Maintaining Nature
Working at camp, so you can have fun

Visitors to Camp Amity Acres and Camp Sacajawea always comment about the clean and inviting look of each facility. While the land may look untouched, it takes a lot of effort and hard work behind the scenes to make nature look that natural. The unsung heroes of these many projects are the Girl Scouts of the Jersey Shore maintenance staff led by Bryan Ehret, director of property.

Improvements are on-going from fall to spring, ensuring both camps are in tip-top shape for their first encampments, activities and campers every spring.

Caring for Camp

Assisting the maintenance staff are a group of dedicated Girl Scout volunteers who participate in the Caring for Camp program. This spring, more than 260 girls, their families and community members pitched in by raking leaves, planting flowers, building birdhouses and erecting tents. "Helping care for camp helps families feel ownership in each facility," said Joan Basilotto, outdoor program manager. "This active participation gives them a greater sense of responsibility when they are here with their group because they have worked to make the camp as great as it is."

Fanning the Flame of Improvements

Visitors to Camp Sacajawea this year will enjoy the new deck at Lakeside and its new lighting. When they’re hungry, guests will be able to eat at new picnic shelters in the Eagle’s Nest and Brown Owl areas.

Another major project was a controlled burn of 55 acres on the 140 acre-campground.

A controlled burn is essential for the property because it reduces the chance of fire in the summer by accident or lightening strike. The fire stimulates new plant growth by clearing dead trees and plants from the ground.

There is another benefit: wildlife, such as deer and other small mammals, return. The camp also boasts a family of wild turkeys. "They’re back there pecking in the burned leaves," said Ehret.

Zipping Along

At Camp Amity Acres in Waretown, overnight guests will appreciate the six new permanent shelters, which replace canvas tents. The new shelters have wooden sides and canvas doorways in front and back.

"The tents were replaced to make them consistent with the other three campsites on the property," said Betty Lou Cox, director of camping services. In addition, visitors to both facitilities will soon be able to tour camp from the air – zip lines will be available at both camps beginning this summer."

A zip line is an element in a ropes course that helps develop self esteem by accomplishing a task that might have made you nervous," said Cox. "You are attached by a harness to a wire suspended in the air and zip down to the ground below; it’s the ride of your life!"