Advocating for the responsible management of natural resources may seem like a relatively recent phenomenon. But the fact is that Domtar’s Dryden mill has been promoting conservation efforts in Northwestern Ontario for over half a century.

In the mid-1950s, long before the modern environmental movement, a forward-looking group of Drydenites recognized a need to provide local youth with an appreciation for nature. With collaboration between the mill’s Woodlands Dept., the local Board of Education, Dryden High School and the Dept. of Natural Resources, the Dryden High School Conservation Course was formed, holding its inaugural course in 1957.

Sixty years later, Dryden’s Conservation Camp now serves as the longest-running program of its kind in Canada, fulfilling its mission “to broaden understanding of resource management and encourage appreciation of conservation concepts.”

So how has this program managed to keep generations of teenagers engaged? By holding class outside of course!

Rain or shine, students enjoy three days working outside of the classroom. Far from a field trip, attendees are expected to roll up their sleeves and get involved in a multitude of hands-on experiences.

The 40 students comprising the class of 2016 found themselves in various settings. From wading through waste-high water to collect wildlife specimens, to carrying the gear local fire management crews use to fight blazes, to visiting an active harvest operation within a working forest, the experiences make for anything but a typical day in class.

All of the lessons connect to the Conservation Camp’s key focus area - water, soil, wildlife and forests – with the intention of:

• Creating opportunities through hands-on experiences
• Showing inter-dependence of renewable resources
• Demonstrating that non-renewable resources can be wisely managed
• Emphasizing that the purpose of resource management is to benefit people
• Illustrating that negative effects on the environment can be minimized, reduced or eliminated

Dianne Loewen, Domtar’s Coordinator of Forestlands and Public Affairs, says this year’s 60th Conservation Camp proved a huge success, stimulating tons of great questions from curious teens and opening their eyes to opportunities they may not have otherwise considered.

“I hope that they are learning forestry is not about cutting down trees, forestry is about taking care of the forest,” she said.

Learn more about the camp from Dianne in her interview with the CKDR Sunday News Magazine, Northwest Monitor: