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
