CONCORD, N.H. – A New Hampshire summer camp that taught children outdoor skills for nearly 30 years before closing last year over infrastructure problems will reopen in the summer after a Herculean volunteer effort.

Sportsmen’s and outing clubs from throughout the state have volunteered time and materials to salvage Barry Conservation Camp in Berlin. Some went so far as to “adopt” one of the six cabins and the camp’s recreational hall.

The New Hampshire Fish and Game Department closed the camp last year, citing drinking water problems and state-mandated camp operating rules that made it more expensive to operate.

More work and repairs are needed, but the Fish and Game Department feels enough progress has been made to reopen the 4-H-run camp this June. The camp can accommodate up to 38 campers ranging in age from 8-17.

Fish and Game officials credit the Belknap County Sportsmen’s Association and its president, Mike Normandin, for spearheading the salvage effort.

“Word was put out that if it’s going to open in 2011, there’s a hell of a lot to be done,” Normandin said.

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Normandin said many of the volunteers shared the same sentiment that things keep getting taken away or closed down because folks can’t afford the upkeep.

“The idea of losing something else kind of bugged us,” Normandin said. “If we don’t do it, who’s going to?”

Contractors and construction companies donated materials. Clubs teeming with trappers, anglers and hunters turned out last summer and fall for weekend work parties. Conservation commissions and groups like the Wildlife Heritage Foundation have held fundraisers.

Fish and Game officials say they have raised half the endowment goal of $50,000 to keep the camp running in the future. The Wildlife Heritage Foundation is collecting donations for the fund at its Concord headquarters.

Normandin said work at the camp has stopped for the winter, but efforts to reopen it will continue off-site. He said someone is working on new signs for the buildings. Another is making wooden storage boxes for campers’ belongings. A Scout troop is constructing shooting benches. The weekend work parties resume in the spring, he said.

 


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