Copyright 2009   LandChoices -   All Rights Reserved	Launch drive to preserve Scout camps from sprawl From The North Woods Call Mid May Issue, May 7, 2009 LandChoices founder Kirt Manecke has launched a drive to preserve thousands of Boy Scout camp acres from development. A Michigan-based land conservation organization, LandChoices is contacting Scout leaders outlining their alternatives to disposing of lands at dozens of their properties across the state through permanent conservation easements. "The trouble comes amid rising awareness that American children need far more time outdoors," Manecke says. The camps, he adds, "are important to our heritage, our outdoor future and our childrens' health." He cites west Michigan's 4,780-acre Camp Owasippe that Boy Scouts put up for sale for a 1,278 home subdivision. "The problem," Manecke says, "is that many (Scout boards) are seeing declining revenues and are looking at selling big camps as a way to raise money to cover operating expenses. But selling land assets to cover operating expenses is a short-sighted solution that diminishes our childrens access to nature and doesn't really solve the core problem of too little cash flow. If these camps are sold they will never be replaced because the cost of land today is simply too great." He cites the following Michigan camps as potentially being in jeopardy (note from LandChoices: meaning not protected with conservation easements) and candidates for conservation easement protection:  -The 1,700-acre Metamora area D Bar. -The Detroit Area Council's 1,350 acre Cole Canoe Base camp on the Rifle River. -The Fenton area 700-acre Camp Copneconic. -The Grand Traverse area's 512-acre Camp Grelick between Spider, Bass and Rennie lakes. -The 285-acre Silver Trails camp on the Black River north of Port Huron. -The Berrien Springs area Camp Betz on the St. Joseph River. -The Owasippe Scout Reservation near Whitehall founded in 1911. -Camp Kiwanis near Mason. -Ogemaw County's Northwoods Scout Reservation. -Camp Agawam north of Pontiac, in operation since 1918. -The Clinton Valley Council's Lost Lake Scout Reservation. -Edward Cole Canoe Base camp on the Rifle River near Alger. -D-bar A Scout Ranch near Metamora. -The Gerald R. Ford Council's DeVos Venture camp and Gerber Boy Scout Camp. -The 200-acre Great Sauk Trail Camp Teetonkah near Jackson. -The 800-acre Camp Hiawatha in the Upper Peninsula's Hiawatha National Forest. -Paul Bunyan Scout Reservation, 600 acres north of Rose City. -Camp Rotary, 1,100 acres north of Clare. -Camp Tamarack near Jones. -Rota-Kiwan Scout Reservation, 187 acres. -Camp Holaka near Lapeer. -Camp Tapico, 1,280 acres near Kalkaska. For more on Manecke's "Big Camps" initiative and solutions go to www.landchoices.org/bigcamps.htm or info@landchoices.org. Call Manecke at 248-685-0483.
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