Environmental Education is also an important part of the camper’s experience at Deer Run.  We believe that young people will become more responsible and more productive citizens of our planet if they can be taught to understand the inter-relationships of all things, living and inert, and to appreciate their own place in the complex web of systems that make our Earth a viable place to live.  It is our goal in the Environmental Education program to lead campers through experiences with the natural environment that will help to impart this knowledge.  The varied terrain of Camp Deer Run makes the camp an ideal environmental laboratory.

Moreover, the evidence is overwhelming that exposure to nature provides very important developmental benefits for children.  Experiences in nature have been shown conclusively to benefit young people socially, psychologically, cognitively & spiritually.

“What’s more, environment-based education is shown to dramatically improve standardized test scores and grade point averages and to develop skills in problem-solving, critical thinking and decision-making.  Even creativity is stimulated by experiences in nature. As one scientist puts it, we can now assume that just as children need good nutrition and adequate sleep, they may very well need contact with nature.” Richard Louv - Last Child in the Woods

Chief Luther Standing Bear of the Lakota-Sioux tribe (c.1834-1908) prophetically put the problem into a very modern perspective.  Chief Standing Bear said: “The old Lakota was wise. He knew that man’s heart, away from nature, becomes hard; he knew that lack of respect for growing, living things soon led to lack of respect for humans too. So he kept his children close to nature’s softening influence.” (www.firstpeople.us/)  Click here for all of Standing Bear’s reflections about Nature.

Camp Deer Run environmental subjects include: Aquatic Studies – the life of the pond, stream and marsh; Nature Hikes – exploring the variety of natural phenomena that can be found on our 110 acres; Orienteering – the use of compasses and maps; Animal Life – what creatures live in the woodlands and how, and the signs and sounds of animals; Wilderness Survival – shelter and fire making; and Ecology topics such as acid rain, energy and weather. 

Other subjects relating to environmental issues, such as a live birds of prey demonstration, may also be included in the camp program.