A Beautiful Morning for Science!

Nature lovers of all ages explored the preserve to find butterflies, birds, aquatic invertebrates, frogs, and plants during the USA Science and Engineering Festival Satellite event held on Saturday, October 23 at Camp Bayou Outdoor Learning Center in Ruskin.  Between hourly walks, folks made pine cone bird feeders, butterfly puppets, beautiful drawings of critters and cuttings of potted native plants to grow at home. At noon, participants enjoyed solar hot dogs, sun iced tea and solar s'mores prepared in the solar oven. Learn more about the USA Science and Engineering Festival . This event is also a Be Out There!, Get Outdoors Florida, a Children and Nature and No Child Left Inside inspired initiative. Camp Bayou is nether a campground nor a summer camp. It was an RV park before the County's ELAP program purchased the land but it is now open for day use only, open to the general public. Through volunteers, donations, membership and grants, the RCDF offers pre-scheduled programs to schools, youth groups, adult groups and families plus it's open from Thursday- Saturday from 9am-2pm for passive recreational pursuits such as wildlife watching, nature photography and trail walks. General admission is still FREE. The Camp Bayou Outdoor Learning Center is a public- private partnership between the non-profit Ruskin Community Development Foundation, Inc. (RCDF) and Hillsborough County Parks, Recreation and Conservation. Camp Bayou is located 3 miles south of SR674 at the end of 24th St SE in Ruskin. More information is on the web at http://www.campbayou.org or call 813-641-8545. ### Pictured: Tour participants check out the bees during the pollinator walk Photo credit: Frank Cummings

original announcement: http://campbayou.blogspot.com/2010/10/media-release-event-10-23-10.html