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Seeing it done now. Camp got sold, but in the agreement Scouts can use it 5 times a year for the next 3 years. HOWEVER since the new owners are not maintaining the property, Scouters would have 1 Saturday prior to an event to come in and get everything ready. The last time an event was held there with no ranger onsite, it took volunteers about 2 months going into and out of the camp at our own times to get it ready to meet NCAP standards. One event was already cancelled this year, and the fall events may be cancelled if the conditions are stil in place.

My LC SE salary and benefits are $290,000 for a council with 6,000 scouts. This equals almost $50 per scout to fund the SE. This seems very excessive to me in that the council has lost 2/3 of youth members over the last 5 years. What are other councils paying per scout?

Meetings can be jazzed up a lot. Have the Scouts put together at least one game per meeting. Try to turn programs into games and competitions when possible Ideas: https://www.troop60.co/activities/troop-meeting-activities

Every Troop has it's own personality. Finding a good match is in many ways like finding a good marriage. When you find the right match, you'll know. We all hate giving up on things, but life experience has taught us that some things can't be changed in a reasonable amount of time. If your troop isn't a good match for your youth, find or make a better one.

I've seen this used to teach CPR https://bmcemergmed.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12873-016-0110-5 Video (go to 3 minute point):

At one time the scout camp lands were just that, land. Scouts would go and camp in the woods and paddle the lakes just like if they were on national or state forest lands. There was little to no infrastructure to maintain. With the creation of dining halls, trading posts, cabins, etc... the cost for maintainance skyrocketed. Ironically to help pay for these costs, many councils sold public easements to states so that during non-camp times the general public could use the lands for hunting, fishing and camping outside the "main camp", ie the woods and forests. So the general public now use

There is no way scouting can hang on to all the property it currently has. If part of its mission is to be a steward of the outdoors and get the nation's kids out in it, then councils should have some form of long term management and succession planning for their properties. That would entail identifying future public or private partners for the land that would guarantee continued scouting access in exchange for reduced land costs or other concessions if/when they have to sell it. Instead, far too many councils have either been shortsighted and ill prepared for this stewardship role or they h

Bruce Babbitt, the Secretary of the Interior under Bill Clinton, tried to ban Scouts from all national parks and other lands. So an administration who does like the BSA could potentially block access to national lands. Clearly there would likely be lawsuits but the damage could be significant. Most national parks limit group size that would currently disallow troops and packs from camping together. We should keep as much property as possible to provide flexibility for future generations. Be Prepared.

The SE gravy train has got to end. It is killing, especially smaller councils. My LC medium sized SE salary and benefits is well over 300k a year.