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)
Camp Tecumseh has two pioneer settlements (River and Lake) on site that are used to host many schools participating in the Pioneer Heritage program. This is a hands on program that brings the Indiana History taught at school, to life as they experience what it might have been like in the year 1811.
During their trip students attend a session about Log Cabin Building. This session highlights the different kinds of buildings that pioneers built, giving ample supervised opportunity for students to have a go at using the tools that were used in the building process back then. Tools such as the draw knife to peel the bark off the fallen logs and the two person saw to cut to the desired length, are both favorites for them.
Time is also set aside to discuss Native American housing. Almost all students know about the Tipi (which Camp T has had on show for many years now), but a much smaller percentage of students know much about the Wigwam and how it differs. We have tried to educate about this through pictures in the past, but … you can do that in the classroom right? So to really educate about it and bring it alive, we all decided that we needed to build one for the students, so that they can actually experience the difference.
This being said, Keith “Kilimanjaro” Kalish and Luke “Llama” Ulrich have donned the pioneer clothes and sharpened the pioneer tools once again to try and make this idea into a reality for thousands of students this coming year. The first wigwam for the River Village settlement has been finished, with the Lake Village slotted to be done before our first group arrives in March.
Not only will this be an educational addition, but it will also serve as a functional shelter for the students should the weather turn south on us.
Tipi’s were mostly used by the native Americans of the great plains. The ease of construction and transportation made it perfect for their more nomadic lifestyle.
Wigwams were used as a more permanent type of housing, which suited the Indiana woodland environment more.
Wildlife is abundant year round at camp, but one of the best seasons to see a lot is the winter. The snow coupled with the absence of leaves on trees makes it (somewhat ironically) come to life for the observer.
The bird feeders are packed all day long with many different types of birds like Cardinals, Woodpeckers, Nuthatch’s, Blue Jays and the odd squirrel (not a bird) hogging the food. Bald Eagles are frequently seen fishing on the Tippecanoe from the back deck of River Lodge. White Tailed Deer can be seen in large numbers crossing main field and through the lake village loop.
Some of our favorites to see though are the River Otters who scurry and swim around the river banks from time to time. Many folks are surprised to hear that we see Otters around here, but they are doing really quite well in this area after their reintroduction to the Tippecanoe in the mid 90’s. Their slinky silhouette and playful behavior make them an unmistakable sight to see.
Being aware of and understanding the wildlife around us is the first step to living alongside it in a responsible manner. It’s a privilege for us to be able to teach people along these lines during their visit.
Hope you enjoy some of the pictures we’ve been able to get as we are out and about.
Tom and Keith from the Outdoor Education staff have been hard at work this winter working on several projects, one of which is a new display for the Nature Center. The display shows silhouettes of several birds found in Indiana as well as the biggest and smallest birds on record. Each silhouette is placed at the perfect height for children and adults to stretch out their wings to compare them to the bird that would have a similar span. Next time you are at camp, check it out next to the bird viewing window.
Camp Tecumseh recently signed on to be a volunteer organization for Hoosier Riverwatch, which is a state-sponsored water quality monitoring initiative. The Outdoor Education staff is heading up the efforts of recording data taken from our very own Ghost Creek that a lot of guests hike to during their stay.
To determine the quality of the water there are three main areas that we have to test:
1) Habitat – flow, depth, land use, shape, erosion, substrate
2) Chemical – temperature, pH, turbidity, dissolved oxygen, nitrate, phosphate.
3) Biological – Benthic Macroinvertebrates (animals you can see that don’t have a back bone and live on the bottom).
Our results are then posted on a web database that can be viewed by anyone and provide information for governmental agencies that are working to protect Indiana’s rivers and streams.
The overall rating for Ghost Creek (which is in the Tippecanoe watershed) was very good, which was encouraging to see as camp has invested some money and effort into improving the water quality in the lake and consequently Ghost Creek.
Probably the most fun part for the students…and us, is when we look for as many macroinvertebrates as we can. Finding these little critters is in itself a good indicator of water quality as many show little tolerance for pollution and findings also reflect the stability and diversity of the larger aquatic food web. Students from Crawfordsville’s Hoover Elementary helped us with this portion and we were able to tie it in with their Earthship Journey program.
As the academic year comes to an end schools are still using Camp Tecumseh as a vibrant outdoor classroom. These students from Mohawk Trails school are enjoying a little recreation before lunch after a morning of exploring Rock Gulch, developing fitness through Body Stretchers, hiking to the Wolves Den, trekking along the Meadow Safari, and much more. In just a few days these students will be replaced with lots of Summer Campers having even more fun!
Soon hundreds of campers in River Village will be working on their Carpetball game!
This week our Outdoor Education program started in full swing again. We welcomed Liberty Intermediate School from Bourbonnais, IL, who have been coming out this time of year now for over 10 years. Bundled up for the winter elements, around 250 students participated this week in two different groups and enjoyed many educational activities. Pioneering helped give them a hands on example of life back in the early 1800s. The students also got a chance to learn about Trust, Problem-solving, Leadership, Self-Confidence and communication through many team building initiatives such as orienteering in Mission possible, climbing the indoor wall at Ziggy’s Gulch, learning winter survival skills like building fires and shelters and completing the Teams course out in the woods. Nature related activities included exploring the nature center and using Microscopes, making dream catchers in nature art and visiting the cow, pigs, sheep and chickens at the mini farm. To round off the whole experience, each student went zipping down the black hole, which can be extra fast this time of year. A great time was had by all.
You can check out more pictures of their experience here.
If you have a school group that might be interested in coming out to Camp Tecumseh to do something similar, you can contact Tom at TomE@camptecumseh.org.
We’re doing some work at Camp T and shortly we are going to be outfitting our very own YouTube channel. We’re going to blow the dust off many of videos we have done over the past three years. Above isn’t a video that we made ourselves but something one of the kids made after attending an Outdoor Education program with her school. If you just do a little bit of searching around YouTube you can find some more really great videos that were uploaded by campers!
Hey, just want to let you know that today is Luciana Miranda’s last day working with us at Camp T. Luciana (a.k.a Luly to most, Lady Bug to School groups and Luly Bagooli to my kids) is heading home to Brazil after 10 months living here away from her family. It will be sad to see her go as she has become a close member of the Tecumseh family and given a lot of herself in order to have a positive impact on the kids.
Luly has loved her time at camp and all the good friends she’s made and groups she has worked with. She also commented that not only has her English improved tremendously, but that she has learned so much more about herself and matured greatly as a person.
We wish her God’s blessings on her travels home, her reunion with her family and quest to become an English teacher. Thanks Luly for all you have done, We’re going to miss you!!
Yes, it is only 13 degrees outside, but that’s not stopping school groups from braving the cold to come to Camp T and take part in our winter program, “Christmas in the Colonies”.
Three different schools from Indianapolis and Munster have been to Camp this past week for an overnight trip to build upon their classroom studies of Indiana History and bring it to life a little. Taking them back to life as it was in 1811, each student has the chance to participate in a very “hands-on” manner, experiencing what it was like to be a pioneer in Indiana’s early history.
Making quilt squares, Christmas cookies, Button zingers and corn husk dolls; dipping candles; caring for animals; attending a pioneer schoolhouse; learning to communicate with the Native Americans using sign language; setting trap lines; and hunting for food are the kinds of things that every student gets the chance to experience at our pioneer settlement.
As well as the educational aspect to the trip, the camp staff (Llama, Lady Bug, Kilimanjaro and Turkey) also take the groups on a tractor/wagon ride around the staff housing to sing Christmas carols to the families, which is then followed by a fun campfire program and hot chocolate before bed.
It is always great to see students spending time away from school, strengthening relationships with each other and the teachers/parents in a completely different environment than they are used to.
In the next few weeks leading up to Christmas, there will be a few more schools that will brave the cold to come to camp. It is a blessing to be able to serve groups year round, even in the cold of winter.
Mar 26, 2010
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.
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