news from Camp Bayou

Use this area to offer a short teaser of your email's content. Text here will show in the preview area of some email clients. Is this email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser. Click here for our e-newsletter- Camp Bayou Buzzzz! Spring 2013 Follow Us On Twitter Friend Us On Facebook Forward To A Friend Canoes at Camp Bayou One of the newest additions to Camp Bayou is canoes! We'll be scheduling guided paddle tours in the near future. Read about this and more in the Spring 2013 edition of the Camp Bayou Buzzzz! What's In this Issue? Upcoming events Photo summary of Winter activities Flyer for Save the Frogs Day Citizen Science opportunities Supporter form- please consider making a general donation or help fund the care of Xerxes, our albino corn snake or help fund replacements for our stolen golf cart batteries

Copyright © 2013 Camp Bayou Outdoor Learning Center, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you expressed an interest in Camp Bayou's quarterly newsletters or attended one of our programs or events. Our mailing address is: Camp Bayou Outdoor Learning Center PO Box 507 Ruskin, Florida 33575-507 Add us to your address book unsubscribe from this list | update subscription preferences

Camp Bayou schedule

What's New at Camp Bayou?

Get ready for some outdoor educational fun at Camp Bayou in the next few weeks! Some activities planned at Camp Bayou include:

- Birding Walk for the Great Backyard Bird Count at 9am, Saturday, February 16. All ages welcome to walk the trails to try to spot all the bird life on the site in one hour. These numbers will be sent to Cornell University to include in their citizen science campaign to take a real-time snapshot of where the birds are. Free.

- Family Naturalist Hour starts at 9:30am on Saturday, March 2. Come out for a butterfly walk to count the butterflies along the trails and in the Butterfly Habitat. Data will be recorded for the Florida Butterfly Monitoring Network, All ages- Free.

- Camp Bayou will host the League of Environmental Educators in Florida (LEEF) mini-conference on Saturday, March 9. Whether you work in a school or park, homeschool your child or just have a love of the Florida outdoors and a passion for sharing your knowledge, consider registering for this event. For adults only- see registration for cost details.

- Light up the Night Hike starts at 7:30pm on Friday, March 15. Start by looking for the Comet Pan-STARRS in the evening sky, then hike- without flashlights- into the deepening darkness along the trails, ending at the campfire for s'mores and night sky stories. $5 donation requested per person; all ages; limited to 20 participants. Contact Dolly to register- 813-641-8545 or campbayou@gmail.com .

- Save the Date for the Spring Open House, Saturday, March 16 from 9am-1pm. Details to be announced but expect the usual outstanding schedule of activities, including trail walks, speakers, nature stations and crafts, information tables from local environmental organizations and the newest favorite game- cockroach races! Free admission.

These events are Be Out There!, Get Outdoors Florida, "Let's GO"- Children and Nature, No Child Left Inside, and Let's Move Outside inspired initiatives.

Camp Bayou is neither a campground nor a summer camp. It was an RV park before the County's ELAP program purchased the land but it is now open for day use only, open to the general public. Through volunteers, donations, membership and grants, the RCDF offers pre-scheduled programs to schools, youth groups, adult groups and families plus it's open from Thursday- Saturday from 9am-2pm for passive recreational pursuits such as wildlife watching, nature photography and trail walks. General admission is still FREE.

The Camp Bayou Outdoor Learning Center is a public- private partnership between Bayou Outdoor Learning and Discovery, Inc. (BOLD), Ruskin Community Development Foundation, Inc. (RCDF) and Hillsborough County Parks, Recreation and Conservation. Camp Bayou is located 3 miles south of SR674 at the end of 24th St SE in Ruskin. More information is on the web at http://www.campbayou.org/ or call 813-641-8545.

Pictured: Dr. George releases the racers at the first cockroach races held at the Fall Open House. Who will win this time?
Photo credit: Becki Stafford

Class Cancelled

Due to insufficient number of registrants, the FMNP class scheduled to start in less than a week at Camp Bayou, has been cancelled. I will try to reschedule it for early in the fall to see if that might be a better time frame for folks who wish to take the class. As always it will be 5 consecutive Saturdays, 8am-5pm. The best way to be sure to hear about it when registration opens is to subscribe to this blog. Enter your email in the box at right.

In the meantime, get out in the Florida outdoors! Coming up in February is the Great Backyard Bird Count , one of the citizen science programs we always try to participate in during the FMNP classes.

The LEEF (League of Environmental Educators in Florida) will have their mini-conference in March. Lots of great learning sessions to choose from and great EE folks to get to know. Not a member? No worries- you can become a member when you register for the conference ! All you need is a love of sharing knowledge about the Florida outdoors. Hope to see you there!

Freshwater Wetlands Registration Open

Camp Bayou is offering the FMNP Freshwater Wetlands module for this year. Registration is now open.
Deadline to register is January 27, 2013. A maximum of 20 students is accepted in each class.

Day 1 (Saturday, February 2, 2013)

8:00am-4:00pm Classroom with powerpoint and video; orientation walk noting 'interpretive moment' stops for supplemental final project

Day 2 (Saturday, February 9, 2013)

8:00am-4:00pm Classroom with powerpoint and video; field trip to Little Manatee River State Park- nature walk with Park personnel.

Day 3 (Saturday, February 16, 2013)

8:00am-4:00pm Classroom with powerpoint and video; field trip TBA- birding with Rob Heath

Day 4 (Saturday, February , 2013)

8:00am-4:00pm Classroom with powerpoint and video; field trip- canoeing the Little Manatee River loop

Day 5 (Saturday, March 2, 2013)

8:00am-4:00pm Final project and 'interpretive moment walk'


A introductory email will be sent to each registrant with more details after the January 27 deadline.

news from Camp Bayou

Camp Bayou Buzzzz! now online! Is this email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser. Camp Bayou Buzzzz!        now online... - Fall highlights - Thanks to 2012 supporters - End of Year donation options - Winners of 2012 Photo Contest - Winter announcements - LEEF conference flyer - and more! Check it out at www.campbayou.org Wishing you the Happiest Holiday and all the best in the New Year! Copyright © 2012 Camp Bayou Outdoor Learning Center, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you expressed an interest in Camp Bayou's quarterly newsletters or attended one of our programs or events. Our mailing address is: Camp Bayou Outdoor Learning Center PO Box 507 Ruskin, Florida 33575-0507