Outdoors

By STEVE KNIGHT
Outdoor Writer

Shelbi Perry has made two camps this summer and is nearly out the door on her third.

The Rusk High School sophomore is making the trifecta of Texas Brigades camps starting with the Bass Brigade at Lake Buchanan, followed by a return visit as an assistant herd leader at the South Texas Buckskin Brigade near Carrizo Springs and ending the summer quest as the Feathered Forces Brigade in Nacogdoches.

The award-winning Texas Brigades are part summer camp, summer school and leadership program. The five-day outings, a cooperative effort of the Texas AgriLife Extension Service, Texas Wildlife Association, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and more, are geared around the wildlife of Texas, but in a setting where the participants can have fun. In the end, which isn’t always at the end of the week when the camp closes, hopefully a teenager will have a better understanding of the state’s natural resources, and one who has the skills to take a leadership position within the school and community.

Perry, who has walked into each of the camps not knowing anyone, said they are a lot different than many people realize.

“A lot of kids don’t like going to school during the summer. That is what it looks like, but this is not school,” the 15-year-old explained. The participants do learn and work on projects, but it is more like a week of sleep-deprived fun, working with others who quickly become like family.

Perry started this summer with the Bass Brigade, and was joined by her father who served as a volunteer.

The campers learned about fish anatomy, aquatic plants, pond management, wetlands, fish sampling and fishing. One of their assignments during the week was a debate on how to satisfy different user groups’ demands on non-native plant species such as hydrilla. It is an argument Texas Parks and Wildlife Department is currently facing on Lake Conroe.

“While only getting about 20 hours of sleep during the course of the week, these kids received approximately 100 hours of both classroom and hands-on field instruction from some of the top fisheries and habit professionals in the state,” Steve Perry said.

Shelbi Perry’s initiation with the camps was last summer at the South Texas Buckskin Brigades, a program that built around the study of white-tailed deer. By working with 10 organizations and giving another seven or eight presentations during the year she earned a trip back this summer as an assistant herd leader, a position similar to a camp counselor.

Perry said her time at the deer camp helped her in her science studies last year at school. She is also working with her neighbors in developing a wildlife cooperative, using information she gained at the camps.

Perry is unsure what to expect at the Feathered Forces Brigade, although she knows it is geared toward wild turkeys and bobwhite quail. However, she has her sights set on attending one of the Bobwhite Brigades, the original formats for the program, next summer. If she does get in, it will make her the first to attend all four of the brigades.

SUMMER SCIENCE: Sarah Veillon and Shelbi Perry dissect a bass as part of the Texas Brigades’ Bass Brigade on Lake Buchanan.
((Courtesy Photo/Steve Perry))