We are excited to announce the winners of our Summer Camp Giveaway that was held this past week here at the Mountain Park Environmental Center. For a chance to win a free summer camp for their child, participants were asked to write a paragraph telling us what their three favorite things about Summer Camp/Healthy Summer activities were when they were a child.

Congratulations to our first place winner,

Barbara Della Rossa!!

Here is Barbara’s Paragraph: “Some of my favorite camp memories were the thrill of making it to the top of a mountain even if looking back it might have been more of a hill; being so hot after an entire day of “walking” (now would be called hiking) thru the “Canyon” a huge wild area with trails, creeks, discovering crawdads, and seeing fields of beautiful orange poppies like in the Wizard of Oz then jumping into my friend Karen’s ice cold swimming to cool off. The thrill of hoisting myself onto what seemed to be a gigantic horse and taking that first trail ride–what a thrill!”

We would also like to congratulate our second and third place winners

Second Place Winner: Paula Collins

and tied for third place: Melissa Ritter and Suzanne Blake!

Even though our giveaway is over, and summer has nearly begun, there are still spots available on our summer camps and we would love to have your children join us! Check out all of our great camps Here.

Follow Ranger Dave as he prepares for and hikes the Colorado Trail this summer. A little history: In 2010 and 2011, MPEC’s Founder Dave Van Manen backpacked the 487-mile Colorado Trail as a fund-raiser for MPEC Nature education programs. He recently learned that an additional 80 miles have been added to the Colorado Trail, along the high peaks of the Collegiate Range west of Buena Vista and Salida. So, Ranger Dave will be hitting the trail once again. This effort will also be a fund-raising effort for MPEC’s education programs. You can follow his adventure at Ranger Dave’s Colorado Trail blog by clicking here. Please consider making a pledge or donation towards this fund-raising effort – all funds will directly support giving young people meaningful experiences in Nature (like MPEC’s award-winning Earth Studies program that reaches over 1200 Pueblo 5th-graders every year with multiple days of outdoor-based education). You can click here to make a donation, or you can send a pledge to Dave at mpec@hikeandlearn.org. Thanks!

1. Every child needs to spend some time in Nature, and the Mountain Park is full of beautiful Nature.

2. It’s a great way to get them off the couch and take a break from electronics.

3. They will make some new friends.

4. They will learn camp songs, and every child should know some camp songs.

5. Camp is a great way to build a child’s self esteem.

6. MPEC camps are so affordable, and we have a generous scholarship program for those that need some financial assistance.

7. MPEC camps will broaden their vocabulary and teach them many concepts about ecology, which can make them better students.

8. MPEC provides all round-trip transportation from Pueblo.

9. Summer days are usually ten degrees cooler in Beulah than they are in Pueblo.

10. MPEC camps are fun!!!

I took a walk along the park’s scenic highway this morning and noticed some significant stacks of firewood along the way. They are the result of the hard work that some volunteer crews have been doing in getting the downed logs out of the forest from the steeper, more difficult areas that were mitigated for wildfire in recent years.

The thought occurred to me that we just completed our fifth year of heating the Horseshoe Lodge with the wood that we pull out of these forests. Over five winters, we have burned a fair share of firewood to transfer the solar energy that is stored in the wood into the the loop of water that circulates throughout the lodge’s 14,000 square feet, keeping it warm and comfortable (also heating the water for domestic needs like showers). Had we not installed this heating  woody biomass heating system, we would have burned so many thousands of gallons of propane at a cost that very well would have been unaffordable.

Thanks to this heating system, we utilize the logs from our mitigation efforts to heat the lodge, we have a healthier forest by thinning the unnaturally overgrown forest, the park and surrounding area is less vulnerable to catastrophic wildfire, we utilize a local source of energy, we prevent the burning of thousands of gallons of fossil fuels (and the carbon from ancient carbon cycles that these fuels release when burned), and we provide local jobs in managing the forest health / wildfire mitigation efforts and the biomass heating system.

After five years, the heating system has more than paid for itself in recouping the initial cost of installing the system in savings from projected propane costs. It would be fair to say that, had we had to go with a propane heating system, the renovation of the Horseshoe Lodge would very possibly not have been done, due to the projected astronomical costs of buying propane to heat the building. A win-win-win situation if you ask me!

I hiked up the Northridge Trail to the far west edge of the park this afternoon to cut a tree off the trail (using my trusty axe and bow saw). I took this photo looking west into the National Forest roadless area – a pretty fall day in a magnificent landscape. I so love this place!