Ohio Forestry and Wildlife Conservation Camp Coming in June

The Ohio Forestry and Wildlife Conservation Camp is starting up again this summer for high school students. The camp has been in operation since 1950 and the co-director of the camp, Jeremy Scherf, says that those who attend the camp come away with valuable lessons.

“They get a lot of exposure to different professions that are out there,” said Scherf. Most kids when they think about working in natural resource they think about park officer or park ranger and there are hundreds of other avenues for them to go in, from stream management, to a forester, to you name it. Each of these kids will be working with these people off-and-on to get that exposure.”

The camp takes places at Leesville Lake in Carroll County and takes in close to 100 campers each year. In addition to learning about wildlife, the camp gives out four different scholarships to three different Ohio colleges that total close to four thousand dollars.

Scherf was a camper in the program when he was younger and said that the experience can change your perception of wildlife.

“I didn’t do so well that first year I was there but the test score at the end of the week isn’t what the camp is about. It’s about having some fun and spending some time outside. Being at camp made me understand a little more that someone could actually pay me to spend my time in the woods,” said Scherf.

The camp will run from June 12-17. For more information about the camp you can visit their website at www.ohioforest.org.