Visit www.blackrockforest.org or call (845) 534-4517 2 0 1 4 S U M M E R S C I E N C E C A M P

B l a c k R o c k F o r e s t C o n s o r t i u m S u m m e r S c i e n c e C a m p

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Health Certification The Black Rock Forest Summer Science Camp is certified by the Orange County Department of Health. An Emergency Medical Technician will be on site 24 hours a day while camp is in session. Additionally, a nurse from the Storm King School will dispense medications and will be on call in case of emergency. Campers will also have access to the Storm King School infirmary, and Cornwall St Luke’s Hospital is a short 10 minute ride from the Science and Education Center.

Stay in the lodge! For an additional $450 per week students can stay in our beautiful Forest Lodge, an award winning green building with stunning views of the forest (right). The price includes lodging, food, towels, linens, and round-the-clock supervision by our experienced staff. Throughout the week, residential students will participate in a number of activities includ-ing campfires and cookouts, night hikes with owl calling and a water balloon fight. During free time students can also play a variety of games such as frisbee, soccer, football, ping-pong and bean-bag toss. Residential students arrive at 4pm the Sunday preceding their class for an orientation and welcome activities.

Transportation Available. For families choosing the “day camp” option, transporta-tion to and from the forest will be provided with drop off and pick up at the Cornwall Post Office. Please call our office (845) 534-4517 to discuss these and other potential pick-up sites. Additionally, for $10 a day, a nutritional box lunch can be provided for any student.

Half Day Full Day Full Day Plus Residential

$235 $470 $920

Authentic science experiences… taught by science professionals!

Black Rock Forest Consortium welcomes middle and high school students in summer 2014 for authentic, week-long learning experiences in nature, working directly with scientists and artists. Our focus is on understanding nature through scientific observation and investigation, and our classes allow students to explore areas of interest without the pressure of a grade. Classes are developed and taught by subject experts and provide an opportunity to explore college and career possibilities in the natural sciences while having fun in Black Rock Forest, a private 4,000 acre preserve in Cornwall, NY or on the Florida coast.

About us: Black Rock Forest Consortium, founded in 1989, is a non-profit research, education, and conservation organization with membership of 23 prominent universities, schools, and research institutions from the Hudson Valley and the New York metro area. We are located in Cornwall, NY, just north of West Point. Our facilities include two award-winning green buildings, the Science & Education Center and the 60-bed Forest Lodge. For more information, please visit www.blackrockforest.org.

About the Director: Dr. Jeffrey Kidder, Black Rock Forest Consortium’s Director of Education, is the director of the Summer Science Class program. Kidder holds a Ph.D. in zoology from Cornell University. He has designed education programs that integrate university resources with K-12 science at Cornell, Rutgers University, and the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Anyone can sign up. Register online at www.blackrockforest.org or call us at (845) 534-4517. Choose residential or day-camp experiences. Please be aware that space is limited, and classes will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis.

Registration begins Thursday January 30th.Visit www.blackrockforest.org or call (845) 534-4517 to reserve spaces.

Basic Fee

Course Title

Flying High Ornithology

Surveying Turtles

Biodiversity Blitz

The World of Insects

Find Your Creative Nature

Writing on America’sRiver

The Amazing World of Trees

The Art of Scientific Observation

Week 1: July 14-18High School Only

Week 2: July 21-25 Middle School Only

Summer Class Schedule 2014*

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*The course Conservation Biology in Florida will run June 22-28, 2014 for High School students

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Flying High Ornithology ClassDanielle Bunch and Jillian Agnello, Graduate Students in Environmental Conservation Education, Steinhardt School of Education, New York University

The sights and sounds of songbirds provide an excellent introduction to the world of ornithology. Students will experience birding in a variety of habitats, including a kayaking adventure on the Hudson River to observe an abundance of wetland birds! Students will also learn about the importance and diversity of birds, participate in interactive conservation activities, learn how birds have influenced human culture and how to collect real scientific data. Students will keep scientific field journals as they document the birds they see and hear throughout the week. All participants will leave with an understanding of avian biology and knowledge of the birds of Black Rock Forest. In addition, an evening program will provide residential students with an intimate experience with live raptors (eagles, hawks, falcons, and owls). There will also be a nighttime prOWLing adventure for residential students. Binoculars, birding field guides, and journals will be provided.

July 14-18 (High School): Morning only, $285 (includes one day kayak rental)July 21-25 (Middle School): Morning only, $285 (includes one day kayak rental)

Conservation Biology in Florida Seahorse Key Marine LaboratoryDr. Jennifer Seavey, Assistant Director, Seahorse Key Marine Laboratory, University of Florida

Seahorse Key is a small island in the Big Bend region of Florida’s Gulf Coast, one of the most undeveloped coastlines in the United States. It is part of the Cedar Keys National Wildlife Refuge, and the University of Florida operates a marine research laboratory on the island. Central to the island and research station is an historic 1854 lighthouse, which will provide lodging for participants. The class will focus on the themes of climate change and conservation biology. Students will partic-ipate in daily field trips and will interact with marine researchers in topics such as fisheries management, herpetology, and archaeology. Field trips will be on and off the water in a variety of habitats allowing students to glimpse a wide variety of amazing wildlife including colorful birds and dolphins! Students will learn the scientific method through their own oyster-based research projects. In addition to science activities, there will be opportunities for wildlife watching, kayaking, beachcombing and learning about local history. A southern-style catered dinner is planned, complete with locally harvested clams. And because the lighthouse and island are famously haunted, a local raconteur will bring chills to the warm Gulf nights with ghost stories drawn from the island’s rich history.

This class is offered in collaboration with the University of Florida’s Seahorse Key Marine Laboratory (http://www.biology.ufl.edu/shkml/) and is intended for high school students who are seriously interested in science.

June 22-28 (High School): Full Day, $1500(includes airfare, food, lodging, ground transportation and instruction)

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Biodiversity BlitzFrom Blueberries to BluebirdsDr. Terryanne Maenza-Gmelch, Senior Lecturer, Barnard College If you want to explore the whole forest, on land and in water, this class is for you. Last summer over 270 species were identified and observed and we hope to beat that number this summer! We will explore wetlands, stream ravines, ridge tops, meadows and the forest while examining organisms in many groups: fungi, plants, insects, fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals. It will be a Biodiversity Blitz! Students will participate in ongoing scientific research at the forest: surveying birds by sight and sound along an elevational transect; capturing, measuring, weighing, and releasing painted turtles for the turtle project; identifying and counting invertebrates in a deer exclusion experiment; and contributing to a plant diversity map using GIS software. Students will also engage in daily art projects and cook with wild edible fruits collected from the forest. Participants will leave with an understanding and appreciation of the forest ecosystem, training in plant and animal survey methods, and a clear vision of the benefits of biodiversity and how to protect it on a personal and global scale.

July 14-18 (High School): Full Day, $470July 21-25 (Middle School): Full Day, $470

Surveying Turtles Contributing to a Long-Term Conservation ProjectEdward Myers, Graduate Student in Ecology, Evolution, and Behavioral Biology, City University of New York Graduate Center

For the past 15 years, scientists at the American Museum of Natural History have tracked and recorded demographic data for the turtles in the Black Rock Forest. This class will allow students to contribute to this dataset through a capture-mark-recapture process using electronic tags. Students will learn about turtle identification, ecology, and behavior, as well as the process of collecting data for scientific research. We will set up traps around Black Rock Forest’s reservoirs, and identify which species and individuals have been caught. Age, sex, shell measurements, location, and other information will be recorded at the time of capture. We will also spend some time learning field techniques useful for finding other reptiles and amphibians surrounding the ponds.

July 14-18 (High School): Morning or Afternoon, $235July 21-25 (Middle School): Morning or Afternoon, $235

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Writing on America’s RiverDawn Vandervloed, Social Studies Teacher, Washingtonville High School and Rob Balch, English Teacher, Beacon High School; Teacher Consultants, Hudson Valley Writing Project at SUNY New Paltz; Dr. Tom Meyer, Director, Hudson Valley Writing Project at SUNY New Paltz

The Hudson River Valley has played a role in shaping an American identity of ordinary people, revolutionaries, writers, and painters; the river continues to inspire those who are fortunate to behold its every day beauty. In this class, we will study the Hudson River Valley around Black Rock Forest on our daily hikes and on our special Hudson River kayak expedition. Each day, we will have time to read, write, and think about the Hudson River Valley and its impact on our generation while we also imagine the impact of this special place on people that preceded us here and those who will live here in the future. During our week together, we will take time to start several short pieces of writing; paying attention to the craft of writing, we will hone one piece to include in our group anthology.

July 21-25 (Middle School): Morning or Afternoon, $285 (includes one day kayak rental)

The World of Insects Infinite Variety on a Common ThemeDr. Julian Stark, Associate Professor of Biology, CUNY/Queensborough Community College and Research Associate in Invertebrate Zoology, American Museum of Natural History

In this class, students will be introduced to the fascinating world of insects. We will discuss how insects evolved, learn about their bizarre body parts and characteristics, survey the diversity of the different types, and explore how insects interact with other forest animals. The class balances time in the classroom with field investigations and laboratory work to analyze what was found

in the field. Students will learn how to collect, preserve, and identify (to Order) specimens, and will make a small (10–20 specimens) collection to take home upon completing the class.

July 14-18 (High School): Morning or Afternoon, $235July 21-25 (Middle School): Morning or Afternoon, $235

Find Your Creative Nature Become an Artist and Scientist!Marisa Miller, Graduate Student in Biology Education, Steinhardt School of Education, New York University

Nature journaling is a fun and creative way to observe and record the natural world. Charles Darwin and John James Audubon are just two of the many famous naturalists and scientists who have relied on their nature journals to record their discoveries. Whether you are already a budding artist, or would like to develop these skills, join us for sketching in nature with different media. Both plants and animals will

be studied. We will also use our journals to make scientific observations of the forest, a skill any young scientist should have.

July 14-18 (High School): Morning or Afternoon, $235July 21-25 (Middle School): Morning or Afternoon, $235

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The Art of Scientific ObservationFrom Microecology to Monumental SculptureHara Woltz, environmental artist and conservation biologist and Victoria Lichtendorf, Director of Education and Public Programs, Storm King Art Center

Throughout history, both scientists and artists have used field journals to note their observations of the natural world and develop their ideas. Such visual and written notation requires keen observational skills, and the practice of recording in journals engages and develops lateral thinking capabilities. Weaving together science and art, this class offers students a unique opportunity to combine field ecology and artistic practice at the Storm King Art Center. Through explora-tions of Storm King’s forests, fields, ponds, and sculptures, the class introduces students to observational and notational methods through creative journal making. Sketching, collaging, and writing are among a variety of observational and recording methods with which students will engage. Daily investigations will include field analysis of plant and animal life, as well as sculpture and landscape architecture. Students will leave the class having created their own experimental field journal.

A neighbor to Black Rock Forest, the Storm King Art Center is widely celebrated as one of the world’s leading sculpture parks. Storm King’s 500-acre landscape of fields, hills, and woodlands provides the setting for a collection of more than 100 carefully sited sculptures cre-ated by some of the most acclaimed artists of our time.

July 21-25 (Middle School): Morning or Afternoon, $235

The Amazing World of TreesThe Secret and Incredible Lives of Our Forest’s GiantsDr. William Schuster, Executive Director, Black Rock Forest Consortium and Black Rock Forest Staff

Seemingly silent giants, the trees of Black Rock Forest contribute to the forest’s ecosystem in amazing ways. In this course we will explore all things related to trees: incredible adaptations to freezing winters and hot summers, the multiple relationships trees have with insects and animals, the variety of tree species and how each one plays a unique role in the forest.

As field researchers, we will conduct tree species surveys in various areas of Black Rock Forest to understand differences in tree diversity. We will also use our laboratory skills to spend time examining bark, leaves, seeds, and tree rings through microscopes, and create tree field guides with botanical illustrations. The class will culminate with an optional tree climbing experience using certified instructors from the Cornell Tree Climbing Institute. Students will learn to climb some of our tallest trees using a system of ropes set up by these tree climbing experts.

July 21-25 (Middle School): Morning or Afternoon, $235 plus an optional $75 fee for tree climbing (Total: $310)

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