Mark your calendars and plan to attend these upcoming events:

April 6: ‘Sleds & Saws’ work day

Starting at 9 A.M., bring your chainsaw and/or snow machine and sled. Help clear trees from last fall’s windstorms that are blocking Birchwood Camp’s trails. Lunch is included so please contact Stephen (manager@birchwoodcamp.org or 688-2734) if you are interested in helping and/or plan to attend.

April 20: Kid’s Day

Join us at the Dena’ina Convention Center in downtown Anchorage at Kid’s Day 2013! Birchwood Camp will have a booth at this free event which runs from 10am to 4pm. Come by and say hi and learn about our camp programs! Click here to learn more about Kid’s Day.

10am: Birchwood Camp 5k Trail Race & 1 mile Fun Run    

5k: Adults $20, Kids $10/ Fun Run: Adults $10, Kids $5/ $5 more on day of race (military & family discounts available). Click here to register and for more information.

10:30am – 1pm: Birchwood Camp Open House

Hot dogs, S’mores & fun around the camp fire! Tours of the cabins & grounds. The open house is a free event! This is a great opportunity to visit camp and introduce friends & young children to Birchwood Camp! Please join us at camp for all or part of this family-friendly event. Click here for directions.

May 18: Spring Volunteer Day

Lots of helpers are needed to get the camp ready for summer. A variety of projects are available for all skill levels. We’ll be working from 10am to 4pm; join us for all or part of the day! Lunch is provided so please RSVP to let us know you are coming.

Contact Marie or Stephen if you are interested in helping with and/or attending any of these events. We’ll be adding more details soon.

Birchwood Camp suffered heavy tree loss from the windstorm that came through our area on September 4.  Wind gust were reported at 80-100 mph and the storm lasted through the night. The camp was out of power for three days following the storm.

We estimate that we lost about 50 trees just in the heart of camp– so anywhere there are buildings. We also had 14 trees down across the driveway into camp. The are 21 trees down on the trail around the lake and trees were blocking every path out to our challenge course. There is simply no way for use to tell the actual number of trees down on all of our 160 acres; there are too many to count.

We were incredibly fortunate as far as damages to buildings- almost all the trees missed buildings, often just barely. There were a couple trees leaning on the lodge but they were held up by the root ball and were removed without damage. A tree landed on the corner of Trapper cabin, damaging one of the logs. And a tree clipped the porch overhang on cabin 3, so some repair on the edge of the roof will be needed. Another tree took out part of the back stop on the ball field, so that will need to be rebuilt; however, that is a simple, non essential structure. We feel very blessed that there was not more damage and that all the onsite staff were unharmed.

We anticipate that full clean up from this windstorm will take several months. We have made great progress already with the help of numerous volunteers, but we hope to get the heart of camp clear before the snow falls. Over 300 volunteer hours have been given towards the clean up effort so far, but there is still much work to be done. We need volunteers to fall trees, cut up down trees, and move wood and brush. If you want to help, please call or email the camp office- volunteer days and times are flexible. Office: 907-688-2734 or director@birchwoodcamp.org.

If you are on of our guest groups, please know that camp is fully accessible and large efforts towards clean up have been made. We ask you to pardon our “mess” while we continue this clean up effort. There is still some tree debris around and piles of wood in odd places. But we are working to make things as normal as possible for our guests and campers.