Camp Bayou's Spring Fest celebrates 25 years!

Join Camp Bayou as it welcomes Spring and celebrates our 25th anniversary with some fun activities on Saturday, March 23 from 9am-noon. Some of the activities you can expect include nature activity tables, trail walks, tomato seedling giveaway, plant swap (no invasives, please) and cart tours.

Schedule of Events:
9am open
9:30 Cart tours begin
10:00 Fire Hike
10:30 Butterfly Habitat Q&A
11:00 Native Camp Tour
11:30 Fishing Cabin Talk
Noon ends

Joining us for morning shenanigans are the Paleo Preserve Fossil Museum, Raptor Center of Tampa Bay, Manatee Viewing Center, Little Manatee River State Park and Florida Forestry Service.

No registration required and it’s free! Come out and experience all that Camp Bayou has to offer.

While you are marking your calendar, save the date- Saturday, April 13- for a night paddle to explore the Little Manatee River after dark- without flashlights! Canoes and kayaks are available for $25 per boat; $5 if you have your own vessel. Plan to arrive by 7pm to be out on the water by 7:30pm. Registration required, email campbayou@gmail.com or call the office 813-641-8545. Camp Bayou continues to offer day paddle trips on the first and third Saturdays each month at 9am, reservations required.

Camp Bayou Outdoor Learning Center is neither 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, supporters and grants, the managing non-profit- B.O.L.D. - offers pre-registered programs to schools, youth groups, adult groups and families. The Center is open from Thursday- Sunday from 9am-2pm for passive recreational pursuits such as wildlife watching, nature photography and trail walks.  General admission is still FREE.

For those who are interested in helping with registered groups, Camp Bayou is looking for enthusiastic volunteers who love the outdoors and want to pass along that passion to others through hands-on activities, walks and canoe tours, as well as help with maintenance and exhibits. Contact Becki at 813-641-8545 or fill out the form at campbayou.org. We are mainly looking for folks to help teach school groups K-6 but there are other opportunities as well.

The Camp Bayou Outdoor Learning Center is a public- private partnership between Bayou Outdoor Learning and Discovery, Inc. (B.O.L.D.), and Hillsborough County Conservation & Environmental Lands Management. Camp Bayou is located 3 miles south of SR674 at the end of 24th St SE in Ruskin. Check out the Camp Bayou Facebook page and, for more information, visit the website at http://www.campbayou.org/ or call 813-641-8545.

 

A Camp Bayou Summer

School is in session but summer is still going strong. The heat may have kept folks indoors but Camp Bayou is ready when you are with new additions to the Center.

Thanks to a Bay mini-grant from the Tampa Bay Estuary Program, Camp Bayou now has a new collecting pond for use during youth nature programs. For groups with limited time, students can now go critter netting without getting their feet wet. Aquatic plants, both native and non-native, will demonstrate some environmental issues and a rain gauge will provide an opportunity for monitoring precipitation for a citizen science program. The Bay mini-grant also provided funds to purchase 3 new kayaks that will be used as observation platforms, along with our existing canoes, for smaller reserved groups to discover wildlife along the river.

The golf cart trail tours will resume, thanks to a generous donation from Mr & Mrs. O, which funded the repair of the old 5 passenger cart. If interested in the tour, please arrive by 10am or call to schedule a special tour- 813-641-8545. There is no charge for the cart tours but donations are always gratefully accepted.

First Saturday Nature Topics continue with an Intro to Camping on September 2 starting at 9:30am. Can't get much closer to nature than camping in it- responsibly of course! Try your hand at putting up a tent, check out some minimal cooking equipment and enjoy a favorite camping dessert. No charge but please call to reserve your spot- 813-641-8545.

Third Saturday canoe day tours continue. Paddlers should arrive at Camp Bayou by 8:45am. Canoes and kayaks are available for rental for just $25 each or bring your own canoe or kayak for a small donation of $5 each. Register for all paddle trips by calling the office at 813-641-8545.

The International Coastal Cleanup Day is Sept 16. Camp Bayou is a cleanup site, both on land and water. Register with Keep Tampa Bay Beautiful: http://www.keeptampabaybeautiful.org .

For those who are interested in helping at the Center, Camp Bayou is looking for enthusiastic volunteers who love the outdoors and want to pass along that passion to others through hands-on activities, walks and canoe tours. Contact Jeri at 813-641-8545 or email campbayou@gmail.com. We are mainly looking for folks to help teach school groups K-6 but there are other opportunities as well.

Camp Bayou Outdoor Learning Center is neither 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, supporters and grants, the managing non-profit- B.O.L.D. - offers pre-registered programs to schools, youth groups, adult groups and families. Monthly canoe tours are now available by reservation only. Check the online calendar for trip dates. The Center is 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 Bayou Outdoor Learning and Discovery, Inc. (B.O.L.D.), 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. Check out the Camp Bayou Facebook page and for more information visit the webpage at http://www.campbayou.org/ or call 813-641-8545.
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Spring Nature Fest- April 16, 2016

Camp Bayou presents our First Annual Spring Nature Fest!
(formerly known as our Spring Open House)

Camp Bayou Activities Update

Camp Bayou is still busy with activities through the end of the year. Be sure to mark your calendar for these activities:

On Saturday, November 21, starting at 9 am, there will be a guided canoe tour around the island south of Camp Bayou.  Canoe rental is $25 for a 3 person canoe or join us with your own canoe or kayak for a $5 donation.

A Night Hike is scheduled for Saturday, December 5, 5:30 -7 pm.Experience the forest using only your natural night vision- no flashlights will be used. Hike will end with a campfire and s'mores. A donation of $5 is requested to help cover the cost of supplies.

Pre-registration is required for both these activities, please call 813-641-8545 or email campbayou@gmail.com.

Camp Bayou is looking for volunteers to help with nature programs during school field trips. If you like spending time outdoors, observing our natural world and sparking an interest in the science of nature and/or Florida's native people, then contact our volunteer coordinator, Jeri Hundertmark, at 813-641-8545 to get started.

A Project Learning Tree (PLT) Teacher Workshop will be held on Monday, January 18, 2016 (MLK Day), 9am- 3pm. PLT offers a variety of materials for use with youth in grades PreK-8 including curriculum materials developed for use nationwide and supplementary materials created specifically for Florida educators. An emphasis on correlations to citizen science opportunities will also be presented. Sponsors are being sought to cover the cost of curriculum guides and materials. Teachers must pre-register at campbayou@gmail.com or call 813-641-8545.

The Freshwater Wetlands module for the Florida Master Naturalist Program will begin at Camp Bayou in January 2016. For more information and to register, visit http://masternaturalist.org .

Camp Bayou Outdoor Learning Center is neither 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, supporters and grants, the managing non-profit, B.O.L.D., offers pre-scheduled programs to schools, youth groups, adult groups and families. Monthly canoe tours are now available by reservation only. Check the online calendar for trip dates. The Center is 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 Bayou Outdoor Learning and Discovery, Inc. (B.O.L.D.)., 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.

On the Trail...

The butterfly orchids (Encyclia tampensis) are starting to bloom at Camp Bayou! I am not posting their exact location because I worry about poachers. Come out in the next couple weeks, take a walk around and see if you can spot them.

On the Trail 2015

This week the star of the trail is 'Innocence', Houstonia procumbens .

Every winter Innocence appears on the trails. It likes the lack of competition, for light as well as space. The microhabitat provides just enough moisture and plenty of sun but not too much heat. The four-petaled flowers usually dot the trail here and there and it has always been a surprise, almost a reward, to spot a clump.

This year they are almost everywhere you look! Along the Tortoise Trail in the uplands as well as the Wetland Walk. I felt like I was playing hopscotch while trying to avoid stepping on them. Walking the trails makes me feel rejuvenated, bringing out the child in me (although admittedly, that isn't hard to do :o)

A short video shows how far it has spread: http://youtu.be/fB2PVWMfa_c 

Nature Notes Note: 
This blog has been sadly neglected for some time now. Every January, I make a resolution to make a post, at least weekly, and at some point it gets lost during the year. At the risk of being labeled insane (doing the same thing but expecting a different result), I will try once again to at least post a picture each week.

A Belated World Book Night... in the morning

World Book Night was officially on April 23, a Wednesday night- not a usual Camp Bayou day or time. But there are still books to be given away! The book is Michael Pollan's Botany of Desire, which explores the idea that plants influence people to help them spread their genes around. It digs into four plants- apple, tulip, marijuana and potatoes- to reveal how people have helped get the plants to places they could never have gotten to on their own. The books will be given out on Saturday, May 3 starting at 10am. With the underlying agricultural theme, there will be tasty snacks and even a plant giveaway or 2.

Those who receive the book are encouraged to read about at least one of the four plants and return on Saturday, June 7, during the Camp Bayou National Trails Day event- Bayou, Boats and BBQ- for a little lunch-time book chat. Lunch on June 7 is free for those who received their book at Camp Bayou on Saturday, May 3. If you've read the book on your own, not part of this World Book Night distribution, you are welcome to join the book discussion.

World Book Night is about giving books and encouraging reading in those who don't regularly do so. But it is also about more than that: It's about people, communities and connections, about reaching out to others and touching lives in the simplest of ways—through the sharing of stories.

Learn more at http://www.us.worldbooknight.org .

Camp Bayou is located 3 miles south of SR674 at the end of 24th St SE in Ruskin. The Center is open to the general public, Thursday- Saturday from 9am-2pm. Camp Bayou is a partnership between the non-profit Bayou Outdoor Learning and Discovery, Inc (BOLD) and Hillsborough County Parks, Recreation and Conservation. For more information, visit http://www.campbayou.org .