LandChoices: Opportunities for Landowners to Preserve Their Land

Land Choices: Changing Development in America

Urgent! Help save 4,877 acre Camp Owasippe, America's first and oldest Boy Scout Camp (MI)

Flag raising at Camp Owasippe is an honored tradition. Photo courtesy Owasippe Outdoor Education Center.

NEW! Judge blocks housing plan for Scout camp.
To learn more, visit the Owasippe Outdoor Education Center website and click on links under "News"

The Chicago Council has an offer of $19.4 million for 4,877 acre Camp Owasippe that is contingent on the property being rezoned for development. The Chicago Council has taken Blue Lake Township to court to try and get the property rezoned.

A controversial rezoning plan that would allow 1,278 homes on the scenic Owasippe Scout Reservation has been rejected by Blue Lake Township's planning commission. The commission unanimously turned down the request by the Chicago Area Council of Boy Scouts to rezone its pristine 4,780-acre camp for residential development.

Camp Owasippe's oak-savanna forest north of Muskegon in near Whitehall, Michigan is the last of its kind in West Michigan. It's home to a variety of endangered and threatened species of wildlife, including the Bald Eagle, Karner Blue Butterfly, Eastern Box Turtle and Massasauga Rattlesnake.

"I had experiences as a kid that I still have memories of. It just changes people." Ron Kron, a scoutmaster for a troop on Chicago's northwest side, talking about Camp Owasippe as quoted in the Muskegon Chronicle on June 22, 2006.

"A Scout Council Has NO Business Being In Land Development!" From a letter to the editor

"We need a dramatic, bold change in promoting camps," said Nancy Burke, of Haverhill. "I'm a school teacher, and I know that parents want to send their kids somewhere in the summer where they are safe and where they learn."

The original property for Owasippe was donated to the Chicago Boy Scouts by the City of Whitehall. A group of current and former Scouts formed the Owasippe Outdoor Education Center (OOEC) in 2002 and are raising funds to purchase the property to preserve it.

Owasippe Outdoor Education Center
The Owasippe Outdoor Education Center (OOEC) observes that the current proposed sale by the Chicago Boy Scouts is a continuation of a long-established Boy Scout policy of selling real assets in order to fund their current program operations. In the recent past (about 16 years ago) the Chicago Boy Scouts sold more than 8,000 acres of Owasippe property for residential development. The Chicago Boy Scouts have sold all of their other camp real estate holdings.

The Owasippe Outdoor Education Center is trying to save this property not necessarily as a Boy Scout Camp, but for the youth of America, including Boy Scouts, to use and enjoy. This group of former and current Scouts have heartfelt connections to this property. Some earned their Eagle Scout badge on this property in their youth. They feel it is imperative that today's youth have the same opportunity to develop a deep connection to the land through experiences at Owasippe.

Their plan includes the general public being welcomed with controlled-access public activities and events at Owasippe facilities. The Owasippe Outdoor Education Center would place a permanent conservation easement on the remaining 4,800+ acres of the property to protect it forever.

AND...IN CLOSING: "If you want to join the Boy Scouts, you have to take the oath of admission. If you want to put the uniform on, you have to stand for what the uniform stands for. It's as simple as that." George Davidson, BSA senior legal counsel. From THE SCARLET SASSAFRAS, April 18, 2006

You can help save lands like Camp Owasippe by becoming a member of LandChoices today!

LandChoices in Chicago Wilderness Magazine
Kirt Manecke, for one, objects to the sale. The founder of LandChoices, a nonprofit that shows landowners ways to protect their land permanently from development, he thinks the land could and should be saved.

"I look at that sale as a cop-out, he says. Selling off assets is the easiest way to raise money without making any effort. I agree there's more competition with computers and sports, but if the Boy Scouts say participation is low, they should be out there with an aggressive PR campaign. If you take kids out camping, they love it!"

Chicago Wilderness Magazine, Summer, 2007 Special Report
People: Nurture & Nature
By Katherine Millett

In the news
With an interview on Public Radio and media placements in Crain's Detroit Business, Traverse Magazine, The North Woods Call, Chicago Wilderness Magazine, and others, LandChoices is helping to raise awareness of the possible sale of Camp Owasippe.

Endangered wildlife
A survey by the Nature Conservancy found that the property hosts 19 species that are considered endangered, threatened or of special concern in Michigan, including the threatened bald eagle, the endangered Karner Blue butterfly, the eastern Massasauga rattlesnake and rare turtles, as well as coyote, river otters and loons.

OOEC
The Owasippe Outdoor Education Center (OOEC) has put together a business plan to purchase the 4,877 acre property that will include developing a learning and conference center on 40 acres of the property to create sustainable revenue for the continued operation of Camp Owasippe. This 40 acres currently contains forty cabins and is already semi-developed. Any development will take place in areas where development has already occurred.

You can help!
Visit the official Owasippe Outdoor Education Center website for news updates and to make a contribution to help save Camp Owasippe, or send your contribution to:
Owasippe Outdoor Education Center
143 W Sherman Blvd.
Muskegon MI 49444

Thank you!