I woke up to this headline in the news today:

Sleeping Bear Dunes ranked 13th in nation for number of search and rescue operations

Our group made it through our 3 days without any emergency assistance needed, I’m glad we didn’t add to this statistic!

Our last day of Earth Camp was a short service project in Sleeping Bear Dunes National Park. Students pulled common mullein from the sides of the Heritage Trail, a bike path that runs through the park. This invasive plant can remain dormant for years and starts to grow when it is disturbed – this happened when the ground was dug up to put in the new bike path.

Along the way, students found wild raspberry plants and had their first experience picking and eating raspberries from the wild – a perfect snack along our route!

Our service project was a nice way to give back to the park that gave our group so many amazing experiences and memories.

Thank you students and staff for a great Earth Camp 2015!