:: Running from the Thought Police ::

:: Tuesday, February 22, 2005 ::

They're Selling My Camp!!!

Chicago Area Council has voted to sell Owasippe Scout Reservation, the oldest continuously operating Boy Scout camp in the nation. Since 1999, it's also been my summer employer, where I've risen through the ranks from Counselor-In-Training to Ecology-Conservation Director. The sale went through despite the fact that there was an understanding that the Owasippe Outdoor Education Center, a not-for-profit group organized by many current and former OSR staff, would have first crack at purchasing the property. The OOEC had recently found a business partner interested in building a single building on the site and leaving the rest of the 4,700 acre property untouched and available for Scouts and other youth groups to use. As I understand it, the OOEC was still in the process of finalizing the details on the proposal when the prospect of the other buyer was announced last week. The OOEC was given NO chance to put together a counter-proposal before today's vote, showing once again the council's committment to dollars over its outdoor camping program.

Current staff scuttlebutt says that the sale agreement in contingent upon a number of things, including a rezoning of the camp to allow for residential development. Blue Lake Township currently has Owasippe zoned as Recreational/Institutional, which means that only a camp of some sort, or a similar institution, could operate the property. The council tried to get sections of the camp (most notably on Big Blue Lake) rezoned residential this past summer, which managed to attract considerable local media attention. The township, supported by the five other camps in the township, denied the council's rezoning request. Council will have an uphill battle trying to rezone the whole property after being turned down for part.

Also of note in the Council's news release is the mention of the Arson fires that occured in 2000-2002. A series of fires burned down the Camp Reneker Lodge, Lake Cabin 1, and Camp Carlen's Dining Hall. Another fire burned a wall of Camp Blackhawk's Dining Hall, but was noticed and put out before engulfing the entire structure. The council claims these damages as part of the reason that they would have to sink $3-$5 million into the property in maintainence. However, the council had fire insurance and was awarded money to rebuild the structures. This has yet to happen, which raises the question of where the insurance money went, if not to rebuild the burned structures.

Scouting everywhere took a nosedive in numbers from the mid-seventies onwards, and that was when over half of the original reservation was sold off. In recent years, Owasippe's numbers have been climbing, slowly, as many troops gain numbers, suburban Scoutmasters who went to Owasippe as youths bringing their own units to the camp, and new out-of-council units discovering the camp for the first time. To claim that Owasippe is in decline is to mischaracterize the recent history of the camp.

:: The Squire 11:56 PM :: email this post :: ::
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