New BSA National Jamboree Site Selected
Posted in Scouting News by John E. Pannell on February 12th, 2009 at 5:57 am The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) has announced the new permanent location for their National Jamboree. The press release came directly from the Office of the Chief Scout Executive. Thanks to Roger Ward and Stephen White for telling me about this last night.
The BSA announces:
The site selection process, referred to as Project Arrow, was overseen by a committee that narrowed submissions to three outstanding finalist proposals from Virginia, West Virginia, and Arkansas. Today, after serious and thorough consideration, the BSA’s National Executive Board took action to proceed with further investigation and negotiations with Virginia and West Virginia. Plans call for placement of the permanent home for the BSA’s national jamboree in Goshen, Rockbridge County, Virginia, and the new high-adventure base in Fayette and Raleigh counties, West Virginia.
The Goshen property should be familiar to many in the mid-Atlantic area, especially those affiliated with the National Capital Area Council. I expect this council will benefit handsomely from the Jamboree being located at one of their council’s camps.
The new high adventure base in West Virginia is an interesting wrinkle. No further details about that property or what’s planned for there were supplied.
The BSA also did not make any announcement in the release about when the next Jamboree, after 2010, will be. There are some rumors circulating that there will be another five year break after the 2010 Jamboree, until 2015. Another rumor is that the BSA would like to host a World Jamboree in that year. Please remember these are just rumors! Nothing beyond 2010 is official yet.
Popularity: 28% [?]
So much for the “centrally located” requirement.
Interesting selections, considering the original criteria set for “Project Arrow”:
* Have spectacular natural beauty
* Have water for recreational activities
* Be at least 5,000 acres and available for donation, long-term lease (100-plus years), or sale
* Be within 25 miles of an interstate or a four-lane divided highway
* Be within 150 miles of a commercial service airport with medium or large hub status
* Be in an area with adequate medical services
* Be accessible year-round via standard modes of transportation
The BSA had already passed on a site neat the Pennsylvania-NY border for $25 million back in August (http://www.timesobserver.com/page/content.detail/id/505042.html?nav=5006), so there seemed to be a limit on the available dollars for the Jamboree/ BSA National Center/ High Adventure base. Especially for a big enough location needed for an event to take place for three weeks (including setup and takedown) every four years, yet could be training AND a High Adventure location.
The three finalists were Goshen, southeastern West Virginia, and Saline County, Arkansas (http://www.bentoncourier.com/content/view/160301/1/). As big as Goshen has been described, having a property big enough to have the Jamboree, already owned by a BSA entity made economic sense, with the significant reduction in acquisition costs.
But what of the National Center/ High Adventure criteria? It appears that the BSA bigwigs saw the contradicting criteria for one location wasn’t feasable, and went with breaking Project Arrow into two out of three finalist locations. The state of West Virginia seems really eager to get the High Adventure base (http://www.dailymail.com/News/200902110798), so this assistance from the state may not be so forthcoming from another state’s officials.
I just hope they don’t name it “Byrdmont”, since it seems like everything else in WV is named after Robert Byrd.
Could someone post a map of the proposed site(s).
The need for their own property is obvious. AP hill will not support an organization that freely discriminates. And just what the boys scouts need another overpriced over zeaulous high adventure camp. So they can enforce their ridiculous rules and take all the adventure out of it for the sake of liability.
They still haven’t figured out that height/ weight alone does not define fitness. Stop letting the insurance companies run the BSA.
It should be noted that the good folks of Goshen protested the Jamboree being held there. The new site will be in West Virginia for both the National Jamboree and the High Adventure base. The property is a 10,600 acre parcel in Glen Jean. The site will be open for the 2013 Jamboree and the Boy Scouts of North America (Mexico and Canada included) will be lobbying for the 2019 World Jamboree. That proposal from what I understand is going to be pitched in January of 2011 in Brazil.
The new property is a very exciting opportunity, it boarders the NRG National Park for about 7 miles. From the looks of things there will be some extensive back country opportunities here. The camp also has river access for white water rafting. There is also a mountain bike course planned with a ski lift to get scouts to the top.
Just wanted to let you know that it’s not showing up properly on the BlackBerry Browser (I have a Pearl). Anyway, I’m now on the RSS feed on my laptop, so thanks!