Residential natural resource camps may enhance campers' perception of their leadership skills and increase their ecological knowledge

Multi-day residential natural resource camps for youth often focus on enhancing environmental awareness and promoting ecological concepts. Some such camps – including the Color Country Natural Resource Camp (CCNRC) – also promote improved leadership skills. The aim of this study was to determine if CCNRC improved camper's perception of their own leadership skills and to determine how the campers' perceived knowledge of natural resources compared to actual knowledge gained.

CCNRC is a 5-day co-ed residential camp located in a remote area of Utah. The camp engages youth (age 16-18) in independent investigations of real issues, discussion groups, interactions with field scientists, recreational activities, and group problem solving to help them increase their leaderships skills and gain knowledge of natural resource topics. The overall program reflects a blending of environmental education and outdoor recreation.

Youth participating in this study completed assessments immediately before and immediately after their camp experience. The first assessment (prior to the camp experience) consisted of three parts: a survey of campers' perceived attitudes and abilities in elements of leadership and communication; a survey of their perceived knowledge of natural resource topics; and a test of basic ecological concepts that would be covered during camp investigation activities. One of the leadership-related questions asked the campers about their interest in attending a 4-year college. Post-assessment questions (conducted after the camp experience) relating to perceived leadership and knowledge were identical to the pre-camp survey. The wording, however, was changed to reflect what the participants perceived to be changes in attitudes and knowledge as a result of being at camp. The knowledge test remained the same for the pre- and post-assessments.

For their responses to be included in the analysis, campers had to have completed both the pre- and post-camp assessments. There were 69 completed questionnaires for perceived leadership, 97 for perceived knowledge, and 92 for the test of knowledge. Assessment results indicated that  most of the campers felt they had increased their leadership skills and knowledge of natural resource topics. For each statement, however, some campers ranked their perceived leadership skills and knowledge of ecological concepts lower on the post-survey. Yet, the perceived increase in knowledge was supported by an increase in scores on the knowledge-based test. Results showed no improvement in campers' interest in a 4-year college. There was, however, increased interest in natural resource careers. Decreases in perceived leadership skills or knowledge gain could have been the result of realizing that campers' initial perceptions were inflated. The fact that these campers likely had high educational motivation to begin with might explain why motivation to attend college did not significantly increase.

This research indicates that a residential natural resource camp can positively influence campers' perception of their leadership skills and their knowledge of ecological concepts.