Yes, gift certificates are available please give us an email or call so we can get it to you in time for the Holidays.
 

DISTRIBUTION AND HABITAT: Eurasian milfoil first arrived in Wisconsin in the 1960's. During the 1980's, it began to move from several counties in southern Wisconsin to lakes and waterways in the northern half of the state. As of 1993, Eurasian milfoil was common in 39 Wisconsin counties (54%) and at least 75 of its lakes, including shallow bays in Lakes Michigan and Superior and Mississippi River pools.
Eurasian water milfoil grows best in fertile, fine-textured, inorganic sediments. In less productive lakes, it is restricted to areas of nutrient-rich sediments. It has a history of becoming dominant in eutrophic, nutrient-rich lakes, although this pattern is not universal. It is an opportunistic species that prefers highly disturbed lake beds, lakes receiving nitrogen and phosphorous-laden runoff, and heavily used lakes. Optimal growth occurs in alkaline systems with a high concentration of dissolved inorganic carbon. High water temperatures promote multiple periods of flowering and fragmentation.
LIFE HISTORY AND EFFECTS OF INVASION: Unlike many other plants, Eurasian water milfoil does not rely on seed for reproduction. Its seeds germinate poorly under natural conditions. It reproduces vegetatively by fragmentation, allowing it to disperse over long distances. The plant produces fragments after fruiting once or twice during the summer. These shoots may then be carried downstream by water currents or inadvertently picked up by boaters. Milfoil is readily dispersed by boats, motors, trailers, bilges, live wells, or bait buckets, and can stay alive for weeks if kept moist.
Once established in an aquatic community, milfoil reproduces from shoot fragments and stolons (runners that creep along the lake bed). As an opportunistic species, Eurasian water milfoil is adapted for rapid growth early in spring. Stolons, lower stems, and roots persist over winter and store the carbohydrates that help milfoil claim the water column early in spring, photosynthesize, divide, and form a dense leaf canopy that shades out native aquatic plants. Its ability to spread rapidly by fragmentation and effectively block out sunlight needed for native plant growth often results in monotypic stands. Monotypic stands of Eurasian milfoil provide only a single habitat, and threaten the integrity of aquatic communities in a number of ways; for example, dense stands disrupt predator-prey relationships by fencing out larger fish, and reducing the number of nutrient-rich native plants available for waterfowl.
Dense stands of Eurasian water milfoil also inhibit recreational uses like swimming, boating, and fishing. Some stands have been dense enough to obstruct industrial and power generation water intakes. The visual impact that greets the lake user on milfoil-dominated lakes is the flat yellow-green of matted vegetation, often prompting the perception that the lake is "infested" or "dead". Cycling of nutrients from sediments to the water column by Eurasian water milfoil may lead to deteriorating water quality and algae blooms of infested lakes.

CONTROLLING EURASIAN WATER MILFOIL: Preventing a milfoil invasion involves various efforts. Public awareness of the necessity to remove weed fragments at boat landings, a commitment to protect native plant beds from speed boaters and indiscriminate plant control that disturbs these beds, and a watershed management program to keep nutrients from reaching lakes and stimulating milfoil colonies--all are necessary to prevent the spread of milfoil.
Monitoring and prevention are the most important steps for keeping Eurasian water milfoil under control. A sound precautionary measure is to check all equipment used in infested waters and remove all aquatic vegetation upon leaving the lake or river. All equipment, including boats, motors, trailers, and fishing/diving equipment, should be free of aquatic plants.
Lake managers and lakeshore owners should check for new colonies and control them before they spread. The plants can be hand pulled or raked. It is imperative that all fragments be removed from the water and the shore. Plant fragments can be used in upland areas as a garden mulch.
DNR permits are required for chemical treatments, bottom screening, buoy/barrier placement, and mechanized removal.
Mechanical Control: Mechanical cutters and harvesters are a common method for controlling Eurasian water milfoil in Wisconsin. While harvesting may clear out beaches and boat landings by breaking up the milfoil canopy, the method is not selective, removing beneficial aquatic vegetation as well. These machines also create shoot fragments, which contributes to milfoil dispersal. Harvesting should be used only after colonies have become widespread, and harvesters should be used offshore where they have room to turn around. Hand cutters work best inshore, where they complement hand pulling and bottom screening. A diver-operated suction dredge can be used to vacuum up weeds, but the technique can destroy nearby native plants and temporarily raise water turbidity.
Hand pulling is the preferred control method for colonies of under 0.75 acres or fewer than 100 plants. The process can be highly effective at selectively removing Eurasian water milfoil if done carefully; special care must be taken to collect all roots and plant fragments during removal. Hand pulling is a time-consuming process.
Bottom screening can be used for small-scale and localized infestations on sites with little boat traffic, but will kill native vegetation as well. The bottom screens are anchored firmly against the lake bed to kill grown shoots and prevent new sprouts, but screens must be removed each fall to clean off sediment that encourages rooting. Buoys can mark identified colonies and warn boaters to stay away. Bottom screens may exacerbate a milfoil population once removed, because Eurasian water milfoil will readily re-colonize the bare sediment.
Whenever possible, milfoil control sites should become customized management zones. For example, milfoil removal by harvesting can be followed by planting native plants to stabilize sediments against wave action, build nurseries for fry, attract waterfowl, and compete against new milfoil invasions.
Chemical Control: Herbicide treatments are commonly used to control Eurasian water milfoil. While no herbicide treatment is completely selective for milfoil, timing treatment early in the spring as soon as water warms helps limit unintentional harm to native plants. Herbicide treatments are most effective combined with vigilant post-treatment monitoring and non-chemical controls such as hand-pulling milfoil as it returns. When used carelessly, chemical treatments can be disruptive to aquatic ecosystems, not selective in the vegetation affected, and can cause more harm than good.
Biological Control: Eurhychiopsis lecontei, an herbivorous weevil native to North America, has been found to feed on Eurasian water milfoil. Adult weevils feed on the stems and leaves, and females lay their eggs on the apical meristem (top-growing tip); larvae bore into stems and cause extensive damage to plant tissue before pupating and emerging from the stem. Three generations of weevils hatch each summer, with females laying up to two eggs per day. It is believed that these insects are causing substantial decline in some milfoil populations. Because this weevil prefers Eurasian water milfoil, other native aquatic plant species, including northern water milfoil, are not at risk from the weevil's introduction. Twelve Wisconsin lakes are currently part of a two-year DNR project studying the weevil's effectiveness in curbing Eurasian water milfoil populations. The fungus Mycoleptidiscus terrestris is also under extensive research.

Please pardon the amazing delay in getting you your weevil project results.  I have some preliminary results, and will send you a copy of the complete report to be filed with the DNR when that is finished (February).  

I have attached the counts from the subsamples I collected from some of the tubs during our release day.  The results were below what we expected to raise, with tubs producing only 40-200 weevils each, rather than 670 each, but please do not be disappointed.  The temperature records Emily kept gave me a lot of good information to look at.  Your temperatures in the tanks averaged 71F, which is cooler than what we planned on (77F), probably due to the shadiness of the site.  What this tells me is that your weevils' development was probably happening much slower than what we expected.  My observations of the samples also found that the stems were in poor condition, possibly also an effect of the shadiness of the site.  

But, hey, in spite of those unexpected problems (and the problem of having to hunt and search for milfoil stems!) we still released 1248 weevils to the lake, and that's nothing to sneeze at!  So thanks again for all your hard work and being part of this pilot study.  We will continue to work out the kinks in this protocol to make it truly achievable to the lake groups who need it.

Thanks!

Amy Thorstenson
Executive Director/Regional AIS Coordinator
Weevil_counts_Minong_Rearing_Tubs_Aug2011

Hi Swift Nature Camp
I asked Amy how the other groups did in their weevil rearing project for 2011.  None of the three groups had great success rates.  You saw her report on ours, Holcombe got their tanks too hot and Amy thinks the weevils developed faster than they could feed them, so they starved.  Goose Lake ended up not collected the right species of milfoil, again causing their weevils to starve.  So I guess we all learned something. 

Amy is exploring the possibility of applying for another DNR research grant to fund another program in 2012.

So that begs the question. Do you want to try and raise weevils again?  This means having to collect (and bundle) more EWM in 2012.  EWM that we are not even sure we will have.  Plus with the potential drawdown occurring sometime this year (hopefully late fall) that may have a negative impact on the weevils.  If the drawdown occurs in stages beginning in September or October we would likely be fine.  Plus we are planning a smaller EWM treatment this year so should be able to find EWM more easily.

We have the equipment, but do we have the desire?  I would again help to support it, but would want to include some money in the new grant application to do so.  Most of the money added would go to my summer technician so the costs would be much less than if I charged all my time.  He could then help collect EWM, even help bundle if necessary.

Please let me know your opinions as soon as possible.  No need to mess with it in the grant stuff, if there is no desire to try it again.  Personally, I think we should, but I am just one in a bunch that need to make that decision. 

Dave Blumer  |  Lake Scientist

DAVE 
AS YOU KNOW SWIFT NATURE CAMP IS ALWAYS WILLING TO HELP. 
PLUS, IT IS A WONDERFUL LEARNING EXPERIENCE FOR OUR CAMPERS.
Jeff Lorenz

Our kids will need to find a way to reconnect with our natural environment to become participants in a global effort to restore ecological balance. Environmental awareness begins with a sense of personal connection to nature. 

How do parents bring back balance to a child’s experience? One answer has been around since the 1920’s: summer camp. Modern summer camps can guide kids back into a natural alliance with nature through the pure fun of movement. The challenges of summer camp are fun rather than stressful, but they are no less effective for developing a child’s sense of confidence and independence.

One good example of a modern “green” summer camp is Swift Nature Camp near Minong, Wisconsin. The directors have developed policies that promote camper experience perfectly attuned to the needs of the times, without sacrificing the great fun and memorable friendships that are the classic benefits of summer camp.

Jeff and Lonnie Lorenz, directors of Swift Nature Camp, begin with their policy on electronic devices. “We do not permit cellular phones, BlackBerries, pagers, radios, iPods, cassette or CD players, laser pens, TVs, Game Boys or digital cameras. They simply are not what camp is about.”

Swift Nature Camp combines traditional camp activities with ways to immerse themselves in and learn about nature is likeliest to succeed in inspiring environmental awareness in campers.

Signing up far ahead of time is important. The first thing to do when selecting a kid summer camp is to look at your child’s needs and wants. Will they thrive in a sports camp or a general camp. What do they want from their summer? Skill building or building friendships?
 

Summer camps

should be a complete departure away from teachers and a time for mentors to step in. The essence of the best camps are imaginative, experienced and quick witted people who staff them. These mentors shape up the milieu of the camp so that every camper brings life lessons learned when he or she returns home. The experience which is gained and the knowledge acquired in every case go a long way in shaping up the overall persona of the person a camper becomes.

Kids Summer Camp

is a resource with more focus on arts and crafts with special regard to environmental consciousness. Kids go on from camp refreshed, delighted and full of experience when they return to regular classes in the fall.  The exposure that summer camps offer a child will stay with the camper for the rest of a life as the wisdom that can only come from experience. How can parents with a good grasp of what is good for their kids find the right camp? The best place to search for obtaining precise information is of course the World Wide Web.

With a bit of patient research on the internet, you can easily lay your hands on some resourceful data. Parents might assume that if they are paying a higher rate for the kid summer camp that the child will return home with more education. They disregard the fact that the true meaning of summer camps is all about the experience. With the guided presentations of web program directors, the best traditional camps included have woken up to the archetypes involved in the whole process.

Parents ought to seek the best professionalism from persons representing summer camps. There is always a lot of apprehension and questioning for parents in terms of pros and cons their child will face in every social situation life brings. But the right kid summer camp is a good opportunity for every camper to socialize at a level which encompasses every facet of life.