Extension Sprucing Up James 4-H Camp After Donations from Several Foundations

Improvements funded by charitable donations will help a University of Arizona Cooperative Extension 4-H camp give more youth a chance to experience the great outdoors.

“We know that there's a kind of a nature deficit among young people that can cause anxiety and contribute to other mental health issues,” said Arizona State 4-H Director Todd Kesner. “And we know through research that being in a natural place like this has a lot of benefit at any age, but for young people in particular.”

The Harold & Mitzie James 4-H Camp and Outdoor Learning Center is a sprawling network of about a dozen buildings, including a recreation hall, youth lodge and pavilion, kitchen/dining hall, and a bunkhouse and cabins that can house more than 130 people.

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Arizona 4-H uses the camp for youth development and education. Schools, universities and government, religious and other organizations use it for training, retreats and other outings, including firefighters who train there.

Until recent upgrades, the aging solar power system couldn’t handle the entire camp day and night, and the water system can’t support a full camp, said Assistant in Extension Margaret Carroll, who manages the 55-acre facility.

The camp had solar panels and a bank of standard marine deep-cycle batteries that powered part of the camp but never the kitchen. The camp also has a diesel generator, previously used during the daytime, that will now be used only as a backup, Carroll said.

“We are now operating 100 percent on solar produced energy,” she said.

The youth camp dates to the 1950s. In the late 1960s, longtime Arizona philanthropist Henry Dahlberg bought it and expanded the dining hall and added a bunkhouse and bath house. Dahlberg decided to sell in 2012, after 4-H had been looking for years for a permanent home, Carroll said.

“He was looking for somebody to purchase the property that would be of a like mind and really appreciate it as an environmental, outdoor learning center, and 4-H was looking for a permanent camp home,” she said.

So with a donation from the James Family Foundation, money set aside by the Arizona 4-H Youth Foundation and money pitched in from a few Arizona counties, Extension bought the property.

There are basketball and volleyball courts, a disc golf course and a small lake for swimming, boating and fishing. The new youth pavilion includes a classroom. The main kitchen in the dining hall hasn’t seen significant updating in almost five decades. The plan is to install a walk-in cooler and other modern upgrades.

The power system will become a teaching tool. They will install a large schematic of the power system to teach campers about solar power. Next up are water improvements. The single, low-volume well can’t serve a full camp, so plans include either expanding the current well or adding a second one, Carroll said.  

Donations for the current upgrades started in 2022 with a major gift from a donor who asked not to be named. That paid for the youth pavilion and lodge. A donation from the Burton Family Foundation covered the new solar power equipment, and the Harold James Family Trust gave a third major donation.

The rest was pledged over three years from the Jack Ingebritson, Margaret T. Morris, Perry and Sandy Massie, and J.W. Kieckhefer foundations. Total recent donations to the camp total $1 million.

All of the improvements are aimed at one thing – helping people detach from phones, iPads computers and TVs and connect with nature and each other.

“It gives young people and adults an opportunity to really appreciate being away from a city, even away from a rural community, and in a setting that affords you the opportunity to talk face to face, to live in community, to work in community,” Carroll said.