Auburn City Council gets recap of new conservation-themed summer camp | #citycouncil

Council that evening received a recap on the first iteration of the Auburn Conservation Corps Summer Camp, which was meant to provide young people experiences in environmental resource conservation. Council authorized an intermunicipal agreement between the city and Cayuga-Onondaga BOCES in June to establish the camp, which was held at the BOCES campus in Aurelius July 17-20. The program also received assistance from the Auburn Beautification Commission and the Fred L. Emerson Foundation.

Terry Cuddy, a city councilor, BOCES teacher and one of the program’s organizers, kicked off the recap by introducing fellow organizers Dr. Walt Aikman, a local forester and cofounder of the environmental group Grow Auburn’s Trees! and Auburn Junior High School social studies teacher Caleb Bolha. Cuddy then showed council a video on the program, which had eight students its first year.

Through video footage and voiceover from Cuddy, the presentation explained what the campers learned each day, like how to measure the tree canopy of a given area, protecting and caring for trees in urban forests, temperature data collection and managing invasive tree species. The program included trips to locations such as the area of the Auburn Fire Department’s firehouse on Clark Street, and demonstrations from organizations that included the city’s Department of Public Works and the Owasco Lake Watershed Inspection and Protection Division.

After the video, councilor Ginny Kent asked if any of the students received college credit for their efforts. Cuddy said they did not, but noted that some of the campers were members of the National Honor Society and received documentation acknowledging the amount of time spent on work they did.

“Some of the work that they did, besides planting trees, was data collection (that) Dr. Aikman will compile and use for information as to where we would want to plant more trees throughout the city,” Cuddy continued. “So they did receive a certificate that detailed the amount of hours that they spent helping the city collect that data and learn about the urban tree forest.”

Cuddy also talked about possible future plans for the program, such as keeping the camp one week long but having two sessions, with one geared toward younger campers.  

Mayor Mike Quill lauded the summer camp and the city’s Summer Recreation Program, which also received a recap earlier in the council meeting.

“They involve the youth, but it’s homegrown,” Quill said. “It’s things that we’ve done; we haven’t gone out hiring consultants or anyone. We have volunteers and adults from all different walks of life participating and trying to make things better.”