Seabees Are Enlisted to Fix Up Scout Camp

Navy Seabees from around the country will converge on San Diego County’s Camp Mataguay in coming weeks to give the aging Boy Scout campgrounds a $3.5-million face lift.

The project won the approval of the county Planning and Environmental Review Board Thursday after a series of hearings that centered on how to protect historical and prehistoric sites during construction and training exercises. Military units will train at the 728-acre camp during the four months.

Jim Day, director of support services for the San Diego Council of the Boy Scouts, said local Scouts “never could have hoped to raise the funds for this project,” which will renovate 1950s-era camp buildings, install septic and water systems and build roads.

Day said the Navy construction battalions’ donation of machines and labor will reduce the Scouts’ cost to $675,000, for materials and permits.

Day pointed to Randy Gibson, an executive board member of the Scout council, as “the man who had the dream” of enlisting Seabees for the project.

He said the renovation, the largest ever undertaken by the local council, could never be done without the Seabees’ aid, “and probably never will happen again.” Without it, the camp, which hosts about 3,000 Scouts each summer, as well as many other civic, educational and religious groups, would have closed.

Camp Mataguay, situated about 45 miles northeast of San Diego near Warner Springs, contains 27 archeological sites, historic ranch buildings from the early 1900s and an Indian cemetery.

Rear Adm. Paul Rosser, Reserve Naval Construction Force commander, said Thursday that the renovation agreement calls for a Native American observer and an archeologist to be on the site during all excavation work.

Besides the construction, which will be done by Seabee trainees this month through May, the reservists will be involved in military training and maneuvers.

A series of construction battalions will be camped at Mataguay for two-week periods, during which they will receive M-16 training, including live firing, and participate in day and nighttime maneuvers. Smoke bombs and blank cartridges will be used instead of grenades and live ammunition.

Local Indian tribes, claiming that one of their ancient villages lies within the sprawling camp, have protested any disturbance of the grounds. Negotiations among the tribes, archeologists and county officials resulted in a compromise in which nearly 200 acres will be permanent open space, preventing any disturbance of the historic and prehistoric sites and the burial grounds.

Navy officials said sensitive areas will be marked “off limits” to the 1,800 Seabees expected to participate. Any violation of the sites or removal of materials will prompt disciplinary action, officials said.

But James W. Royle, chairman of the San Diego Archeological Society’s environmental review committee, said Thursday that he still has concerns about the Scouts’ ability to keep non-Scouts from pilfering artifacts from the archeological sites.