U.S. Senate OKs Boy Scouts Land Swap

Orange County Boy Scouts will be able to expand their Lost Valley Scout Reservation under a bill approved Thursday by the U.S. Senate.

In one of its last legislative actions for the year, the Senate approved a 41-state national parks bill that includes a land swap between the Boy Scouts and the Cleveland National Forest to clear up a boundary dispute.

For the Orange County Council of Boy Scouts of America, it was the culmination of a five-year effort to acquire the land and make needed improvements at the camp.

“We literally said, ‘It’s going to take an act of Congress to get this through,’ and that came to pass,” said Devon Dougherty, a spokesman for the Boy Scouts. “We are thrilled that it’s finally passed.

Under the legislation sponsored by Rep. Christopher Cox (R-Newport Beach), the Scouts council will give 94 acres of its land to the Cleveland National Forest in exchange for 60 acres already used in error by the Scouts.

The problem began in 1956 when the Orange County Scouts council purchased the land--a 1,400-acre site in northern San Diego County--based on an erroneous land survey. When the council attempted to make improvements to buildings on its reservation, officials discovered they could not get construction permits because the camp had encroached on federal property.

Among the improvements planned by the Scouts are the renovation of a dining hall and new dormitories to house the 10,000 Scouts who visit the camp each year. Dougherty said the council may now move forward with plans to build a new camp that could accommodate an additional 3,000 Scouts annually.

Seeking to resolve the land problem, the Scouts council and the National Forest Service reached a tentative agreement on the land exchange in 1992. But subsequent efforts to win congressional approval were stalled by the Democrats who controlled Congress back then, Cox said.

This year, the deal almost did not go through. For a week, U.S. Sen. Frank H. Murkowski (R-Alaska), chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, held up the parks legislation because it did not include a provision to increase logging in Alaska’s Tongass National Forest.

At the last moment, just before the Senate adjourned for the year, a compromise was reached and Murkowski removed his objection to the bill, which was widely supported by other senators.

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Land Deal Done

Scouts may now improve camping facilities.