The Central PA Conservancy Tuesday announced its annual youth conservation leadership camp, the Goddard Leadership Legacy Institute, an innovative, residential conservation leadership program from July 10-15 for ages 13-15. 

This program provides students in rising 8th, 9th, and 10th grades with opportunities to become immersed in the natural, scenic, historic, agricultural, and recreational resources of the South Mountain Landscape while learning about its key role and impact as part of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed.

Up to 20 students will be selected to participate in this weeklong program.  The deadline for applications is June 4.

Students will bring back important lessons about their watershed as well as leadership and volunteer service.

This program is a partnership between the Central PA Conservancy and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation-PA. Students will reside at the Ironmaster’s Mansion at Pine Grove Furnace State Park in Cumberland County for the first half of the week and finish the week on an extended field visit to the Chesapeake Bay.

At Pine Grove, students will learn about regional history and Pennsylvania’s conservation heritage as well as important connections between Pennsylvania’s headwater streams and the Chesapeake Bay.

Students will engage in high adventure through team-based activities that include rock climbing, rappelling, and tyrolean traverse at Pole Steeple. Students will also complete a community service project for the park by planting a riparian buffer along Mountain Creek and constructing rain barrels near planting beds in the park.

At the Chesapeake Bay, students will explore the Karen Noonan Memorial Environmental Education Center and 20 acres of marsh in southern Dorchester County, Maryland.

Participants will encounter pine forests, underwater grass beds, and native oyster reefs that surround the center as well as the nearby Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge, one of the largest tidal wetlands on the East Coast.

On the final day, students will have the opportunity to interact with other student leaders from Chesapeake Bay Foundation-PA programs and present a display at CBF’s “50 Forward” Event to celebrate the Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s 50th anniversary.

The cost is $350 per student and there are a number of scholarships available.

The GLLI is coordinated by the Central Pennsylvania Conservancy in partnership with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation-PA, Pine Grove Furnace State Park, and the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.

Key funding partners include the Chris Thorpe Foundation, the Kate Svitek Memorial Foundation, the Friends of Pine Grove Furnace State Park, the Cumberland County Conservation District (scholarships), and Appalachian Audubon (scholarships).

To learn more about this program and scholarship opportunities, visit the Goddard Leadership Legacy Institute website.  Questions should be directed to Anna Yelk, Executive Director, Central PA Conservancy 717-241-4360 or send email to: ayelk@centralpaconservancy.org.

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[Posted: April 12, 2017]

4/17/2017