News

As we jump into September and back into a brand new school year, we close the books on yet another Junior TreeKeeper Summer Camp at Trees Atlanta! Join us as we take a look back on the past two months of fun, exploration, and friends in Atlanta’s urban forest.

This year was the 12th Annual Junior TreeKeeper Summer Camp at Trees Atlanta, and it may have been the most fun we’ve had yet! Over 8 weeks, we had almost 400 campers come and discover the wonders of Atlanta’s urban forest first-hand as we explored parks, played games, made lasting memories and friendships, walked and rode bikes in the Atlanta Beltline Arboretum, and found unique ways to beat the Georgia heat! Regardless of their age group, every camper was fully immersed in the City in the Forest for each day of camp. Here at Trees Atlanta, we love our city and its trees, and we’re grateful for the chance to share that love with all our budding naturalists.

Traditional metrics never seem to fully capture the spirit of summer camp at Trees Atlanta, so we’ve come up with a few unconventional measurements that truly reflect the fun and growth experienced by the campers.

Exploring Atlanta’s Urban Forest

Throughout the summer, the Junior TreeKeepers explored some of Atlanta’s parks, including Washington Park, Adair Park I, Adair Park II, Gordon White Park, Rose Circle Park, and Pittsburgh Yards. Our Sassafras and Quercus campers enjoyed guest presentations from Fulton County Water Public Education and Outreach and Community Farmers Market. Our Sassafras group also teamed up with our Youth Tree Team to care for the Kendeda TreeHouse campus. Our oldest camper group, Acer, attended field trips at sites around metro Atlanta including Blue Heron Nature Preserve, Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area, Dunwoody Nature Center, Atlanta Botanical Garden, Sweetwater Creek State Park, Chattahoochee Nature Center, and Arabia Mountain National Heritage Area.

From Our Counselors

“JTK camp was an incredible success this year, evidenced by the palpable joy and excitement each camper displayed from the moment they arrived each day. This summer was an incredible opportunity for our rising first-grade Sassafras campers to develop a personal sense of responsibility toward their community and their environment as they prepared to enter the classroom this fall. I’ll never forget campers’ total fascination with a bright blue fungus we found in the park, or their unmistakable looks of self-confidence while showing off their colorfully hand-crafted bird masks. Every day was filled with wonderful memories for both campers and counselors alike, and I can’t wait to participate in the fun again next year.”
                                                                                        — Collin Clayton, Sassafras Counselor, Education Senior Lead

“It was yet another amazing summer at Trees Atlanta! We were so happy to see both new and returning faces at camp this summer, and we were honored to be able to provide some deep and meaningful experiences to all our campers. Whether it was learning a new tree species during Tree of the Day, playing Trees and Carbon at Washington Park, tossing some (reusable) water balloons at Adair Park, or feeling the summer breeze on our cheeks while riding bikes on the Atlanta Beltline, every moment at camp was an immersive and unforgettable experience for both campers and staff! We can’t wait for next summer!”
                                                                                             — Starr Whitten, Camp Lead & Education Manager

From Our Parents

“Y’all are doing better than great, you’re fantastic!” 

“The staff have been wonderful, very patient with our camper, and non-judgmental communication with us parents… Really appreciate that, so hats off to the counselors and on-site staff.” 

“Thank you for adding more knowledge and nature into our girls’ brains!”

“The camp is well run, fun, and gets kids outside and exercising. We love it!”

“Trees Atlanta is truly a one-of-a-kind organization, and we are so grateful to have it available to our kiddos.” 

About The Author

Starr Whitten is Trees Atlanta’s Youth Education Senior Manager and Camp Lead. This is his 4th summer camp at Trees Atlanta. With a background in experiential environmental education, he counts it as a true honor and privilege to be able to work with his camp staff to create these experiences for campers. Starr is an unabashed and self-described nature geek with a passion for all things green, leafy, leggy, slimy, and scaly. When not managing Trees Atlanta’s youth education programs, you can usually find him way off trail and halfway lost in the woods as he flips over rocks and logs to look for salamanders and hunches over the ground trying to identify one of the thousands of native fungi species that we have here in Georgia.

Posted on: August 29, 2025