Landon Beaudon shows off some bugs he found while on a nature walk on Wednesday, July 26, 2017 during his week at the Kenai Watershed Forum’s Adopt-A-Stream summer camp in Soldtona, Alaska. (Photo by Kat Sorensen/Peninsula Clarion)

Landon Beaudon shows off some bugs he found while on a nature walk on Wednesday, July 26, 2017 during his week at the Kenai Watershed Forum’s Adopt-A-Stream summer camp in Soldtona, Alaska. (Photo by Kat Sorensen/Peninsula Clarion)

Arts, bugs and more: Kenai Watershed Forum summer camp teaches about local ecology

Circled up on the floor of a yurt just a couple hundred yards from the Kenai River, a group of campers learn about the ecosystem that surrounds them during the Kenai Watershed Forum’s Adopt-A-Stream Camp.

The camp brings the forum’s Adopt-A-Stream program outside of the classroom and into a more hands-on environment for one week in the summer, where campers spend the week testing water, hunting for insects and exploring the watershed that surrounds them. The camp has been running all summer long, alternating between the Adopt-A-Stream focus for children aged nine to 12 and a more art-based program for younger children.

“We’ve been trying to get a feel for what the kids are interested in at the beginning of the week,” Camp Director Melissa Steritz said. “Sometimes we get a group that is really into painting, so we’ll do more painting, but each group gets a whole day focused on water and different types of pollution. Then they get a whole day focused on birds, a whole day for mammals, called furry friends, and then we have our plants day on Friday.”

Plants day, Steritz said, seems to be the most popular day with campers as they travel throughout the wooded area surrounding Soldotna Creek Park and identifying the trees and adopting a tree of their own to care for all year long.

“We have games that go with every day’s lessons and we try to give them as much outdoor time as possible,” Steritz said.

On Wednesday, the focus is bugs and the campers collect bugs to identify under microscopes, but they keep an eye out for other interesting finds in nature.

Throughout a twenty minute nature walk, the campers found fungi and a wasp’s nest, cleaned up some monofilament and see a few sockeye get reeled in from the Kenai River.

“Camp has been awesome,” said camper Lizzy Thompson. “My favorite part has been, everything really. I’ve learned that bugs have their heart on their butt. At camp yesterday we learned about mammals. I knew most of the stuff because I’ve come here four or five times because it’s awesome.”

The camp isn’t just a learning experiences for the campers.

“I really like working here,” said Alex Bergholtz, a second year camp instructor. “I really like teaching and want to be a teacher, so this helps me a lot with practicing lesson plans and working with children.”

The camp will continue to run for a few more weeks, until the school year starts, keeping kids busy learning about the ecosystem that surrounds them and how it is all related.

“I use the example of the salmon bodies,” Steritz said. “They are giving their nutrients to the whole ecosyystem after they spawn and die… (It shows) the campers the interconnectedness of nature, how we are all are a part of it, how delicate the system can be. Every action we take needs to be thoughtful and considerate to the other species around us.”

Reach Kat Sorensen at kat.sorensen@peninsulaclarion.com

Keenan Young (left) and Landon Beaudon inspect insects they found during a nature walk on Wednesday, July 26, 2017 in Soldotna, Alaska while at Kenai Watershed Forum’s Adopt-A-Stream summer camp. The campers were asked to find bugs and inspect them with their magnifying boxes before returning them back to the wild. (Photo by Kat Sorensen/Peninsula Clarion)

Keenan Young (left) and Landon Beaudon inspect insects they found during a nature walk on Wednesday, July 26, 2017 in Soldotna, Alaska while at Kenai Watershed Forum’s Adopt-A-Stream summer camp. The campers were asked to find bugs and inspect them with their magnifying boxes before returning them back to the wild. (Photo by Kat Sorensen/Peninsula Clarion)

More in News

Kenai Middle School Principal Vaughn Dosko points out elements of a redesign plan for the front of the school on Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2022, in Kenai, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
Work soon to begin on Kenai Middle security upgrades

The security upgrades are among several key KPBSD maintenance projects included in a bond approved by borough voters in October 2022.

The Kenai Fire Department headquarters are photographed on Feb. 13, 2018, in Kenai, Alaska. (Peninsula Clarion file)
Kenai adds funds, authorizes contract for study of emergency services facility

The building shared by Kenai’s police and fire departments hasn’t kept up with the needs of both departments, chief says.

Kenai Parks and Recreation Director Tyler Best shows off a new inclusive seesaw at Kenai Municipal Park in Kenai, Alaska, on Thursday, June 27, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Kenai awards contract to develop Parks and Rec master plan

The document is expected to guide the next 20 years of outdoors and recreation development in the city.

Balancing Act’s homepage for the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District’s Fiscal Year 2026 Budget. (Screenshot)
KPBSD launches ‘Balancing Act’ software, calls for public to balance $17 million deficit

The district and other education advocates have said that the base student allocation has failed to keep up with inflation.

Natural gas processing equipment is seen at Furie Operating Alaska’s central processing facility in Nikiski, Alaska, on Wednesday, July 10, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Harvest Alaska announces proposed redevelopment of Kenai LNG terminal

The project could deliver additional natural gas supplies to the Southcentral market as early as 2026, developers said.

A depth marker is almost entirely subsumed by the waters of the Kenai River in Soldotna, Alaska, on Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2023. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
After delay, borough adopts updated flood insurance maps

The assembly had previously postponed the legislation amid outcry from the Kenai River Keys Property Owners Association.

Kenai Peninsula Borough Mayor Peter Micciche points to where the disconnected baler ram has bent piping at the Central Peninsula Landfill in Soldotna, Alaska, on Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Borough approves federal request to fund recycling redesign

A large baler that was used for recycling was recently left inoperable by a catastrophic failure in its main ram.

A person is detained in Anchorage in recent days by officials from the FBI and U.S. Department of Homeland Security. (FBI Anchorage Field Office photo)
Trump’s immigration raids arrive in Alaska, while Coast Guard in state help deportations at southern US border

Anchorage arrests touted by FBI, DEA; Coast Guard plane from Kodiak part of “alien expulsion flight operations.”

Jamiann S’eiltin Hasselquist asks participants to kneel as a gesture to “stay grounded in the community” during a protest in front of the Alaska State Capitol on Wednesday focused on President Donald Trump’s actions since the beginning of his second term. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
Trump protest rally at Alaska State Capitol targets Nazi-like salutes, challenges to Native rights

More than 120 people show up as part of nationwide protest to actions during onset of Trump’s second term.

Most Read