Learning adventures start here!

Red Alder Group is proud to continue the legacy of high-quality programs that were developed and offered by Straub Outdoors, a mid-Willamette Valley nonprofit that served our regional community for 22 years from 2002 through 2024.

Red Alder Summer Camps offer the same enriching learning activities, highly-training staff, and supportive environment that were hallmarks of Straub Outdoors’ programs. Field trips and other engaging activities bring science, history, culture, and the arts to life!

Ages: 7-12 (entering 2nd - 7th grade in Fall 2025)

Daily Hours: 9:00 am - 4:30 pm (see 2025 dates, below)

Location: Daily field trips start and end in Salem (drop-off and pick-up location TBD)

Tuition: $479 per child per week (10% discount for siblings)

Online registration will open Monday, February 10, at 7:00 am.

Parents & Guardians: visit this page beginning on the date above to register your child(ren).

Veterinary Science Camp | August 18-22

Take backstage tours of a veterinary clinic, a fish hatchery, and several animal rescue and rehabilitation centers, while learning about some of the dangers that domesticated and wild animals face and how humans can help these animals survive and thrive. Learn how to take an animal’s vital signs (pulse and respiration) and administer basic first aid to a dog. And find out how veterinarians care for exotic pets like reptiles, parrots, and pot-bellied pigs.

Working Animals Camp | August 25-29

Learn why and how humans first domesticated dogs, cats, cows, horses, and chickens and the “jobs” they often do that have helped humans over thousands of years. Visit a dairy farm, watch a dog agility demonstration, get to know a therapy animal, and meet 4H members and their furry friends at the Oregon State Fair (includes admission on Friday, August 29). Learn the differences between wild animals like wolves and domesticated animals like poodles.

For more information call 503-302-4645 or email RedAlderGroup@gmail.com.

Photo at the top of this page courtesy of Hans Splinter.