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Nineteen Students between the ages of the 13 and 15 were able to participate in the 3rd Annual Eco Camp in August. The students earned a place at the camp by writing an essay on why they were deserving of the ex-perience or were one of the winners of the Coastal Awareness Student competition. Students attending the camp were from Andros, Abaco, Acklins, Cat Island, Crooked Island, Eleuthera and New Providence.

The island of Andros is home to five National Parks and provides the ideal location for students to explore the marine and terrestrial envi-ronment of The Bahamas. “Eco Camp provides an opportunity to re-ward deserving students who have through their actions indicated a true love of the environment and a desire to provide real conservation action on their islands. “ said Portia Sweeting, BNT Director of Edu-cation.

Learning about Marine resources and their conservation needs was an overriding theme of this year’s camp. The students visted Pigeon Cay in the Northern Marine Park and also snorkeled on David’s Patch Reef in the park. Part of their exploration was to conduct a conch survey at Pigeon Cay recording the number of adult and juve-nile conchs found as well as the different types of conch. The stu-dents then conducted a Lowe Sound Community Survey visiting with residents and finding out how they felt about conch conservation and if they had noticed changes in the size and amount of conch available in the community. The students then took all of the information gath-ered and wrote and recorded their own public service announcements on conch conservation which will soon be aired on local TV and Ra-dio stations.

Visits to the Rocky Shore provided the campers with an opportunity to collect interesting marine organisms that live in this intertidal zone and bring them back for closer inspec-tion at the Forfar Field Station Marine Lab. Students found this a great experience and once finished with their samples returned them to their tidal homes.

Wilderness Camp in the pine forests of the Blue Hole National Park was of course everyone’s favorite experi-ence. Students learned about the Pine Forest ecosystem , swam in a blue hole and cooked their meals over an open fire.

Students were divided into five teams: the Concherors, Hawkwings, Conservators and Five Stars. The groups had this to say about this year’s Eco Camp:
“It is a wonderful experience swimming in a blue hole! Wonderful! “ Concherors, Cherese Kemp, Octavia McIntosh, Kenaj Sweeting and Octavia Rolle

“Eco Camp 2011 is the best. We’re learning , seeing and doing things we’ve never done before!” Hawk-wings: Tresheika Strachan, Rimanda Hamilton, Brandon McKinzie and Shanley Bodie
“Camp is everything we expected and more. We’re having the time of our lives!” Conservators: Delphine Carroll, Aaliyah Richardson, Shavez Woodside, Terralisa Collie and Javen Gibson.

“Life changing Experience!” 5 Stars, Tyrell Johnson, Chinyeere Rolle, Richard Lewis, Joquille Deal, and Juliet Brown.

Eco Camp is made possible through the generosity of a number of corporate and local supporters. The Baha-mas National Trust would like to thank, Atlantis, Bahamas Hotel Association, Lindroth Development Com-pany, Lyford Cay Foundation, Bahamas Ferries, Forfar Field Station, Brian Ball and Sean Riley for the sup-port given to the camp.

For more information about Eco Camp or to become a sponsor of Eco Camp 2012 contact Portia Sweeting at the Bahamas National Trust.

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