By Jackie Ayres
The Boy Scouts of America announced Monday they have entered into a purchase and sales agreement with the Meadow Creek Coal Corporation for more than 10,000 acres of land in the Glen Jean-Mount Hope area to locate a National Scouting Center, which will include a new high-adventure base.
BSA chose the Garden Ground Mountain site, in the New River Gorge region, after assessing 80 proposals from 28 states.
BSA is now in the process of submitting an application to the Fayette County Commission for rezoning the property, which BSA says will provide “the Boy Scouts with the flexibility to grow for the next 100 years in West Virginia and to potentially add more than the high-adventure base if that opportunity presents itself.”
The BSA still has not confirmed where the National Scout Jamboree will be relocated. That event, which attracts thousands of scouts from all over the world each year, has been held at Fort A. P. Hill Virginia since 1981 but will be moving from that location after next year’s event.
The BSA says it is currently “conducting an extensive due diligence process to determine the feasibility” of locating the Jamboree at the Goshen Scout Reservation in Rockbridge County, Va. However, it has been rumored that West Virginia is also being considered as a permanent home for the National Jamboree.
* * *
In a press release, BSA said they chose West Virginia for the National Scouting Center because of its unique offerings, including “some of the best whitewater rafting, rappelling, mountain biking and other activities not found anywhere else.”
“We are extremely excited about West Virginia playing such an important role in the National Scouting Center and in expanding our existing high adventure bases,” said Jack Furst, chairman of the National Scouting Center project and member of the BSA National Board.
“The beauty of the New River Gorge region and the opportunity for world-class high adventure and other outdoor activities speaks for itself. This will offer a tremendous, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Scouts coming from all over the country.”
Currently, BSA has three existing high-adventure bases in New Mexico, Minnesota and Florida. Annually, these three bases serve more than 50,000 youths, with 20,000 more wait-listed.
According to Judy Radford, executive director of the 4-C Economic Development Authority, the New Mexico high-adventure base is comparable to the base slated for West Virginia.
With this in mind, Radford estimates that approximately 80 new jobs will be created annually along with 1,000 seasonal jobs. This will create an annual payroll of about $6 million. It will also inject about $10 million annually into the economy, Radford said.
The high-adventure base may open as early as 2012.
The BSA expects to close on the new property sometime this fall.
“The experience in West Virginia has been just incredible — from Governor Manchin’s office, to the local officials in Fayette County, to the National Park Service — it has truly been a partnership throughout every step of the way,” Furst said.
“We are moving from vision to reality in West Virginia. There are many steps along the way, and we are very excited about the opportunities we can bring to this region of the state.”
— E-mail:
jayres@register-herald.com
