Where the Wild Things Are

As manager of a public school camp perched on the lip of a rugged mountain canyon, Neil Cohen is always asked by parents: “Are you sure it’s safe to leave my kids here?”

“Don’t worry. Our policy of supervision is very strict,” assures Cohen, who has helped shepherd upward of 200,000 students through the Los Angeles Unified School District’s Clear Creek Outdoor Education Center over the past three decades without a serious mishap.

Given that track record, district officials were understandably dismayed when the 56-year-old manager-in-residence announced plans to retire this summer after 30 years at the camp.

“It’s simply time to move on,” Cohen said as he supervised 80 elementary school students in the camp’s rustic dining room one morning last week.

Under the taciturn, stout man with an easy smile, the camp in the Angeles National Forest has survived floods, fires, earthquakes and wave upon wave of students, most of whom received a safe, hands-on introduction to the cycles of nature during their first trip away from home.

To be sure, the camp has had its share of missteps. An experiment in composting camp garbage five years ago attracted a black bear that terrorized staffers for weeks. The bear was fatally injured when it was struck by a car on nearby Angeles Crest Highway.

Around the same time, biologists urged Cohen to stop planting trees at the camp, which was created 75 years ago as part of an effort to get high school students involved in reforestation projects. Students had planted so many evergreens in and around the 60-acre camp over the years that they now sway and bang into each other every time the wind kicks up.

District officials regard these ecological setbacks as endearing footnotes in Cohen’s long career. More important to them is the fact that he has managed to maintain a safe operation for a growing and increasingly poor population of students with few opportunities to escape city life.

“We’ve got a rock for a camp manager; he’s very level and consistent,” said Debra Hetrick, who heads the district’s office of outdoor education. “I’ll be looking for another rock-solid person to replace him in what I think is one of the best gigs in town.”

Since posting the job opening a few weeks ago, Hetrick has received dozens of inquiries from across the country. The position--one of the few full-time camp manager jobs in the United States--comes with free living quarters at the camp and an annual salary ranging from $42,000 to $53,000.

In the meantime, Cohen continues to supervise the 80 fifth- and sixth-graders who arrive each week for five days of science activities that focus on the value of nature. About 60 middle and high school students attend on weekends.

Accommodations include earthquake-proof cabins, a swimming pool, an arts and crafts area, a playground, a weather station, an observatory and a caged menagerie of wildlife ranging from owls to newts--and one adult supervisor per 10 students.

Last week’s visitors included students and teachers from Yorkdale Elementary School east of downtown and the San Fernando Valley’s Garden Grove Elementary School.

“My students didn’t know there were so many stars in the sky,” said Lisa Kneisel, a fifth-grade teacher at Yorkdale.

Donna King, a fifth-grade mentor teacher at Garden Grove, marveled at “the way some of my girls, who are not athletic in school, are rocking out up here. It’s great to watch them lend a helping hand to students struggling to get past tough spots on a mountain trail.”

A high point of the week came when naturalist Sal Montes led 22 fifth-graders on a strenuous, 3-mile hike through a stretch of Clear Creek Canyon where a small stream gurgled past lush ferns, moss-covered boulders, alders and pines.

The hike culminated with a lecture on the water cycle.

However, no sooner had Montes completed his talk than some students began complaining about being hungry. Two boys were repeatedly scolded for trampling through the stream that comes alive with tree frogs and newts in the spring. One student grumbled: “Aren’t we going to visit a place prettier than this?”

But 11-year-old Gabriela Cardenas was transformed by the journey into the canyon. Breaking away from her classmates, she made her way down a narrow path to a waterfall. Gingerly, the girl with big brown eyes and wire-rimmed glasses leaned over a boulder and reached down to touch the cold water.

Then she stared wide-eyed at huge trees that were growing out of cracks in the canyon walls. “I feel like I’m on a mission, like I’m important and trying to get someplace exciting,” she said. “I feel like something special is happening inside me, but I’m not sure what.”

Taking a deep breath, she added, “I feel like I’m growing up.”

“Things that are hard to do are like icebergs in my path: I try to melt them when I can, or call for help,” she said, munching on a burrito. “I’ve definitely melted a few icebergs on this trip.”

Most children can’t express themselves like Gabriela, Cohen said.

“But they have the same feelings and reactions,” he said. “I’ll miss watching those changes, and the smiles on the faces of kids who usually don’t get more than a few blocks away from home.”