Re: Super Summer Camps (National Guide Book now underway)
Bruce E. Cobern (bec@PIPELINE.COM)
Sun, 29 Dec 1996 16:14:39 GMT
At 12:14 AM 12/29/96 -0500, Ed Henderson wrote:
>Few things are as closely a guarded a secret in BSA land as the national
>database of all BSA camps (if even they keep up with it that well). If you
>ask your council, they can't give you the list because they don't have a
>national list. Some regions have a regional list but it may be a few years
>old and it is not intended for release to the average Scouter but rather=
for
>professionals.
I have to take exception with the comment that the BSA tries to hide the
location of its properties. As I indicated in my last post, Northeast
Region prepared a directory several years ago (and is in the process of
revising it) which listed all the camp properties in the region, including
certain information about the camps and contact information. This guide was
distributed to every council in the region, in sufficient quantity, and with
express instructions, for it to be distributed to EVERY unit in the council.
Thus, it was the intention of the region that every unit in the region be in
possession of this guide to the region's camps. That does not sound like
keeping it a state secret. Now, in fact, some (or most) councils might not
have actively distributed the list, but that was a LOCAL decision, not
something organizational.
The guide is being revised, about 6 years later. I don't see a need to
reprint something like this annually, because the changes aren't that
massive as to warrant the significant production and distribution costs.
In addition there is (or was) the CampwaysBSA program. Originally that
program involved a published and generally available for sale directory of
BSA camps, Military installations, etc. that units could use while
traveling. However, national found that it was impossible to keep that list
current. So it was replaced by the ability to generate state-wide computer
generated lists on an as demand basis. Supposedly, all you need to do is
ask your council to get you the current listings for the state in which you
are interested. I do not know whether these lists are still currently
available.
>From my observation, I get the impression that there are some who would=
like
>to keep all of us "barefoot & pregnant" na=EFve to other scouting camps
>located elsewhere, so that we will plod back to the same local camp year
>after year no matter how lame the program gets. It has become a fairly
>recent occurrence that some councils have boldly begun advertising in the
>pages of Scouting Magazine, setting up web pages, and mass producing videos
>promoting their camp that they will send to all who ask. Word of mouth=
also
>plays a huge factor in finding good camps. Let one well respected troop=
have
>a great time at an out of council camp and soon half of the district's=
troops
>will be on the phone getting next year's leader's guide.
In some cases I find it to be true that a council will try to prevent its
units from finding other camps in order to keep the attendance up at their
own camp. However, I also have found that many, if not most, unit leaders
are very reluctant NOT to camp at the council's camp. Thus, even though the
leaders might be complaining about how horrible their experience was, they
remain unwilling to consider out of council camps. Most don't know they
exist, but even when informed that they have a choice (or in some cases MANY
choices) they steadfastly continue to attend the council's camp, and
continue to bitch.
On the other hand, my own troop has been camping out of council now for
about 18 years or so. (Its a long story, going way back.) When we had to
find a new camp six years ago, we discovered that there were actually
between 50 and 75 council operated summer camps operated within the same
distance as the camp we had been attending. That gave us a significant
amount of choice, and we evaluated many of these camps, and actually visited
over a dozen (including our own) before ultimately deciding where to go.
So, what I have found is that those troops who have out of council
experience will consider other out of council alternatives, but those who
have always camped in council are reluctant to do otherwise.
>Unfortunately none of the above lists is very complete or accurate yet this
>information is important to many of us. For example consider the benefits=
of
>troops from up north traveling to the Florida Seabase who could pick up a
>guide and read that there are several camps in Georgia less than two miles
>from the Interstate which would make excellent overnight low cost stop off
>points and set the troop of for an excellent final day of travel on down to
>the keys (I-95 check out Camp Blue Heron of Coastal Empire Council) (I-75
>check out Camp Ben Hawkins of the Central Georgia Council) (I-85 check out
>Camp Pine Mountain of Chattahoochee Council).
Having been involved with a number of touring camps and high adventure
trips, we have never had any difficulty locating Scout camps or military
installations along our route. So, again, the degree of difficulty appears
to be a function of the willingness of the local council to provide this
information, rather than as a result of any national policy to withhold it.
I don't disagree that it would be beneficial to have as much of this
information as possible easily accessible to any unit seeking it, but I do
disagree with some of your observations about how difficult it is to get
this information currently.
--
Bruce E. Cobern
mailto:bec@pipeline.com
Terry Howerton Sakima Group, Inc. SCOUTER Magazine Kansas City | 
