Summer Camps

2020 Summer Camps are canceled.

2020 Summer Camps are canceled. The Long Lake Leadership Team feels camp cancellation is the best way to ensure camper and camp staff safety in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Campers and families, thank you for your support and enthusiasm for Long Lake Conservation Center! We can’t even describe what you mean to us and how much we will miss you this summer.

Hello Campers and Families, 

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It is with heavy hearts and care for you all that we share this message.  After a month of research and deliberation, the Long Lake Conservation Center Leadership Team has decided to cancel all 2020 Summer Youth Overnight Camps.

Like many of you, our summer doesn’t feel complete without camp! We never envisioned this scenario. This difficult decision was made in collaboration with our local health authorities, Long Lake and Aitkin County staff, and multiple camp partners/sponsors. Our goal for summer camp is and will continue to be, to provide a safe, fun, and equitable environment for campers to explore, conserve, learn about, and appreciate nature. 

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The Long Lake Leadership Team feels camp cancellation is the best way to ensure camper and camp staff safety in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Summer camp at Long Lake Conservation Center is an interpersonal, close-knit, connected experience. It is all about sharing, growing, and coming together. We do not feel a socially distanced camp is the best scenario for our campers. 

The COVID-19 pandemic presents all of us with challenges and unknowns. We are making this a firm and final decision to provide our campers and families with a concrete answer to summer camp status at Long Lake Conservation Center. All camp registration payments or deposits will be refunded in full. Cancellations will automatically be processed and refunds issued within 7-10 business days. 

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We understand that this news may cause sadness; we are sad, too. We are here to listen to campers and their families. Please, reach out with the need to talk or ask questions. We encourage campers and families to find ways to act like a Long Lake camper this summer:

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• Explore outdoors!

• Wake up for an Early Bird Adventure!

• Make a discovery!

• Play games!

• Help a friend!

• Practice conservation!

• Volunteer for at home Kitchen Patrol!

• Learn a new skill!

• Sing a campfire song!

• Share a story!

• Make a lifelong memory!

• Appreciate nature wherever you may be!

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While this will be the first (and hopefully only) summer since Long Lake Conservation Center’s founding in 1963 that we will not hold summer camp, we will continue to encourage campers, families, and all Long Lake learners to explore, conserve, learn about, and appreciate nature:

• Long Lake Naturalists spent the last month creating Long Lake View- a virtual, nature-based distance learning platform! Here you will find classes (called adventures) and mini-lessons dubbed #LongLakeLearning to promote hands-on learning in nature, at home. 

• As the flagship of the Aitkin County Parks and Trails system, Long Lake hiking trails remain open for nature exploration. Safe social distancing is requested. For more info on public recreation call 218-768-4653 or visit www.longlakecc.org/trails

Campers and families, thank you for your support and enthusiasm for Long Lake Conservation Center! We can’t even describe what you mean to us and how much we will miss you this summer. We will venture through this summer with goals of improving camp, updating Long Lake facilities, and planning for a bright and healthy future. 

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We wish you all good health and safety, 

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The Long Lake Leadership Team

Courtney Dowell, Education Manager

Wendie Bright, Business Manager

Rich Courtemanche, Aitkin County Land Commissioner

DNR Modifications of Youth Firearms Safety Course

Firearms safety in-person classes and field days have been postponed until Minnesota Department of Health guidelines are modified in such a way that classes and in-person field days are consistent with those guidelines. At this time, we don’t know when that might be.

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In the interim, the DNR has modified the firearms safety program to ensure youth who want to hunt this fall are able to.

• Students age 14 and older may complete a virtual field day instead of the traditional in-person field day by signing up for and completing the online hunter safety course at https://www.huntercourse.com/usa/minnesota/

• Students ages 12 and 13 must still complete a traditional in-person field day (after completing the hunter safety course) in order to receive their firearms safety certificate. If those students are unable to do so but want to hunt this fall, the DNR recommends they take advantage of the apprentice hunter validation program at https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/safety/apprentice/index.html.

For questions about the online course and virtual field day, contact Fresh Air Educators at (866) 495-4868. Other questions may be directed to the DNR Information Center at (651) 296-6157 or 888-MINNDNR (646-6367).