She listened, she learned and now she was ready to give it a try. And what Nyiah Nevarez found in Monocacy Creek left her beaming brighter than the early August sun’s rays bouncing off the Northampton County waterway.

“How’d you do that?” “What were you using for bait?” “What kind of fish is that?”

New questions came with each new arrival as word that “Nyiah caught the first fish!” spread up and down the stream to her 20 fellow members of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Bethlehem. She and her hastily released catch—a hefty, white sucker—quickly drew a crowd as Day 5 of DCNR’s Youth Adventure Camp unfolded amid the bucolic setting of a Bethlehem park.

For the 11-year-old sixth-grader and her fellow club members it had been a week of firsts—new destinations, new activities, new friends—and that was the intent as DCNR broadened its urban recreation initiative to introduce more young people to the adventure, natural beauty and learning opportunities found in their state parks. Buoyed by success last summer in Harrisburg and Philadelphia, the DCNR expanded its Youth Adventure Camps to six other urban areas.

Nyiah is very glad they did: “We went to different places and learned fun things every day,” she said, re-baiting her hook for another try. “I think I was a little lucky here, but my favorite day was canoeing. I had never done that before, but the instructors made it so easy to learn.”

Team-building. Photography. Fishing and boating. Topic and teachers varied, but the classroom usually was the same—one of the 117 state parks stretching from Presque Isle in the far northwest to Tyler in the far southeast. For most campers it was their first visit to a state park from their homes in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Harrisburg, Williamsport, Erie, Scranton, York and the Allentown area.

“We know our pilot effort last summer achieved a major goal—to introduce inner-city young people to parks and activities that are often far removed from their neighborhoods,” said DCNR Secretary Michael DiBerardinis. “Most state parks are not in urban areas. These partnerships with cities are opening new opportunities to connect our state parks with urban youth.

“We hope an exciting outdoor adventure will not only make them repeat visitors, but will teach them about diversity in the natural world so, as citizens, they are lifelong stewards and make wise decisions about what our world looks like.”

Sharing that sentiment Aug. 15 on the shores of Monocacy Creek was the Fish and Boat Commission’s Dave Grube, who introduced Nyiah and her fellow campers to the intricacies of bait selection and fish identifications, water safety and environmental awareness.

“There’s nothing like seeing the smile on their face—it’s the biggest-brightest smile you’ve ever seen—when they catch their first fish,” said the commission’s environmental interpretation technician. “We’re hoping to plant the seeds of interest, that’s why we do this. Hopefully these youngsters will go home and stay interested in fishing, get their parents interested, too, so they take them out. With that interest comes a new respect for the waterways.”

The Denver resident’s students had been selected through a unique cooperative effort that saw DCNR working closely with new partners.

Beginning July 21 and ending August 15, Youth Adventure Camps and partners included: Harrisburg, Harrisburg Parks and Recreation Department; Williamsport, Big Brothers/BigSisters of Lycoming County; Pittsburgh, City of Pittsburgh Parks and Recreation Department; Philadelphia, City of Philadelphia Parks and Recreation Department; York, City of York Parks and Recreation Department; Erie, Boys and Girls Clubs of Erie; and Scranton, United Neighborhood Centers.

In the Lehigh Valley area, the call for campers went out from the Boys & Girls Club of Bethlehem. Pitching in to help DCNR co-sponsor the five-day camp was the Emmaus-based Wildlands Conservancy and the City of Bethlehem’s Southside recreation unit.

“We do a lot of similar program like this throughout the year where the intent is to get these youngsters interested in activities and topics that they normally would not do or encounter,” said Kevin Fister, outdoors recreation manager for the conservancy. “Will we do it again next year? Absolutely. I’ve been with them all week and I think it’s been a fantastic program.”

“It was a completely different experience for them, as a lot of the kids never did any of those type activities before -- the canoeing, hiking and biking,” said Mark Atkinson, Bethlehem’s Southside Recreation Coordinator. “The week opened their eyes to how they can help the environment. When they saw litter canoeing on the river, they got a sense of, ‘I don’t like it around my neighborhood; I don’t like it in the river.’”

But, did his young charges have fun while learning?

“I’ve seen a few of them since camp and they’re all saying they can’t wait to go back next year.”

The Bureau of State Parks’ Rob Neitz has been with them two years now, coaching them, occasionally scolding them, cooking for them and supplying shuttle service to distant parks from their sometime mean streets of home. It’s all worth it, he says:

“For me, the most rewarding part of the Adventure Camps is when you get to witness a light go on in the camper as they connect to, and experience an activity for the first time in their life,” said Neitz, who serves as a regional environmental education coordinator. “They may catch their first fish—even if it’s 2-inch bluegill—or scale a climbing wall, or learn to enjoy the sound of nothing but their own footsteps on a hike. My reward is witnessing their sense of accomplishment in participating in an outdoor pursuit you and I might take for granted. That moment might be fleeting, but it’s there, and we don't know what impact that might have on their future. Maybe big, probably small, but it will definitely stick with them.”

As the bureau’s newly appointed chief of outdoor recreation programming, Miranda Crotsley personally visiting each of the eight camps, noting what she termed the “the start of firm partnerships with municipal parks and community centers that now will now continue into the future.”

“Traveling around to camps statewide, I realized that while there were small differences amongst them, they all had two things in common—an incredible impact on the youth, and important partnerships forged,” said Crotsley. “When I see and hear stories about a group of kids who had never stepped foot in the woods before the camp deciding by the end of the week that they want to sleep under the stars, it shows to me what a difference these camps can make.”

(Reprinted from DCNR’s online Resource Newsletter)

8/29/2008