New program gives DuPage kids chance to explore forest preserves

Annissa Williams didn't hesitate to reach into the net she had just used to collect an assortment of insects from the Fullersburg Woods during a new weeklong DuPage County Forest Preserve camp program.

"I found a giant ant," she reported.

Many of the 11-year-old Naperville girl's fellow campers didn't quite share her zeal, though.

"The bugs are the one thing the kids can't seem to get past," said Drew Barczak, a Downers Grove police officer moonlighting as a camp chaperon. "They've been into everything since the beginning, but not the bugs."

Fortunately, insect collection wasn't the only activity planned for the campers. Nearly 100 children between the ages of 6 and 12 from four different county resource centers took part in the pilot program camp that allowed them to explore five of the forest preserve district's properties throughout the week and gain some hands-on experience with nature.

"That's not surprising about the insects," said DuPage Forest Preserve Commissioner Roger Kotecki. "Kids spend so much time in classrooms and in front of video games and meanwhile many parents are afraid to let their kids outside and they've lost that connection to nature. They don't have any experience with insects in their own environment."

Days removed from her trip through the woods collecting insects, Williams remembered the lesson of the activity.

"All animals have a purpose," she said.

Kotecki suggested the district create the camp last summer after hearing a staff report about kids from Chicago participating in a similar program. Most of the kids come from low-income families and live in apartment complexes, district officials said.

"I thought there were probably a lot of kids out here who could use the same thing," he said.

It cost roughly $10,000 to offer the camp, said Marcy Rogge, the district's education outreach manager. The district approached 13 resource centers about the camp, and centers from Naperville, Downers Grove, Lombard and Hanover Park were chosen. The district used funds from its annual golf outing to finance the pilot program that ran last week. Each resource center provided an adult chaperon for every five participating kids. The district also provided transportation for three of the four resource centers.

Each day the campers would visit one of the five sites and then alternate sites throughout the week. "I've talked to the leaders and heard the kids are doing things they've never done before," Rogge said.

At Fullersburg Woods near Oak Brook, they collected bugs and learned about them. At Kline Creek Farm near West Chicago, they learned about farming in the late 19th century and cooked their own lunches. At the Willowbrook Wildlife Center in Glen Ellyn they learned about caring for wounded animals and also learned survival skills by building a shelter out of natural material. At Mayslake in Oak Brook they did some prairie restoration in the morning and after lunch participated in a Shakespeare workshop put on by the First Folio Theatre company that stages performances of the Bard's works at the forest preserve's Peabody Estate.

"What we're really trying to do with this camp is give the kids a flavor of what the forest preserve programming is all about," Rogge said. "First Folio is part of that."

But hands down, the campers' favorite stop was at Herrick Lake near Warrenville where they fished, did some canoeing and also learned about archery.

For most of the campers - and even some of the chaperones - this camp provided them their first opportunity to utilize a bow and arrows. And they couldn't get enough.

"This is the best part," said 12-year-old Alex Dilsworth of Hanover Park. "I want to do it again and again. The other stuff has been fun too, like making the fort out of wood and twigs, but I'd say this is the best."

Chaperon Sufyan Seedat even took a shot at archery, since he'd never picked up a bow before.

"I can see why they like it," he said. "It is actually pretty fun. Plus, there's no walking."

The other activities at Herrick Lake were a hit too. Hanover Park 8-year-old Nick Sarto even began sounding like an experienced fisherman after a morning with a rod and reel.

"I got fish to take my bait, but the pole didn't catch them," he explained.

Directors of the resource centers all gave the camp high marks after the week was over.

"You know the kids are going to love getting out there and trying new things," said Erin Berger, coordinator of the Prentiss Creek Resource Center in Downers Grove, "but they really started getting into the lectures too after they saw what they could do with the information."

Rogge said site managers and rangers will assess the camp's success and she'll report their findings to the commission in the coming months to determine how to proceed next year. However, she's hopeful they'll be able to expand it.

"One of the things we're going to look at is offering the program throughout the summer rather than just one week," Rogge said. "And it's just a day camp now, but we're hoping to add an overnight experience, too."