At GreenVest, we encourage our employees to take the time to lead educational and outreach initiatives in the communities that our projects serve. Such initiatives have included primary schools, universities, local neighborhood organizations, and camps such as Elks Camp Barrett.
Elks Camp Barrett is home to GreenVest’s Bacon Ridge Branch Stream Restoration Project (the Bacon Ridge Project or the Project), and a regionally significant, 187-acre camp facility within the Chesapeake Bay watershed. The Camp provides an opportunity for personal development through outdoor recreation and education. The Camp hosts a variety of programs for children and adults year-round, hosting thousands of visitors each year.
The Bacon Ridge Project, completed in March 2020, included the restoration of 17,970 linear feet of stream and associated riparian buffer and forested floodplain wetlands embedded within a permanently conserved 28-acre easement. The easement protects the restored ecosystem from development and other anthropogenic disturbances while allowing passive recreation such as hiking, birdwatching, and fishing, facilitating greenspace access and environmental education for visitors in perpetuity. When designing the restoration approach for the Project, the GreenVest Team prioritized creating a natural asset for visitors of all ages. This included creating a biodiverse ecosystem of native flora and fauna; reconnecting the site’s hydrology; and providing safety improvements, including eliminating steep bank heights and rebuilding the Camp’s failed pedestrian bridge. These design choices lend themselves well to outdoor education initiatives. Consequently, for the third year in a row, GreenVest volunteered to train summer camp counselors at Elks Camp Barrett on how they can incorporate the restored stream and the surrounding ecosystem into their summer programs for kids aged 9 through 13.
In June, GreenVest Project Manager, Laura Kelm, led an educational program for Elks Camp Barrett counselors in preparation of the upcoming summer session. The Camp specifically requested engaging lessons that would stand out from the classroom setting of the school year, so Laura developed fun activities that made a lasting and knowledgeable impression. Laura’s primary lesson trained counselors on how to lead their campers through a hands-on stream study program. Counselors used nets to collect fish and aquatic macroinvertebrates in the stream and used ID guides to identify what they found: several small fish and a few types of macroinvertebrates. Their findings illustrate the healthy aquatic habitat that the restored stream is providing across the food web. Additional activities included a macroinvertebrate game to introduce water quality concepts, constructing and testing model beaver dams, and a high-energy game of riparian buffer tag.
Laura’s time spent training the group of counselors will have an exponential impact as the lessons learned are transferred to hundreds of campers and beyond. Educational outreach and community engagement are priorities of the GreenVest approach, bolstering our local impact and project co-benefits. We are proud to take part in advancing nature-based solutions, promoting their benefits, and inspiring the next generation of environmental stewards.
