Boy Scouts are keeping five state Department of Natural Resources campgrounds open this summer.
The five sites were set to close this July, but they’ll stay open because they were “adopted” by Boy Scout troops from the Mount Olympus District, which covers Clallam and Jefferson counties.
A bill sponsored by Rep. Jim Buck, R-Joyce, during the winter legislative session allows DNR to solicit contributions for maintenance of its campgrounds and allows volunteer groups to take over those duties.
The bill passed through the Legislature unanimously, and Gov. Gary Locke signed the bill into law March 24.
Those testifying in favor of the bill at a Feb. 24 Senate hearing included scoutmasters and Boy Scouts, themselves.
“The bill’s nickname around the Senate was ‘the Boy Scout bill,”‘ said Bob Schilling, Mount Olympus district executive for the Chief Seattle Council of the Boy Scouts.
A lobbyist who had watched the Legislature for 30 years told him he’d never seen Boy Scouts testify for a bill before, Schilling said, adding that testimony contributed to the bill’s unanimous passage.
