Chippewa's Camp Rabideau Rises to Modern Day Challenge

Camp Rabideau rises to new challenge as Rabideau Conservation Academy and Learning Center.

Camp Rabideau operated as a Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camp from 1935-1942, under President Roosevelt's New Deal program. Camp Rabideau is now a National Historic Landmark, representing the best preserved CCC camp in the nation.

Today, Camp Rabideau is again rising to meet a modern day challenge, similar in scope to the original purpose for which the CCC was created; providing work and education to young adults through conservation-based service learning projects. This new project is called Rabideau Conservation Academy and Learning Center.

The 2008 pilot Conservation Academy and Learning Center endeavor was funded though grants from the Initiative and Blandin Foundations, along with partnerships with Bois Forte Band of Chippewa and the Minnesota Workforce Center through Workforce Investment Act funding.

The first youth group to overnight at Camp Rabideau since the 1930's were 33 youth and 8 adults conducting a week-long Ojibwe language immersion program while learning traditional cultural practices. Each day was filled with language classes, Indian art, fishing, canoeing, water safety, and traditional Indian cooking. The experience was such a success that the camp leaders plan to use it as a model for the future. Dan Evans, the Camp Rabideau Coordinator, noted that Bois Forte was the location of Minnesota's first CCC Indian Development project of that era.

Later in the summer for six weeks, more than a dozen youth workers accomplished a variety of maintenance projects at the CCC camp. They scraped and painted the buildings, stained the fishing pier, excavated an old CCC building foundation, and performed simple carpentry tasks. Off-site projects included maintenance at Benjamin Lake, assisting with GPS and mapping of Showy Lady Slippers along the Lady Slipper Scenic Byway (including training in the use of GPS and GIS equipment) and trail work at Webster Lake. The youth were delighted to "star" in a Lakeland Public TV news clip about the youth work and Camp Rabideau.

With a successful pilot season behind us, the winter will be filled with making plans for next summer while pursuing partnerships and grants to carry the Conservation Academy and Learning Center forward.