MY TURN: Warning to potential land donors

In response to the Jan. 11, My Turn column by Mike Aagesen, I would suggest the information he is presenting as “fact” is easily provable as inaccurate and untrue. He has obviously been fed talking points by the “Professionals” within the Boy Scouts organization, and is accepting information without question of authenticity. With today’s internet, checking information is easily attainable on most subjects.

When Camp Easton land was donated to the BSA by the Fitze family in the early 1900s, the intention was it be used “as a camp for boys, in perpetuity,” to benefit their growth and development. This statement is right out of the minutes of the meeting with the BSA and the Fitze family, prior to the donation being accepted. That document surfaced during the lawsuit that was filed in 2011 when the Inland Northwest Council of Boy Scouts, located in Spokane, tried to sell/swap Camp Easton for a less desirable location in Sunup Bay and allow Discovery Land Company to take over the present site for a development. “In perpetuity” means “forever,” yet the expensive lawyers for BSA  were able to twist the words and convince the Court that by selling/swapping Camp Easton, they were using the proceeds to “benefit the boys,” so it did not go against original wishes for the donation. Public outcry was one of the main reasons the deal never went through. Mr. Fitze would never have wanted this land extensively logged as a “Cash Cow” for the BSA.

The Camp Easton trees now being cut and being taken to the mill are beautiful virgin pieces of lumber; healthy, straight huge timber of old growth trees. In researching “old growth trees,” Wikipedia states old-growth forests are ... ”old-growth stands usually between 80 and 150 years …” Camp Easton was heavily timbered over a century ago, when it was donated; many of the trees there today were there then, and are what’s being presently logged. To state otherwise, that no old-growth trees are on this land is untrue. This is not forest management — it is forest slaughter for profit.

Mr. Aagesen mentions in his letter the “risk” involved in having so many large trees in Camp Easton. What does he think a “Wilderness Camp” should be? A flat piece of ground with no trees bigger than 4 feet? In speaking to some of the past Camp Easton workers and Scouts, as well as many local old-timers, no one has ever heard of any individual attending Camp Easton having a tree fall on them.

The general public both local and beyond are quite unaware of the number of Boy Scout Camps nationwide that exist because of generous donations. Donors thought BSA would protect the land and use it to educate and recreate young people allowing them the wilderness experience. Many of these camps are now being logged then sold to pay off BSA's extensive bills. Much of this money is used to fund incredibly generous salaries and pensions for “professional scouts.” Doing research one can find the salaries of the key officers and employees of the BSA: President and Chief Executive Officer — $501,456, Chief Strategy Officer — $489,554, Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer — $419,528, Secretary and General Counsel — $415,921; all also getting generous benefits and pensions. These are 2023 salaries. Local Council heads make thousands of dollars as well, with added benefits and pensions.              

Money is also much needed for a “reorganization plan before the federal bankruptcy court which calls for the Boy Scouts and its roughly 250 local councils to contribute up to $786 million in cash and property to help pay for a fund to compensate abuse claimants,” as stated in a Killingworth, Conn., news article in March 2022, by Susan Haigh. Developers have bought up some of these camps after they were heavily logged. Likely the same future for Camp Easton.

Idaho just recently had another camp, 62-year-old Camp McCroskey near Tensed, Idaho, clear cut, and is now being sold to a developer, much to the frustration and disenchantment of the McCroskey family. This decision, as well as the decision about extensive logging at Camp Easton, is being made by the Inland Northwest Council of Boy Scouts out of Spokane, WA. According to the Seattle newspaper 2009 article by Lewis Kamp, P-I Investigator Reporter, “ ... the Council over the past 35 years has clearcut and otherwise logged parts of this gift {McCroskey donation}, collecting hundreds of thousands of dollars — some going to pay off the mortgage on council headquarters in Spokane, according to a former member of the council’s directors board.”  

Fair warning to others looking to donate land to organizations like BSA,with hopes it will remain forever for use as a camp or recreation facility: One might think otherwise.

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Bev Twillmann is a Harrison resident.