Two summers ago Camp Tecumseh planted a large area of native prairie grass and flowers. The prairie was doing well enough that Camp decide to do a burn. With Turkey, Kilimanjaro, and Llama standing by with buckets of water, the prairie burned just as planned.

What is the camp prairie used for?

A small section was left for one more year to allow for it to thicken a little more and to give the schools coming in the next couple of weeks a place to do the ‘Meadow Safari’ (part of the Discovering Nature program). Before it was settled, most of Indiana was forest. The Northwest corner of the state was the only area that prairies could be found covering large areas. Camp is also using this new prairie during ‘The Meadow’ trail in Earthship Journey and is also a great backdrop for parts of the Pioneer Heritage program. Another area in the Lake Village pioneer settlement has recently been designated for a second native prairie.

Why Burn???

Managing prairies with prescribed burns has many benefits. Unburned prairies leave a mantle of dead and decaying vegetation. This stifles the growth of the prairie plants and deprives plants of space and light. The burn also helps release the nutrients in the dead vegetation so it can be used by the new growth. The blackened soil heats up fast by absorbing solar energy, thus stimulating speedy seed germination, sprouting and growth. Burning also helps in controlling shrubs that are invading into the prairie. Without burning, many of the prairies would eventually turn into forests.

Prairies are an important part of the ecosystem. Prairies have an abundance of plants, insects, birds, mammals, and reptiles, many of these found only in prairies. The grasses and forbs also provide seed and nectar for insects, butterflies, birds, and small mammals. But to get these benefits, fire must occur to restore the prairie. (http://dnr.wi.gov/org/land/wildlife/articles/prescribed.htm)

Our maintenance crew is hard at work on the new Oregon Pavilion. The pavilion is not like a typical pole barn, it is a large timber building and will fit nicely in the pioneer settlement.  Eventually there will be three-foot high stone pillars that will surround the base of the posts. The stonework will match the stone around the fireplace.  The new Oregon cabins will have the same stone pillars in the front side of the porch.

The pavilion should be able to fit approximately 200 people under the roof.  The primary use of the pavilion will be for our Summer Day Camp Program.  Day camp will use this pavilion as one of their main meeting areas. It will also be a great place to stay out of the rain!

Outdoor Education and Weekend Retreats will use this facility for a variety of things throughout the year.   This pavilion will serve as another option for groups to meet, participate in activities or just hang out.  Groups will gather for campfire programs and picnics inside.

The project should be finished by March and ready for Summer Camp 2010!

The first of the new cabins is well underway in the Oregon Territory section of camp beyond the swimming pools. Sponsored by a special camp friend, it is scheduled to be ready for next summer. This new set of cabins will replace the Oneida and Onondaga cabins built in the 1950s. The design of the building is very similar to those in Lake Village but with extended porch entries with additional seating. It will make a nice area for campers to just sit and talk. Oregon Center has always been a unique part of camp so our new cabins were designed to include some special touches to make them distinctive. We will post pictures as the construction progresses and the features take shape.

Parents arriving on check-in days have undoubtedly noticed how narrow the entrance road to River Village is. After all, it has been essentially unchanged in 35 years.  Camp’s Board of Directors made a decision this year to widen the entry to make it safer for two-way traffic, especially all the buses that bring the 140 school groups per year.  Of course it will be better for van-loads of camper families too.  It will maintain the curve and ‘discovery of camp’ feel at the bottom that we have all come to love. Watch for it when you next return to camp.

Adding the new shoulder paving

Widening the hill curve section of the drive

He’re a song from this morning’s chappel that we do around camp called “Do You Wanna Be Great.”

Download: Do You Wanna Be Great (Monday, Week 1 2009)

Trail riders waiting for their turn or families waiting to pick up their Day Camper will now have a nice place to wait out of the sun or rain. Moms will be able to sit at picnic tables together, youngsters can play checkers. Only fifty feet away is the new Clubhouse play structure! What a great addition to the new Day Camp Entrance.

In less than a month campers who don’t want to be in the sun or in the water during lake-time will have some great options. The new shade shelters and picnic tables provide a shady place to watch the action on the lake, play checkers or other games with friends, or even build a sand castle. It won’t be long now…

Here are a couple of more pictures of the new seating walls and shade shelters at the Richard Marsh Lake!  The seating walls and shade shelters are already being used by school and retreat groups.  In spite of a rainy spring the camp maintenance team has done a great job at getting these done.  Note that the roofs of the new shelters match the design of the Lookout Tower across the lake and the water slide that went up last summer.  The new beach volleyball set up will be placed when the rain stops.  Only 37 days until the first day of Summer Camp!

The plans for waterfront improvements continue! The three new shade shelters are really taking shape. Each will have a picnic table with checker boards so those that don’t want to be in the water or the sun can have some fun in the shade. The crescent shaped walls will make great benches for watching the lake and the sand in between the walls will provide excellent sand castle building areas! Don’t miss it this summer.

At camp we’re always working on some big plans. We are continuing this fall with our expansion and “remodeling” of Marsh Lake which started last year when we added the new large canvas slides.

Work on the lake's new Shade Shelters

A new road to the lake for the work to come

Part of the plan for the Marsh Lake waterfront is to expand our sandy beach and to put in some shady area out of the sun. We excavated some dirt from the hill and gotten much of the foundation poured in, and work is beginning on supports for the actual shelter structure. There should also be some nice places here to sit and play in the sand! It will be a nice place for any adults that happen to make it out to the beach as well.

Maybe not quite as pretty to look at is a new road that is being built to the far end of the lake (close to the Leadership Center). This road is being put in to get ready for some dredging that will make the lake a little bit deeper on that side. That work won’t happen this fall, but we’re getting ready for it. Other work is being done to the North and Northwest of camp to add some sediment ponds that we hope will keep the lake clean and nice to swim in.

A wider view of the lake construction.

There's Whitetail Lodge! Doesn't it look great?

Here’s a wider view of the construction from near the fishing area, and here’s what Whitetail Lodge looks like today. During our Fall Service day this year some great volunteers worked to clean up the growth on hillside which means there is a great lake view from Whitetail!

We can’t thank our donors enough. It’s their gifts that make the improvements of Marsh Lake possible!