Youth and Adult Team & Leadership Development

A low-style ropes course facilitates team building and creative thinking/problem-solving activities. The camp has served high school leadership teams, soccer teams, international exchange student retreats, FFA workshops, teen explorers, state training workshops, university field trips and others.

The outdoor setting also facilitates outdoor adventure activities, including backpacking, snowshoeing, survival-training exercises, at-risk teen “boot camp” and other similar activities. It has facilitated activities for the Boys and Girls Club “Explorer’s Group,” the Nez Perce County probation and other service organizations, such as local Chamber of Commerce.

Outdoor/Environmental Education

The camp serves local school needs for environmental education and for local youth to experience summer camping, providing exposure to educational opportunities not available in a conventional “indoor” classroom. The camp provides an ideal atmosphere for learning with an overnight camping capacity located in the midst of a farm, ranch, timber operation with mountain streams and wildlife and recreation programs being actively managed in the background. It has been used by Lewiston and Lapwai Elementary schools for fifth and sixth grade environmental education.

A Camp Curriculum Committee was established to ensure that camp users follow a multi-disciplinary curriculum, including concepts such as multiple-use, renewability of resources, sustainability, and economic multiplier. The committee consisted of representatives from the Boys and Girls Club, Wittman Farms, the Natural Resource Conservation Service, the Lewiston School District, Idaho Department of Lands, Idaho Fish and Game, the University of Idaho, Potlatch Corporation, Lewis-Clark State College and several area farmers.

Ag Industry Tours and Business Retreats

The camp has since inception been a popular site for concluding tours of farm conservation groups, legislative teams and ag industry policy forums. The camp has expanded its outreach in recent years to also serve other businesses desiring a location to hold meetings and retreats for strategic planning and business teamwork enhancement. The meeting facilities and natural resource climate are ideal for making this a world-class site for these purposes. This use also provides a revenue generating opportunity to fund other Camp Wittman programs and administrative overhead.

Fellowship & Preserving Traditions

Camp wouldn’t be camp without fireside sing-a-longs. Music and folks songs have been a legacy of the Wittman family for generations, and the camp is helping to keep the tradition alive. Fireside singing is an almost forgotten legacy of the country’s early settlement and entertainment. The tradition is being partially preserved through the Camp Wittman “hootenanny” – a sing-a-long requiring audience participation, with lyrics provided in the Camp Wittman songbook containing old cowboy/country ballads, patriotic and spiritual hymns, and a few more contemporary classics.

Family Reunions

Every three years over 200 family members spanning over five generations of the eight brothers and sisters from the George and Clara Wittman family convene at the camp to reunite and share the family’s farm roots and traditions. As a part of the reunion, the family hosts an annual auction, donating a share of the proceeds to the Boys and Girls Club Camp Wittman Education Foundation for camp projects, improvements, and camp scholarships.