Sustained forests; sustained profits

[ HOME | Lasting Forests Home | Table of Contents | The Finder | Glossary ]

Lasting Forest Camps and the Writers' Camps

Lasting Forest Camps are to be developed as fun places for youths of both sexes and for adults. Concentrating on nature study, woodcraft, campcraft, and outdoor skills, a variety of activities allow people to escape the typical activities and sporting events of daily life at home. Non-denominational, the camps stress character-building, healthful living, independence, and a cooperative spirit. Periods are available for creative expressions. Novosports are involved. Specialized units to enhance math and science interests and skills are available, both unified within the field programs. Extensive trail systems, boating, and horseback riding (see Stables) provide a rich camplife environment. Tent-camps widely spaced provide opportunities for hiking and backpacking between camps.

Weekend winter camping is planned.

Cooperative work with existing summer camps in the region is planned. Special periods cater to Prospectors.

See the Writers' Camps below. Links are formed with Memorials.

Concept: The Old Geezers' Place A camp for the elderly where "to re-discover the child" is one slogan. Skits, dancing, marbles, ball toss, bike riding, swimming, reading, "how to use the computer instruction, finding rocks in the stream, top spinning, singing, talent shows, art, songwriting, clogging, costume night, quiet times, good food, hikes, medical analyses and prescriptions for exercise and health, lasting memberships, newsletter and website and chat-room for each year, nature study and instruction, black bear and other wildlife ecology, photography, wood carving, novosports, hide-and-seek (a new binoculars game), story telling

Estimated development costs.........$100,000

Estimated 5th year profits......... $50,000

Writers' Camp

A unique camp offers adult writers an unusual set of resources and programs to become successful writers or to improve as writers. The enterprise helps stabilize camp occupancy and promotes the area and its messages.

The camp provides:

• Away - just the opportunity to get away for a week is what many writers need.
• Juice - programs are carefully designed to get the creative juices flowing.
• Conversation - contacts with diverse people with similar interests.
• Hardware - a network of word processors and clip art.
• Connections - connected with the "across-the-curriculum" writing program and distance-learning opportunities of Virginia Tech.
• Expert lectures
• Web-Page work - ideas and leads for those with such interests.
• Target - a unique computer system to move work to the most likely buyer or publisher.
• The Lasting Forests Writer's System - a writing system for the novice or struggling writer.
• Writing for the Web - Technical and professional writing short course for natural resource agency and enterprise people writing primarily for web sites with special connections to:

  www.eclectics.com/epic - an organization and information on e-publishing www.openebook.org - with standards for ebooks www.xlibris.com - for help from Random House www.iuniverse.com - where Barnes and Noble help authors sell and promote their books www.microsoft.com/READER - with a software suggestion www.onlineoriginals.com - for ebooks www.peanutpress.com - works for the Palm world readers www.awe-struck.net - is a sci-fi market of possible interest ebooks.barnesandnoble.com - book sales.

• Library - the Wildland Knowledge Base, WKB, of the Lasting Forests is at the service of guests (for-fee services). A small in-house library is available.
• Membership - continuing support, contacts, news, and ideas, all potentially in lasting camaraderie.
• Environment - direct contact with 10 organizations actively working with the environment (soil, water, wildlife, fish, plants, forests, wilderness). Lasting Forests itself is a new complex natural resource enterprise representing a new paradigm itself, worthy of description.
• Awards - annual awards are given to superior work from the camp.
• Anthologies and ChapBooks - collections by camp writers are published.
• Credit - in some cases, university credit may be made available.

Topics are trivial:

The proper format for citing web sites.

• http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/online/cite8.html
• The American Psychological Association http://www.apa.org/journals/webref.html
• http://www2.h-net.msu.edu/about/citation/
• Conservation Ecology - an electronic journal of the Ecological Society of America http://www.consecol.org/Journal/

To profound (good subjects)... and in between (publ;ishing on the Internet?)

This is a fully-catered activity. Staff picks up participants at an airport or center and drives them to the camps, taking care of all baggage. Other camps or facilities for other family members (spouse or children) are available nearby and suggestions are available. This camp is an in-depth, fully concentrated, totally safe, drug-free, writing camp. There are great meals and trails for walking off frustrations (and weight). "Late snacks" are memorable. The camp does not "do sports" but concentrates on walks, quiet periods, jogging opportunities, World Ball and new sports demonstrations, and educational trips. Staff work hard on providing access for adult writers with disabilities. The great outdoors is not inaccessible. Programs are available: readings, skits, and lectures. The camp provides "conflict centers", "crisis spots", and the "hypervolume", the latter being a novel process for seeing conflicts more clearly and inventing new ones (about which to write.) A camp vocabulary game (on the computer) provides challenges, learning, fun, and "bragging rights" as scores progress during the week.

A local lore project is available for people with such interest. A 4-hour practical photography-support unit is taught. A vast "title and idea base" is available, providing a unique system to give ideas for articles, poems, etc. that match with each writer's interests or background.

This is a year-around activity with limited winter camps. It coordinates with many other enterprises of the Lasting Forests. Meaningful physical work (volunteer opportunities) other than jogging is available.

We will study the work of Fishtrap.org and seek potential relationships.

Poets and Writers Magazine will be a place to look for the competition and to advertise the camps workshop.

A valuable resource for the camp and planning for it (and for writers) is a site from Virginia Tech, primarily developed by Cheryl Ruggiero, Karen Swenson, and Randy Patton of the English Dept there.

The Southwest Virginia Writing Project if the National Writing Project is at Virginia Tech and may offer opportunities and contacts.

A comment from Lisa Norris, award-winning writer and faculty member of the English Department at Virginia Tech, who teaches English 1106 with a "People and Nature" emphasis: "The focus of your camp is different, I think, from most of the ones I know, where people mainly want to make contacts with famous writers and agents and learn something more about the craft. Your camp idea seems to be a bit more holistically oriented--very interesting."

This operation uses existing facilities. A "tent camp" may be tested for expansion for some types of writers.

Estimated development costs ........$180,000

Estimated 5th year profits............$60,000

Return to the top.

This Web site is maintained by R. H. Giles, Jr.
Last revision October 17, 2002.