Day Camp 2000

by Dianne Kixmiller

Seventeen eager day campers (ages 8-10) and two invited helpers, who had been in camp the last two years and were too old to be campers, gathered with water bottles, snacks, sunscreen, hats and hiking shoes. But, most of all, they had wide eyes, open ears, and inquiring minds, waiting, eager to learn about animals and plants of the Missouri forest, meadow, and stream habitats. Jim Reed, Erwin Carney, and I had planned many activities: quiet ones, busy ones, edible ones, and most of all, hikes. Hikes into nature. Hikes to see animals, they hoped.

Would they see a beaver? No, but in and around the White Alloe Creek and other streams in the Sanctuary they saw evidence of past beaver homes: old lake stream banks, plants where small lakes had once been, and beaver teeth marks on gnawed stumps and sticks that were once used for beaver dams. They saw places where beaver might once again make homes. They saw young willow and cottonwood saplings growing near the streams, but were there enough trees for food and shelter for a beaver to return and make a home?

Would they see White Tailed Deer? There was a good chance that they could see deer, because they saw the tracks, trails, and evidence of browsing left by deer. They found food and water sources plenty of shelter to protect deer from people and weather. The campers walked gently and quietly on the trails through the woods and meadow, like Native Americans, so they might get a glimpse of a doe with her fawn, or maybe even an antlered buck!

What about black bear? Were they here? No, not this far north in Missouri they learned, not anymore. Not since human population has grown and forced them out due to loss of habitat. They learned by observation and questioning that bear might survive here, gathering honey from the beehives and berries from the woods.

These were questions and ideas that filled their minds as the children experienced the wonder and awe of the Parkville Nature Sanctuary during their experiences at Day Camp in June of 2000. The campers looked for bees in the meadow around the butterfly garden. They knew bees were here because Lisa Binner came and told them all about her beehives in the Sanctuary and the plants here to provide nectar for the bees to make their honey.

The campers saw a live opossum, a native snake, and a great horned owl, brought to camp by a Lakeside Nature Center representative. The children found places in the sanctuary where all these animals could survive. They dissected owl pellets with tweezers and toothpicks and discovered exactly what the owls had eaten.

There are more varieties of trees and plants in the Sanctuary than the campers ever imagined. On hikes they identified many of them by their bark, shape, location, and leaf shape and size. Crayon rubbings on the vein side of a variety of leaves left beautiful prints in their journals.

Erwin Carney, PNS Committee Chairman, provided all materials, instructions and tools so that each camper constructed a wooden bird house to take home, hang in a tree, and provide a home for a wren or chickadee. Aubrey Keys, day camp helper, gave a talk on the birds that would choose to live in the birdhouse.

Jim Reed, Nature Sanctuary Director, helped the campers identify several different mammal sculls including beaver, deer, and opossum. On his “touch table” was a variety of mammal pelts. He led hikes and helped the campers observe and identify signs of animals.

Amber Ray, PNS Committee member, provided the “historical moment” of each hike, telling the campers stories of past history of the area now set aside as the Nature Sanctuary.

As I taught third graders for 20 years, I learned how much children love to learn about wild animals and how to protect and save them. “Saving a Place for Wildlife” in the middle of a growing metropolis like Parkville is a challenge. Programs of the university and city expand and new homes and businesses are constructed as the city progresses and grows. But the Parkville Nature Sanctuary was once set aside by someone who had a vision, and that same vision is still the basis of the goals of the Nature Sanctuary Committee.

Thank you, Mayor Quitmeier and the Board of Aldermen, for having that vision and for the courage to make a dream a reality. Thank you Jim Reed, the PNS Committee, Boy and Girl Scouts, and others who volunteer their time to work on the trails and projects in the sanctuary. Thank you for the opportunity to provide children a Day Camp, so they may experience the unbelievable awe of a woodland in summer, satisfy their boundless curiosity of nature, and be inspired to dream a dream. Maybe some of those children will grow up to accept the challenge to “Save a Place,” so that their children will also have a place like Parkville Nature Sanctuary Day Camp.