OREGONIA, Ohio (AP) — At the end of their weeklong sleepaway camp, a hush falls over the rowdy kids at YMCA’s Camp Kern as they prepare for a cherished annual tradition: After songs and skits around a campfire, they write their favorite memories on. on pieces of paper. Most years they throw them into the flames, and the ashes that rise and then fall over their heads are meant to symbolize the joy they shared.
But this year it was too hot for a campfire.
Even as the sun set, on a day when the temperature reached 33 degrees Celsius with oppressive humidity, children wiped the sweat from their brows, flocked to the water coolers to refill bottles and fanned themselves to get a breeze going to get. At the end of the evening they burned their memory notes in a small bucket.
It’s just one way American summer camps have had to adapt as climate change causes extreme heat that can start earlier in the season and last well into the night. Camp administrators, counselors and experts say such camps are a great way for children to develop social skills, learn outside the classroom and connect with nature. But running them is becoming increasingly difficult and expensive as camps look for ways to provide better access to water and cooling and better prepare staff to care for youth.
“Extreme heat is serious. We really need to focus on careful and thoughtful program planning to adapt to these situations,” he said Tom Rosenberg, president and CEO of the American Camp Association, a nonprofit organization that provides research and resources to improve camps. He said the ACA has had climate change on its radar for years as an issue impacting camp programming.
For example, in 2011, a dozen Boy Scouts were treated for heat-related illnesses at a camp in Connecticut. In 2015, two children at a Florida summer camp were hospitalized for heat exhaustion. And a 15-year-old Boy Scout died in Texas in 2017 after collapsing from heatstroke during a group hike while pursuing a camping merit badge.
The U.S. has more than 20,000 unique camp operations serving 26 million campers, according to a study funded by the ACA and conducted in partnership with the University of Michigan’s Economic Growth Institute.
It’s all the more important that camps be on the lookout because children are more vulnerable to heat than adults, said Grace Robiou, director of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Children’s Health Protection. “General good health includes being outdoors,” she said, but children’s growing bodies can warm up more quickly than adults’ bodies. They are also not as self-conscious and often need an adult to tell them to stay hydrated and cool.
“If you overheat, you can guarantee that the children you play, play with, or supervise will also overheat,” says Dr. Alison Tothy, an emergency room pediatrician at the University of Chicago Children’s Hospital who spends her summers . working as a camp doctor in upstate New York. “It’s just something that we’ve now put on our list of reasons why someone might be sick. And I don’t think we did that so much a few years ago.”
The physical activities that children do at camp can involve a lot of effort. After climbing an obstacle course or a rock wall, some of the kids at Camp Kern said they were ready to go in — even Alex Reiff, 12, who thought it was the best thing he’d done that week. “When you climb, you feel like you’re becoming active,” he said, adding, “I was sweating.”
Seeking respite, Reiff and his roommates turned on the air conditioning in their cabin when they were inside, something children at other camps in more rustic accommodations in the U.S. are unable to do. Many children at Camp Kern have started carrying around handmade paper, folding fabric or electric fans. Some campers simply poured water over their heads. And almost everyone rushed forward eagerly for the offer of brightly colored popsicles on a day when reporters visited.
Todd Brinkman, Camp Kern’s executive director, said their strategy has generally been to add recess and indoor sessions, incorporate as many water activities as possible and give kids choices. In the past, the camp had regular pool hours, but they have added more lifeguards and swim instructors to keep the pool open all day. They have also improved some water features, aimed at smaller children. But water cannot solve all heat problems. Rosenberg said a national shortage of lifeguards and rising insurance costs in the face of extreme weather have made it more expensive to offer water activities at camps. And Robiou said poor air quality and extreme heat are often linked, exacerbating problems like asthma in children, and being in the pool or lake doesn’t change that.
Mere proximity to water does not necessarily negate the heat. Camp Kern children who went on a raft trip said it was one of the most exciting experiences they had that week.
“We were basically just sitting in the sun in a big canoe,” said Madelynn Medve, 11.
The young adults who help staff the camp are also not immune to the sweltering temperatures. Lizzy Johnson, 24, is now a counselor at Camp Kern after growing up as a camper there. Looking back, social bonds and fun activities are the memories she cherishes. However, she has also watched and participated in the camp’s evolution, helping organizers swap outdoor experiences, such as cooking classes, for indoor or water activities, such as arts and crafts or pool parties.
“I remember absolutely nothing about the heat, I remember all the things we did,” she said of her own childhood at the camp. “But I can’t ever remember feeling so uncomfortable.”
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Associated Press visual journalist Joshua A. Bickel contributed from Oregonia, Ohio. News researcher Rhonda Shafner contributed from New York.
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