Applications are now being accepted for the 12th annual Rivers Conservation and Fly Fishing Youth Camp being held June 17-22 at the Allenberry Resort in Boiling Springs, Cumberland County, according to Camp Chairman Rod Cross.

Applications must be received by March 15.

The purpose of the camp is to educate students in the importance of coldwater conservation.

“We expect to receive numerous applications once again this year,” Cross said. “It is important for students to understand that it is an honor to be chosen for this elite camp.”

According to Cross, the selection of 32 students is a rigorous process, which requires students to include an essay on why he or she wishes to attend.

“By selecting leaders in high school today, it is believed that they will be the leaders of communities for years to come,” Board Member Clark Hall said. “It is important for them to recognize the value of clean water and how it relates to every day life. The curriculum has been structured to provide the necessary foundation for that education.”

The college-level classes include: principles of ecology, hydrogeology, aquatic vertebrate and invertebrate sampling, hydrology, trout behavior, trout stream entomology, the biology of pollution, acid deposition, and the politics of conservation and the effects of humans on the Chesapeake Bay.

In addition, the camp provides hands-on classes such as fly tying, fly casting, streamside ethics, angling literature, the evolution of an angler, wader safety and survival, and streamside botany. The students will also participate in a watershed project to repair habitat in a stream.

According to Cross, the camp faculty includes people from various environmental fields and from state agencies such as the Fish and Boat Commission, the Department of Environmental Protection and the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.

“One faculty member, in particular is Dr. Robert Behnke of Colorado State University who is considered the foremost trout biologist in the world,” Cross said.

The camp is limited to 32 selected, qualified students, aged 14 to 17. The student must have been born between June 22, 1989 and June 17, 1993 to qualify. The camp selection committee will choose students based upon each candidate’s qualifications and their desire to attend as stated in the required essay.

For the first time this year campers who are working toward achieving either a fishing merit badge or a fly fishing merit badge with the Boy Scouts may complete the requirements for those badges at the camp.

For more information or to receive an application, contact Mike Klimkos at 717-243-3056, or via email at klimkos@epix.net ; Rod Cross at 717-263-0365; or visit the Fly Fishing Camp webpage.

1/26/2007