A Campout with Condors
Come and save a life
About our Program
The Campout with Condors Program allows kids, ages 12-15, to camp out at Canyonlands National Park Utah for 5 days and learn about condors; their life style and how they're endangered. During this wonderful experience, kids will be able to touch, hold, and feed the condors that are in this camp. We will have many activities such as, hiking, hang gliding, and even releasing condors! At night, you get to roast marshmallows while the counselor talks about the endangered condors, stay up until 12 a.m., and wake up at 10 a.m.! Kids will have the opportunity to cook their own breakfast, from pancakes, to waffles, french toast, and many more! And on the last night, we will have an ice cream social where the counselors serve you ice cream and you can chat with all of your friends! This camp is very fun and educational and we highly encourage you to come!
This program was made to encourage kids to take part in saving the endangered condors. The condor population is very low, only 433 worldwide due to loss of habitat, shooting, pesticide residue, lead poisoning, and collision with power lines. Condors have been in jeopardy since the 1950's and this program is trying to protect the condors by researching how they can prevent condors from getting injured or killed.
Rick Walker
The Campout with Condors program is dedicated to Rick Walker, a condor lover and saver. Rick was 14 when he started becoming interested in condors. He was from Fort Bragg, he never met his parents, his grandmother died when he was 10, and he was sent to Blue Canyon because of hitting rocks at a stop sign, and he really didn't know why he did it. Rick eventually escaped the detention center and hitch hiked with a random person he didn't even know and he later met Lon. Lon was like the father he never had; kind, caring, and someone he could look up to, "'What happens to you matters to me, Rick,'" (121). Lon was the one that got Rick interested in condors and he also taught him how to hang glide. Before Rick met Lon, he thought his life was a mess and he was always down about it, "His life was nothing but an endless succession of dead ends," (41), but after Lon came into Rick's life, Rick was much happier and more outgoing, "'I was only trying to survive, and I kept running into dead ends. But I don't feel like that anymore, thanks to this man,'" (225). Rick helped Lon in the Condor Project where he studied condors and helped them.
Endangered Condors
Condors can normally live up to 60 years, but since they are endangered, their life span is in jeopardy. Condors have been endangered since the 1950's and in 1982, there were fewer than 25 left in the wild! Now there are only 433 condors in the world and many people are trying to save and protect the condors from threats such as predators, habitat destruction, and shooting. Since condors are black in color, they can be easily spotted in the daytime, allowing predators to sneak up on them, such as black bears, coyotes, and ravens. Most condors die of lead poisoning because of eating the bodies of other animals that were killed with lead shot and bullets. Multiple programs are trying to help condors by taking them in and taking care of them until they are ready to be released back into the wild, and this method is really maximizing the condor population.
Rick and a Condor
Condors normally live on rocky shrublands, coniferous forests, and oak savannas. They are normally found near cliffs or large trees, which is where Rick saw them. Rick always had this dream where he was flying over a bunch of people and they were always calling for him to come down and he felt free. When Rick met the condors, he thought they were just like him, flying to be free. Rick watched the condors day and night to make sure they were always safe and he had a huge heart for them, "In the evening Rick wanted to go up the dugway again with Lon to observe the condors," (183).
A Life Changing Experience
When Rick first saw the condors, he thought that they were just a bunch of plain vultures, but after Lon started teaching Rick about the condors, Rick got intrigued and began to help out the condors with Lon. After Maverick, one of the first condors Rick met, got killed, Rick realized how much he loved condors and became more serious with the idea of saving condors, "Rick couldn't help himself. Tears were streaming down his face. He realized he was sobbing out loud. He'd never forget what is was like holding that ancient bird in the front seat of the truck, what its beating heart had felt like under his hand," (143).
The Inspiration
Although there are many animals that are currently endangered, and there are many other programs, this program focuses on condors because of the relationship between Rick and condors. Rick had an unbreakable bond and connection with the condors and it really inspired us to create our own program dedicated to him. When you first look at a condor, all you see is a black bird with a naked head, pretty much a vulture, but Rick learned that they are much more than that, "It was amazing to see the condor up close. Incredible," (116). He realized how amazing a condor is and did everything he could to protect them.
How You Can Help
Most people think that lions or bears are more important than birds, but birds are just the same. They are all animals and they all deserve to be protected. Many people cut down trees or build something on a condor's home which decreases their population and hunters are killing too much condors. You can help the condors by saving their habitat, stop over hunting, and joining a project or program that protects them. "A Campout with Condors" is willing to save them, are you?