Friday, October 31, 2014
Tuesday, October 28, 2014
Monday, October 27, 2014
Monday, October 13, 2014
Fall Colors at Camp
Camp Birch woodlands will provide a beautiful backdrop for hikers and scouts of all ages this month as dynamic oranges and yellows will dominate landscapes with near peak fall foliage condition. Get out to camp and enjoy the October events as well as the natural beauty.
Check out more about Fall Color in Ohio through ODNR.
ECOLOGY - CONSERVATION AT CAMP HUGH TAYLOR BIRCH
Saying
the name camp Birch will bring to mind many different things for
different people. Countless youth have been served the outdoor program
at this facility since the nineteen twenties. And many other programs
have been experienced here in our great outdoor setting. The "outdoors"
is basic to the scouting movement. We are fortunate to have a
reservation any BSA council would want. Many don't have any. We are also
blessed with a multitude of eco-systems. There are open fields at camp
Birch, hardwood forest, springs and several streams, a ten acre lake,
and an area of wet woods that attracts migratory waterfowl. Our
varied habitats serve a wide variety of animals, birds, plants, insects
and fish. It is blessed by being in a rural setting, having the variety
of habitats, and by being close to other preserves with their areas of
forest, streams, fields and river. All this makes camp central for the
presence of many species, and attractive to many that pass through.
Basic
to having and keeping our beloved camp is understanding and applying
methods of conservation. Scouts have been conservation minded since
their beginning. Here at camp Birch there is a two- fold need regarding
conservation. One is to preserve what we have for future generations to
use for their varied outdoor programs. The other need is to apply
restoration efforts to bring back what we have lost to non native
invasive flora.
Our
four hundred plus acres are nestled in a larger plot of land, over two
thousand acres, that is made up of the private nature preserve Glen
Helen, John Bryan State Park and the Clifton Gorge State Nature
Preserve. In our efforts to be wise caretakers of camp we are
responsible to our neighbors as much as we are to our heirs and our
present users. All agencies throughout the state face the same issues of
restoration and wise management of natural resources. I like to think
scouts have something extra going for them when it comes to
conservation. That would be the twelfth point of the Scout Law, a scout
is reverent. Some say other points of the scout law would also apply,
but reverence goes to the heart of everything. Knowledge is basic.
Conservation is basic. And reverence, which includes respect, is even
more so and should be a part of what we are as scouts and scout leaders.
This
site is dedicated to providing information and knowledge relative to
all things about camp Birch dealing with ecology, conservation and
natural history. A part of our offerings will be photographs showing what great nature stuff occurs right here at camp Birch.
Hope to see you on the trail.
Jim Sage
Thursday, October 9, 2014
Monarch Butterfly Way-station at Camp Birch
Camp Birch has a student Master Gardener working on establishing a monarch butterfly way-station at camp. This butterfly garden will be behind the Turner Building. The benefits of having this are many. First, we will be helping to save the Monarch butterfly, whose numbers have declined rapidly in recent years. The garden will also be of benefit to all native pollinators. It will be a place where some items of ranks/badges could be earned. It is an opportunity for performing conservation projects.
Robin Houch, the lady behind the project has asked for donations of certain flowers from other peoples gardens - black eyed Susans, purple cone flowers, asters, Joe Pye weed, bee balm, yarrow, mallow and milkweed. Robin works strictly by donations. Please help this lady, and in turn, help Camp Birch.
For more information on Monarchs to to www.monarchwatch.org.
Robin Houch
937-554-9748
rsclifford2002@yahoo.com
Click Here for the Tecumseh Council BSA Website
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