Eighty Years and Growing
By Noni Waite-Kucera
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| Learning from the past while looking towards the future |
This past summer Eagle's Nest celebrated its 80th season of summer camp and 80 years of experiential education promoting the natural world and the betterment of human character. In those 80 years we have seen a great deal of change and growth and at the same time a remarkable adherence to the original core values that continue to shape the Eagle’s Nest of today, an organization that is home to The Outdoor Academy, Eagle’s Nest Camp and Hante Adventures.
Our world today is more keenly aware than ever before, of the need for our human presence to live more lightly upon the planet. Since the inception of Eagle’s Nest, environmental awareness has been a central component of every program. As highlighted in the 1936 Camp Brochure, “We endeavor even more to awaken a feeling of oneness with the nature world, for we believe few gifts we can pass on to our campers will stand them in better stead throughout their lives than deep-dyed unaffected love of the woods.” While environmental awareness has been an integral component of our programs for many years, we know that there is far more work to do. Not only do we need to be environmentally aware but we need to teach our students and campers to be environmentally active. Eagle’s Nest needs to implement best practices in environmental stewardship on every front in order to lessen our impact on the planet.
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| Zucchini for All! Summer 2007 |
To this end, we are establishing a team of staff, trustees, faculty and students to chart a course of proactive measures Eagle’s Nest can embark upon to deepen environmentally sound practices on our campus, in our classes and in the field. We will address everything; from the food we eat, to the light bulbs we burn, to our wastewater treatment.
Several initiatives are underway already. Our garden program has recently expanded to include a new plot in the old horse pasture. With this expansion we will look for ways to increase our food production and composting on campus to complement our whole foods commitment – a food tradition begun at Eagle’s Nest in the 70’s. Our Chef/Kitchen Manager, Michael Moore, is working diligently to increase the amount of local foods in our already wonderful menus. In Michael’s words, “I have an ideology that great food simply comes from the soil nearest you. Local foods are, in my opinion, far more harmonious to our living diet.” We are excited to have an even bigger crop in the ground this spring and homegrown veggies on the table this summer.
Also underway is an effort that has the potential of greatly reducing our imprint in the Little River Valley. This project is the development of a sustainable method to deal with Eagle’s Nest’s wastewater. We have recently partnered with the engineering firm Cavanaugh and Associates to research methods for wastewater treatment and disposal. We do not yet know where we will end up but the potential is enormous, from wetlands to reed bed filtration to recycled gray water. If you are interested in helping with this project let us know – all ideas are welcome!
We at Eagle’s Nest are very excited to go to the next level in “greening up” and to be the example that our participants, neighbors and the community at large will want to follow. Our 80 years of experience have taught us that in order for us to stay core to who we are and to our mission over the next 80 years, we need to go to the next level in our practices. Stay tuned for further developments…
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