Conservation

Scott C. Yaich, Ph.D.

Ducks Unlimited’s Youth Camps
Nourishing the next generation

Calvin and his ninth-grade partner worked their way to a log in thigh-deep water in the Arkansas greentree reservoir. I encouraged them to scrape their sampling net against the half-submerged stump as they searched for aquatic invertebrates this sunny January afternoon. Lifting the net from the water, Calvin casually poked around the debris emerging from the draining water. Suddenly jerking his finger out of the net, he exclaimed, “Whoa! What’s that? It’s got a huge stinger.”

I smiled at Calvin’s wide-eyed reaction and said, “Good find! That’s a rat-tailed maggot. And it’s not a stinger. You can read about that in the book later when you look at it through the microscope.”

Unfortunately, ongoing changes in our society and land use patterns are resulting in kids today having fewer and fewer opportunities to explore nature. The number of adults with a first-hand knowledge of the outdoors to pass on to the next generation is dwindling, too. This erosion in the understanding of nature among people and their elected representatives could have serious implications for the future conservation of waterfowl and other natural resources.
Ducks Unlimited and its partners are trying to address this challenge the only way it can be done: by cultivating an appreciation for the outdoors and conservation, one student at a time. Calvin is just one of several hundred alumni of Ducks Unlimited’s advanced youth camps. As a DU volunteer and wildlife biologist in Arkansas, I had the opportunity to help coordinate the Arkansas Greenwing Conservation Camp for 10 years. I saw first-hand how important experiences like Calvin’s are to fueling the latent inquisitiveness about nature existing inside most youngsters. It just needs the right kind of nourishment.

Fortunately, others know that that curiosity is waiting to be fed. In addition to Arkansas’ camp, Wisconsin conducts a Duck Camp, California volunteers recently initiated their Greenwing Academy, and DU hosts the Great Greenwing Adventure in Canada. Although each program arose from the independent initiative of DU volunteers, they share many common elements. All are targeted at young teenagers who are selected to attend because of their interest in learning more about waterfowl and wetland conservation.

Support for most camps is a private-public partnership. In addition, camp instructors and counselors are a diverse group of DU volunteers and staff along with professional wildlife managers from state and federal agencies. Vickie Breaw, who first became active in DU through her involvement in the Arkansas camp, remarked that “one of the most impressive things to me as a new DU volunteer was that the camp involves such a dedicated group of professionals gathering together to share their knowledge with an exceptional groups of kids.”

The camps all involve a mix of activities, with some, such as skeet shooting and retriever demonstrations, being mostly for fun. But, the educational components are emphasized. Topics typically covered over the course of several days to a week include: waterfowl identification, behavior, and anatomy; capture and marking techniques; food habits and habitat needs; wetland conservation practices; aquatic macroinvertebrate identification; hunting ethics; and, integration of waterfowl conservation with livelihoods such as farming.

What is called “experiential learning” is a key to energizing the students. In this approach, campers are coached to learn through their own experiences rather than just sitting in a classroom and being told, for instance, how and why rice fields are managed for ducks. Instead, they put on hip boots, walk in a flooded field, talk with the farmer about why and how he does what he does, collect invertebrate waterfowl foods, and then look at them under microscopes. In this way they experience and learn about nature, and, in spite of getting wet and muddy (or perhaps because of it), they have fun in the process.

Why do we conduct these camps? You often hear people say “the youth are our future.” That’s truer in more ways than many realize. Some of the students who have come through these camps are already among the leadership of DU chapters. Some, such as Frank Baldwin Jr., who has already spent time working with the Canadian Wildlife Service, have gone on to college to study waterfowl biology. Others, such as Jenny Foster in Wisconsin and Sunni Comstock in Arkansas, returned to camp as volunteers to help instill their passion for learning among other students. All camp alumni become more knowledgeable about conservation and will be better-informed voters and citizens.

These camps provide youths an opportunity to learn about waterfowl and wetlands that few adults have ever had. Instilling an excitement for learning about conservation and the natural world among the DU members and citizens of tomorrow is some of the most important work we can be doing.
Squinting through the microscope, Calvin said, “That thing’s a tube of some sort, and it sure looks like a stinger to me.”

“ It’s at the wrong end to be a stinger. Read on,” I told him.

Glancing back and forth between the scope and the book about invertebrates, he said, “OK, that must be what they call the ‘caudal respiratory organ.’ I know ‘respiratory’ has to do with breathing, but what does ‘caudal’ mean?”

I explained, “Something having to do with a tail.” Reflecting for a second, his face abruptly lit up with understanding as he said, “You mean that thing breathes through its . . . ? COOL!”

That, in a nutshell, is why all of us love camps—for the excitement of learning or teaching, and, in most cases, some of both.