Introduction Richard Louv, in his book Last Child in the Woods, “links the absence of nature in the lives of today’s wired generation to some of the most disturbing childhood trends: the rise in obesity, attention disorders, and depression” (2008). While, as a physical scientist, I am naturally a bit skeptical of some of his claims, intuitively I feel that his premise is true. This is partly based on my own experience. When outdoors, in formal and informal settings, in large and small ways, we are “amazed” by nature every day. We develop a sense of wonder. It keeps us going. I’m sure you, like me, have found yourself in a place where you were uplifted, calmed, and elated all at once. We need to provide an opportunity for our campers to have these same feelings and experiences. The Camp Pemigewas sett Nature Instruction Clinic was born af ter an overwhelmingly positive response to a workshop I presented with former Camp Pemigewassett (Pemi) director Rob Grabill and former associate nature head Russ Brummer titled “Building a Camp Nature Program: Twelve Keys to Success.” That was at the 1992 International Camping Congress in Toronto. We have now been running this clinic for twenty-one years. It is still taught by me and Russ Brummer (now head of the science department at the New Hampton School). We have been joined by Deb Kure, current associate head of Nature Programs at Pemi and an educator with Quarrybrook Outdoor Learning Center in Windham, New Hampshire. The clinic is specif ically designed to teach “regular” camp counselors to become nature specialists. Our idea from the start was not to hand our participants a set curriculum or train them to duplicate our nature program, but rather to give them the tools that they needed to create
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