HICKORY RUN STATE PARK -- High school students from all over the state are in northeastern Pennsylvania this week learning there are plenty of job opportunities in the great outdoors.
Twenty teenagers are learning their career path can lead them right into the woods.
There's work to be done there, from learning how to build a fire line to stop forest fires, understanding how foresters see a tree as lumber and logs, and seeing how to assess the damage bugs can do to the leaves.
This is forestry day at Eco Camp.
"It's awesome, a lot of fun," said Nathan Woleslagle of Duncannon. "We're out here, outside, doing what we love, finding new career path, so, good time!"
Every day this week there's a new theme teaching a new career that involves the outdoors.
It's free, put on by the state, taking advantage of the state parks and forests in Carbon and Luzerne Counties.
This stop was at Hickory Run State Park.
"There's some wonderful natural resources," said camp organizer Diane Madl. "Our forests, our parks, our water, our lakes, our streams, it's great to get them out into the resources ourselves."
Pennsylvania has so much outdoor beauty and opportunity. This camp is meant to show these young people it takes a lot of careers and jobs to maintain, protect, and enjoy it.
Most of these teens had an interest in nature, like Alexis Roush of Selinsgrove.
"I've been hunting and fishing since I was a little kid."
The high school students can try to see how to turn what they love into a job.
"I'm going to college for a fisheries degree but I don't know what I want to do with it. I don't know what I can do with it," said Roush. "Coming here gave me options what I can do, and opened doors for me pretty much."
"I don't know," said Woleslagle about what he sees in his future. "That's why I'm here to try and figure it out."
For 13 years, Eco Camp has helped teens do just that.
