Area students attend Halberg Ecology Camp
By MARY ELIADES
Education is one of the most important missions of Hot Springs Village Audubon, and every summer they provide scholarships to the Arkansas Audubon Society Halberg Ecology Camp for students leaving the fifth and sixth grades from Fountain Lake, Jessieville, and Mountain Pine schools.
Two sessions of the Ecology Camp are held each summer at Camp Clearfork, a U.S. Forest Service camp between Hot Springs and Mt. Ida.
The children participate in activities geared to all facets of the natural world – aquatic biology, botany, entomology, geology, ornithology, mammalogy, and herpetology, led by experienced teachers and ecologists.
HSV Audubon sponsored six children this year – two from each of the three area schools – with an additional two children from Mountain Pine sponsored by Arkansas Audubon.
Several of the students attended a recent Audubon program to see Raptor Rehab director Rodney Paul and his beautiful birds.
Vivian Socaci, a 7th grader from Mountain Pine, enjoyed the camp dining, but said she also loved canoeing, collecting fool’s gold and rocks, and examining bacteria, zooplankton, and feathers under a microscope.
Sixth-grader Mattie Walls said, “My favorite thing was geology or aquatic biology,” and described seeing a Mississippi kite that was caught and then got loose again.
Mountain Pine 7th grader Maci Shaw enjoyed the botany sessions best (“We got to make flower crowns”), and said, “I plan on being a scientist.” She also enjoyed the ornithology walks, where she was thrilled to see a Louisiana water thrush.
Audubon is proud to encourage young scientists and will continue to support the camp with donations from members and guests and sales of merchandise.