Camp Cooper Environmental Education Camp
Summary
SCH Number
2023120396
Public Agency
City of Eureka
Document Title
Camp Cooper Environmental Education Camp
Document Type
NOE - Notice of Exemption
Received
Posted
12/14/2023
Document Description
Camp Cooper Environmental Education Camp (Camp Cooper) is a free outdoor environmental education camp for disadvantaged youth ages 5-12 that operates Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. throughout the summer. The program has a capacity to have up to 40 campers and eight temporary staff. Camp Cooper is located at City-owned Cooper Gulch Park and managed by the City’s Community Services Recreation Division. Cooper Gulch Park contains a 33-acre urban forest with sports fields, walking trails and Cooper Creek, a tributary to Humboldt Bay. Camp Cooper emphasizes environmental education experiences and engagement opportunities for youth to learn and participate in stewardship, wildlife habitat restoration, conservation and interpretation at Cooper Gulch Park. Activities and experiences provided at the camp include bird watching, invertebrate discovery, introduction to tracking, scategories (scat studies), mini-water cycle observation, dam building, and a salmon spawn obstacle course. The City has successfully implemented the camp for eight summers from 2015 to 2023. The City has requested grant funding from the California State Parks’ Habitat Conservation Fund Grant Program – Wildlife Area Activities to continue to offer the camp free of charge for all participants from 2024 through 2029, including free lunches.
Contact Information
Name
CRISTIN KENYON
Agency Name
CITY OF EUREKA - PLANNING
Job Title
DEVELOPMENT SERVICES DIRECTOR
Contact Types
Lead/Public Agency / Project Applicant
Address
Phone
Email
Location
Cities
Eureka
Counties
Humboldt
Regions
Northern California
Cross Streets
1720 10TH STREET
Zip
95501
State Highways
101 and 255
Notice of Exemption
Exempt Status
Categorical Exemption
Type, Section or Code
Class 1 Section 15301
Reasons for Exemption
The proposed project is exempt from CEQA pursuant to a Class 1 (15303) exemption, as the project involves operating and managing an existing program (Camp Cooper) at an existing facility (City-owned Cooper Gulch Park), the same location where the camp has occurred for the past eight years. There will not be any physical changes to the site as a result of this project, and the use (daytime supervised youth recreation) is typical for this park facility. Further, the Lead Agency has determined that use of the categorical exemption is not barred by one of the exceptions set forth in Section 15300.2 of the CEQA Guidelines.
County Clerk
Humboldt
Attachments
Notice of Exemption
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