Trailside Discovery Camp

Mission

The mission of Trailside Discovery is to provide a broad range of outdoor environmental education experiences for students of all ages and from all economic, social, and cultural backgrounds.  To check out our Mission Statement including goals and outcomes for our program, please click here.

History

Established in 1982, Trailside Discovery started as a small summer camp serving 50 children out of facilities based at Alaska Pacific University in Anchorage.  In 1997, Trailside Discovery commenced Winter Camp programming in December and March to coincide with the respective winter break and spring break schedules of the local school district.  Twenty six years after our inception, more than 2,200 children (ages 4 -16) slogged through bogs, explored forests, treaded gently across trails, and learned about nature while being immersed in it as they attended Trailside Discovery Summer Camp 2008 sessions at both the Campbell Creek Science Center in south Anchorage and Spring Creek Farm in Palmer, a town in the Mat-Su Valley approximately 40 miles north of Anchorage.  For more information regarding Trailside Discovery’s seasonal camp programs, please click here.

Today, Trailside Discovery continues to march forward into the field of environmental education with programming for Alaska’s schoolchildren.  First starting in 2006, Trailside now offers in school outreach programs designed to assist youth in developing healthy outdoor recreation skills while creating life-long connections with Alaska’s environment.  Two of these programs, Nanuq Winter Adventures and Valley Outdoor Environmental Education aim to boost participants’ confidence in their outdoor skills and instill healthy exercise habits while fostering environmental stewardship and awareness.  Our third outreach program, Teamwork & Team Play, focuses on team dynamics and allows students to practice social awareness while improving effective group communication, problem solving, and leadership skills.  For more information regarding Trailside Discovery’s Outreach Education programs, please click here or check out the Outreach Programs page.

Success & Service

Trailside Discovery offers participants a challenging, fun, and unique program based on the philosophy that the natural environment is an ideal site for community-based learning.  The Trailside Discovery experience provides children with nature-based opportunities and assists youth in developing attributes that will later enable them to work alongside others in a non-adversarial and mutually beneficial fashion.

Trailside Discovery’s success stems from our ability to create an atmosphere conducive to expanding interest, appreciation, and knowledge of the natural environment.  Programs emphasize natural science & history, outdoor skills, and leadership development.  Furthermore, campers learn first-hand about stewardship while attending camp.  Service projects comprise a key component of each camp program - in the past two years campers and staff have completed more than 1,000 service hours while assisting community projects at the Campbell Creek Science Center alone!  Trailside campers have demonstrated that youth enjoy making a positive impact in their world, so they spend a short part of each week-long session planting trees, engaging in trail maintenance, removing invasive plants, working on stream bed erosion projects or the like.  Even the youngest campers (ages 4-5) participate in environmental stewardship by watering the grounds and picking up litter.  The result of these community projects coupled with our extraordinary experiential education programs equates in youth who not only become invested in caring for the land, but who are now able to make informed decisions regarding how to use natural resources wisely.

For more information please contact Tom Burek at trailside@akcenter.org

or call (907)-274-KIDS