Nation's oldest Scout camp is sold in effort to keep the developers out

05/16/01

BY BRIAN T. MURRAY
STAR-LEDGER STAFF

Camp Glen Gray, the nation's oldest operating Boy Scout camp, may forever be a rustic recreational hub tucked away in the bucolic forests of the Ramapo Mountains. It just won't be a Boy Scout camp any longer.

An agreement to sell the camp for $5 million was endorsed last night by the executive committee of the Northern New Jersey Council of the Boy Scouts. The sale would give control of the 750-acre tract in Mahwah to Bergen County and the Bergen County Y, a Jewish Community Center, both of which plan to preserve the land from development.

The agreement means the Boy Scouts will have to pull up stakes and abandon the camp, which was established in 1917 by "Uncle" Frank Fellows Gray, a founding father of American Scouting. The Scouts put the camp up for sale in January, saying it was too expensive to maintain.

Once a jewel of the old Essex Council of the Boy Scouts, Camp Glen Gray has been a campground for generations of Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts. Nearly 40,000 Scouts from the North Jersey council use the camp every year.

"American Scouting began in New Jersey, and this camp has been the longest active Scouting camp in the nation's history," said Phil Cantor, a spokesman for the Friends of Glen Gray, or FOGG. "It's unfortunate we are losing it, but there is some hope that some Scouting may continue there."

Opponents say that by selling the land, the Scouts are dealing away their sovereignty and leaving the organization to depend on leasing land they do not control.

FOGG, comprising more than 100 Scouting families, led an unsuccessful campaign to keep at least 100 acres of the core camp area -- the section surrounding Lake Vreeland -- in the hands of the North Jersey council. Now, the group will try to negotiate for future access for FOGG members, said John Hartinger, a trustee for the group.

"The immediate concern here is to preserve the property and to stop what had become a bidding war, including by some developers, and a price escalation for the property," said Tom Ammirato, a spokesman for Bergen County. "Once the purchase is complete, we'll sit down with the Jewish organization and the Scouting groups to see what can be arranged for future use by Scouts."

Meanwhile, FOGG's efforts were given a belated endorsement yesterday when Preservation New Jersey Inc., a nonprofit organization, placed the camp on its list of New Jersey's Most Endangered Historic Sites.

"Our concern is preserving not just the land, but the historic aspect of Camp Glen Gray," said Patricia Pizzini Huizing, executive director of Preservation New Jersey.

In 1999, financial difficulties forced local councils in Essex, Hudson, Passaic and Bergen to merge into the Northern New Jersey Council of the Boy Scouts. Each council brought with it different land interests, ownership and lease deals. Glen Gray, for instance, belonged to the Essex County Council.

The North Jersey council decided to sell some of the parcels to ensure its financial stability. Previously, the council sold Camp Tamarack, also in Bergen County.

The North Jersey council has had access to nine camps. Glen Gray was one of three the council owned in New Jersey -- the others are in Blairstown and Boonton. The council also owns a camp in Pennsylvania and two tracts in New York. It leases two other New Jersey sites from the state. Camp Yawpaw in Mahwah is leased through a foundation with close ties to the Boy Scouts, but it too is targeted for purchase by Bergen County.