The Porter County Parks Department is exploring a partnership with the Parents As Teachers program to provide a nature-themed learning experience for pre-schoolers.

County Parks Recreation Coordinator Gayle O’Connor told the park board Thursday that initial discussions are underway with PAT of Porter County to develop pre-school nature camps at Sunset Hill Farm County Park. PAT, private non-profit headquartered in the Duneland Schools, is a county-wide early education program that helps parents take an active role in preparing their young children before they enter school.

O’Connor, whose sister is a PAT educator, said a partnership with PAT could mutually benefit both groups, with the county parks providing a new learning experience for PAT children and parents and with PAT promoting the parks as an educational tool. “I think it’s a great fit, a great collaboration,” she said.

Park Board member Dave Canright noted that if the county parks partner with PAT, it could establish the framework needed to provide similar programs for other pre-schools.

O’Connor also gave an update of the upcoming Junior Naturalists summer camp program at Sunset Hill Farm. As in the past, the summer camps will provide weekly outdoor education programs. This year, the camps will be offered in two, three-week sessions, with one set of camps provided to youth between the ages of 6 and 8 and the other for youth aged 9 to 11.

The cost will be $50 per child per week, with a discount for siblings. Scholarships will be offered for families unable to pay.

In another matter involving the county park’s education program, O’Connor told the board that very few school field trips are now being scheduled at Sunset Hill Farm, due to a lack of funding at the schools. She noted that the biggest expense schools are facing for field trips are fuel costs. She expressed hope that a grant opportunity will allow more schools to provide trips to Sunset Hill.

In a separate matter, County Parks Superintendent Ed Melendez gave an update on the long-standing plan to build a new activity barn at Sunset Hill Farm in conjunction with the Porter County Parks Foundation. The new facility could be used for educational programs, meetings, and rentals.

Melendez said the park board’s construction committee discussed the project at a meeting earlier in the week and that more planning will be done before the project is presented to the full board.

One site under consideration for the new barn is at the top of the hill at Sunset Hill, where the former Murray House was located.

Speaking from the audience, Charlotte Read urged that the park board build an environmentally sustainable building. She noted that if the building is to have a flat roof, the roof could be converted into a “green” roof with plantings. “Think as green as possible,” she said.

The new activity barn has been discussed for a number of years. Park board member Ruth Jarnecke said the Parks Foundation is eager to work with the park department on the project and is satisfied with the current direction that the project is taking; the park foundation has had a fundraising effort in place for the new barn.

In another matter, Melendez said the park department has been contacted by a consulting firm working with the city of Hammond on a new endeavor to apply wastewater from the city’s sewage treatment plant to fields instead of discharging the liquid waste in Lake Michigan. The consultant hopes to apply the liquid over a three-county area, he said.

The idea was immediately rejected by at least one board member. Canright said the consultant should be in discussions with private landowners who own considerably more acreage than the Porter County Parks Department. He noted that as a public agency, the park department has to “bend over backwards” to ensure that nothing is done at the parks that is environmentally unsafe.

Canright noted that land application of sewage sludge is fairly common but that there are still concerns over its safety.

In this particular venture to land apply the liquid waste, he said the proposal could lead to a “bottomless pit” of spending for the consultants that would be needed to prove that the application is safe.