Alton Jones campus gears up for summer's ecology camps

04/02/09 - In just shy of two months, the University of Rhode Island Alton Jones campus will welcome up to 300 campers for its summer program.The camp, located in West Greenwich, Rhode Island, is composed of 2,300 acres of land and the 75-acre Lake Eisenhower. It includes six cabins that house up to 16 campers at a time, as well as seven classrooms, a dining hall, staff houses, a conference house and a main office.

There are eight one-week sessions that last from June 28 to August 14. Children 5 to 17 years old are encouraged to apply for the camp.

"The programs that we do are environmentally focused," said Herb Blake, the summer program's coordinator for the Alton Jones Camp. "All of our programs have a theme of some type of ecology. We have two day-camps with the smaller children that range from five to eight years old and from eight to eleven years old."

At Woodvale Farm day camp, campers are introduced to a variety of animals including cows, goats, rabbits, chickens, turkeys, sheep and pigs.

"It's on a couple acres of land that used to be a working farm," Blake said. "We get animals every summer, like baby animals."

According to Blake, Woodvale Farm is fun for campers because it allows them to learn and have contact with animals other than household pets.

Eco-Zone Ecology day camp is another section of the camp that allows campers to learn about their surroundings in a relaxed atmosphere. According to the camp's Web site, altonjonescamp.org, campers in this program can attend an optional cookout on the Thursday night of their stay.

"They go more into lessons and have learning experiences which range from going to the pond and looking at some of the creatures that live in the pond, to forest ecology to stargazing or astronomy, they also do a lot of night hikes," Blake said.

According to Blake, campers who are 9 to 13 years old can delve into other exciting topics.

"Basically we cover anything from forest ecology all the way to marine and coastal biology," he said.

The goal of the Alton Jones summer camp is to introduce the importance of the environment to campers in a fun and enjoyable manner.

"The first goal is to get children more interested in nature, to put them back in connection with nature," Blake said. "The second goal is to develop stewardship about the environment. So not only are they getting connected learning about the environment, but they're also learning ways how they can control or help the environment by doing certain things."

This summer, Alton Jones will be offering a CSI program for the first time. Campers involved in the overnight program will have the opportunity to take on the role of an investigator under the title of a 'junior crime scene investigator.'

"We'll set up a mystery for them to solve and then we'll have to actually go out and collect samples and analyze them, just like the show," Blake said.

Investigations will pertain to the dumping of hazardous waste, poaching, etc.

"It's going to be environmentally-focused so we'll probably do such things as things the EPA would have to investigate," Blake said. "Things that are more environmentally-focused, not like murders or things like that."

When they're not spending time in educational settings, campers in the overnight program have the opportunity to relax and play each night. Such activities include night swims, dances and a talent show.

"We usually like to make that time more recreationally-focused," Blake said. "It gives them the opportunity to play kick ball or jump rope or play volleyball.