girls smiling at camp holding fish

General Camp Information

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Camp Registration​
Opens​ January 1st, 2024

REGISTER HERE




 
 

Eligibility

Camp is open only to those Kentucky students ​who are in grades 4 - 6 (as of April 1st) and not older than 13.​

All three KDFWR Conservation Camps are co-educational. Boys and girls from the same county will attend camp during the same week. Cabins and counselors are assigned by sex.​​


Registration

Registration is $300.00. 

Payment must be completed online using a credit card payment. We do not accept personal checks or money orders. If you do not have a credit card, consider purchasing a prepaid debit card to purchase your child’s camp registration.

Each registration fee includes: lodging, meals, camper insurance*, transportation to and from camp, and a Junior Sportsman’s License. *Restrictions may apply to camp insurance. Camp insurance does not cover pre-existing conditions. The camper’s health insurance will be billed first if a medical need arises.


Refund Policy

All refund requests must be submitted in writing to the Camp Director.​

Full refunds will be issued if a written request is made thirty (30) days prior to the camper’s designated camp week. Refunds will only be issued within the thirty days of the camper’s week for medical reasons with a doctor’s note excusing the camper due to illness/injury.

Refunds will not be given for "no shows" or early departures due to homesickness or discipline.

Camp John Currie
Camp Director
Nancy Kiernan
nancy.kiernan@ky.gov

Camp Earl Wallace
Camp Director
Jasmine Johnson
jasminej.johnson@ky.gov

Camp Robert Webb
Assistant Director
Emily Hogue
emily.hogue@ky.gov


Summer Sessions

Each camp operates for eight weeks every summer (June through August).

Campers are transported to camp by bus on Monday morning and return home on Friday. Campers are picked up and dropped off at a predetermined location in their home or adjacent county. KDFWR personnel arrange transportation through local school districts or a charter bus service. The camp fee includes transportation costs.

Camp Activities

Campers arrive at camp Monday morning and return home on Friday. Scheduled activities include:

  • Archery
  • Boating
  • Firearm Safety
  • Fishing/Casting
  • Nature
  • Outdoor Survival
  • Swimming

Successful completion of a camp activity entitles the camper to an achievement patch. Additionally, campers may earn Kentucky’s Hunter Education Certificate, also known as an 'orange card.' This orange card is honored in all states that require a hunter education card. Campers will also have time each evening to enjoy their favorite playground activities such as basketball, volleyball, and kickball.

Camp Staff and Facilities

Each conservation camp has eight air-conditioned cabins under the supervision of a counselor. In addition, there are staff quarters, bathhouses, a kitchen and dining room, a camp director’s office, a sick bay/first aid station, a canteen, a nature building, and shelters. We also have a playground with sports equipment, outdoor assembly area, nature trail, rifle range, shotgun range, hunter safety field course, archery range, archery field course, lake swim dock, swimming pool, boat dock, storage, and maintenance buildings.

The permanent staff consists of a camp director, conservation educators, camp superintendent, and maintenance staff. Summer staff includes counselors, summer educators, and cooks. All summer staff are screened before hiring. Counselors are trained to chaperon the campers and assist the conservation educators with camper safety, instruction, and supervision.​

Camp History

The Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources has been involved in conservation education camping since 1946. An average of 4,500 Kentucky students attend our three camps each year.

A Review of Our Summer Camps

“As I find myself signing my son Charlie up for another year at Camp Wallace, I wanted to take a moment and express to you and your staff how much this camp means to me. Last year was Charlie's first experience at camp and away from home. As a mother, I was of course concerned for his physical safety but also how he would handle being on his own. Would the way I've tried to raise him benefit him now and would the staff be able to help him if he needed encouragement to be on his own? My greatest hope as a parent is that my children are happy, self-confident, and independent when away from me. I was so excited to see, when he came home, that both he and the staff exceeded my expectations.

Charlie has always been a very quiet, reserved child. Camp Wallace brought him out of his shell and helped him feel more confident and self-reliant. It allowed him to satisfy a child's basic need for connectedness and acceptance while challenging him learn the importance of teamwork and community. It challenged him to learn new things and understand that when he didn't succeed to not give up. Through the staffs encouragement he was already making plans to try again this year. He had to problem solve, make social adjustments, learn responsibility and gain new skills which helped increase his self-esteem.

I don't have the resources or the knowledge to expose him to some aspects of the outdoors. He loved the boating, gun safety and so many other activities you offer.

Camp Wallace is a safe place for him to learn, grow and continue on his way to a healthy productive life. For me as a parent that is invaluable. Thank you so much for everything you offer my son. His younger brother can't wait until he is old enough to go!”

 Sarah Newton