The Washington County Conservation Board has canceled their June summer camps due to the COVID-19 outbreak. While campgrounds are starting to fill up for Memorial Day weekend celebrations, the board did not feel comfortable hosting their lineup of summer camps in June. The board made the decision in April to not collect fees, just registration forms, for summer camps in the case of having to cancel or postpone the camps. Executive Director Zach Rozmus felt if he wasn’t safe exposing his staff to the public, then camps should not be held until July. He told the board some health and safety measures to be added to camps if they can be held in July, “Parents already need to have trust in us when they drop their kids off so that they will be safe more than ever. But, you can understand in this climate how there might be a little anxiety about dropping their kids off. We were talking about brainstorming and reaching out to public health about extra measures we can do, or maybe we can do some screening when we are bringing in kids every morning where we are taking temperatures. Other things we can implement within our education programs themselves where we are thinking big picture on some of that stuff too.” 

The board will continue to monitor the health situation in Washington County in June in order to make a decision on July summer camps. Currently, summer camps to be held in July include Kestrel Camp from July 13-17, Mink Camp from July 20-24, and DragonFly Camp from July 27-31. Registrations for DragonFly camp are no longer being accepted. Parents can sign up their children for these camps on the conservation website, Facebook group, or can contact Naturalist Megan Jorgensen for more information.