Environment DEC
From the April 2009 issue
DEC Summer Camps: More than Just Memories
For over 60 years, DEC summer camp programs have created unforgettable adventures for several generations of young people. For some campers, it has been a turning point in their lives. DEC Senior Wildlife biologist Bill Sharick shares his experience at Camp Rushford in the summer of 1964 and how it shaped his career:
I recently completed my thirty-sixth year working for DEC. Almost all of that time has been spent as a wildlife biologist. At this point in my life, it is very clear to me that my experiences at Camp Rushford were very important in my choice of education and career.
An Early Attraction to Wilderness
When I was young, my grandad, an avid hunter and fisherman himself, was eager to get me started in outdoor pursuits. So he began taking me along when he went hunting and fishing. Several times we hunted at the Oak Orchard Game Management Area. Wildlife technicians were there to sign-in hunters and provide permits. It was the first time that I came across people who worked in the field of wildlife management. I thought, "That's the kind of job I'd like to have."
Campers at Rushford prepare to go on a hike in the woods.
One day, when I was 14, my dad came home and told me about an outdoor camp for kids run by the Conservation Department (the former name for DEC). He said that the local fish and game club would sponsor me. It was a week long and there would be classes in fish, wildlife, forestry, hunting, trapping and boating. He didn't have to say another word to convince me to go.
It was a sunny Sunday afternoon in July when my mom, dad and I drove from our house near Buffalo to Camp Rushford in Allegany County. Everyone began arriving and we were assigned to our bunks in the bunk houses. There were people from all over Western New York.
Learning in Nature's Classroom
Our days were filled with talks and hands on experiences in woodlot, fish and game management, streamside erosion control, fly fishing, and hunting and trapping. Conservation officers, forestry and fish and wildlife technicians came to talk to us.
We took two official state courses, Boating Safety and Hunter Training. During Boating Safety, we had to show we could handle a small outboard motorboat in the pond. As part of the Hunter Training course, we shot both rifles and shotguns. I had a perfect score in the Hunter Training test and was awarded a one year subscription to Conservationist magazine. I have never missed an issue since.
I remember asking one of the camp counselors where he went to college. He told me he was studying wildlife science at Cornell University. Four years later, I was accepted at Cornell to study wildlife science.
From Camp to Career
After graduation, I was fortunate to quickly get a job with DEC. A year of so after starting, I was appointed as a wildlife biologist; a job I've held since 1972. Hanging in a frame on my office wall, right next to my Cornell diploma and my wildlife biologist certification from The Wildlife Society, is the certificate I received for completing my week at Conservation Camp in the summer of '64.
Wildlife biologist Bill Sharick works in DEC's Stamford suboffice.
I've never forgotten that week at summer camp. The things I learned, experiences I had, and people I met set the stage for my lifelong career as a professional wildlife manager. Camp Rushford is still big place in my mind.
More Information
Along with Camp Rushford in Western New York, DEC operates three other summer environmental education camps: Camp Colby in the northern Adirondacks, Pack Forest in the southern Adirondacks, and Camp DeBruce in the Catskills. To find out more about these camps and how your son or daughter can attend, see the Environmental Education Camps web page on DEC's website.
Related Links:
The Wildlife Society (leaving DEC's site)
