Summit Bechtel Family National Scout Reserve Story Archives

2023 National Scouting Jamboree Highlights Adventure, Achievement

For the next 10 days, 15,000 scouts from around the country will camp out in the wooded hills and hollows of Fayette County. The action-packed 2023 National Scouting Jamboree takes youth development and diversity to a whole new level.

Entering the park, visitors can hear “swooshes” from five multi-strung zip lines stretching more than a half-mile over the nearly 11,000 acre Summit Bechtel Reserve. Dubbed “the adventure of a lifetime,” scouts can skateboard and scuba dive, there’s archery and shooting ranges, fishing, rock climbing, disc golf.

Fourteen-year-old Steven Belk, from Troop 3239 in Virginia, said, “there’s never nothing that’s not to do here.”

“This is just a good time to be a scout,” Belk said. “They’re just trying to involve people from all aspects of life, say like zip lines. BMX biking, a bunch of fun stuff, and we learn stuff, too.”

In 2019, the Boy Scouts of America expanded to Scouts BSA, opening up its ranks to female members. This year is the first National Jamboree to include female participants.

Fourteen-year-old Ruth Olsen, from a co-ed troop in Utah, said “it’s about time.”

“I think it’s good that girls have the same opportunities as boys,” Olsen said. “I think girls are a lot more capable than people think we are.”

California Scout Leader Andrew Blessum is sharing living history at a 1910 mock up of America’s first scout camp. Even though there are 13 cell towers and more than 250 Wi-Fi hot spots spread out over the camp’s 16 square miles, Blessum said the initial pledge of scouting as a value based organization hasn’t changed in more than a century.

“I believe the things that we still have at the core of scouting are outdoor living and character development,” Blessum said. “One of the founders himself, Luther Gulick of the YMCA, actually preaches that mankind is not complete without physical, mental and spiritual symmetry. And that itself is really the basis of our scout oath.”

The scouts camp in tents and cook their own food. Scout Aaron Anderson, from an all-female troop in Charleston, South Carolina, said the leadership and practical life skills scouting teaches help kids succeed.

“A lot of those things that we learn in our leadership programs I use in my daily life,” Anderson said. “I use it at school for interviews and things like that. A lot of us have been in situations where we’ve had training in emergency first aid and to be able to help people in emergencies. We know these skills and we can take them out and use them in the real world.”

And then, there’s 13-year-old, First Class Scout Max Dehnke from Milan, Illinois. Dehnke was enjoying hanging out at the busy scout patch trading tables and shared his reason for becoming a Boy Scout.

“My parents said, ‘Max, you need to do something.’ I’m like, sports? Or – I have all my friends in this big group thingy where you go camping and get pocket knives. So it was a no brainer. Boy Scouts,” he said.

A “no brainer” at the National Scouting Jamboree that enriches brain and brawn.

Boy Scout Jamboree Begins after Years of Preparation

Tens of thousands of boy scouts are making their way to southern West Virginia Wednesday for the start of their national jamboree, but preparations began long before a single scout sets foot on site.

Planning for the 2017 Boy Scouts of America National Jamboree began almost four years ago, immediately following the first jamboree held at the Summit Bechtel National Reserve.

The reserve is situated on 14,000 acres in Fayette County between Oak Hill and Mt. Hope, next to the New River Gorge National River.

Tuesday, hundreds of volunteers were already in place, constructing the main stage at the amphitheater, setting up supply tents and learning their roles for the 10-day event. Those volunteers include military men and women from almost every branch, and members of the West Virginia National Guard.

Sgt. Zoe Morris said 600 guard members are using the event as a replacement for their annual training days, working with the Department of Defense and state and local officials on the National Jamboree Joint Task Force.

“It builds our experience so that if anything happened like the flood or the water crisis, we already have experience working with those other agencies,” Morris said.

While on site, the estimated 30,000 boy scouts will participate in a variety of activities, including hiking, ziplining and whitewater rafting. They’ll set up their own tents, cook their own meals, and learn some valuable lessons.

A base camp at the 2017 National Boy Scout Jamboree.

“I come from Los Angeles, but for even some kids that are going to come out of south L.A. that have never been to a camp before or never really spent 10 days in a tent, I mean they are life changing experiences,” Glenn Ault, who leads the national administrative group as a volunteer, said.

Jamboree Director Mike Myers says scouts will spend their time doing more than just mountain biking and fishing. They will volunteer some 100,000 hours of community service in 9 West Virginia counties during their time in the state.

“This is part of who we are and in our DNA, so to speak, is to do a good turn daily and help other people,” Myers said.

The Governor’s Office estimates those volunteer projects will generate some $7 million of economic impact for the state.

The Summit Bechtel Reserve itself hasn’t been without controversy, though. Reuters reported that the initially budgeted $176 million project quickly blossomed to $439 million in 2015, causing some financial strain on the national nonprofit.

The year before, West Virginia voters approved a constitutional amendment allowing the scouts to maintain their nonprofit, tax exempt status while renting out the facility. A representative of the site says so far, the Girl Scouts have also used the reserve for their own camps.

Editor’s Note: This story originally placed the Summit Bechtel Reserve between Oak Hill and Fayetteville, but has been updated to reflect that it is in the Mt. Hope area.

National Guard, DoD Preparing for Boy Scout Jamboree

Members of the West Virginia National Guard as well as guardsmen and women from other states are preparing for thousands of Boy Scouts to descend on southern West Virginia.

The National Guard is working with both military and civilian members of the federal Department of Defense to prepare for the Boy Scouts of America National Jamboree that begins next week.

Scouts from across the country will begin arriving at the Summit Bechtel Family National Scout Reserve in Fayette County Wednesday. The jamboree itself is a week and a half long event that will have Scouts participating in a number of outdoor and adventure activities on the site as well as community service activities in several West Virginia counties.

More than 1,400 military members from all branches of the armed services are preparing to serve as support staff for the event. Members of the West Virginia National Guard will be on standby for airlift and medical support in case of an emergency.

This year’s jamboree is the second to take place at the Bechtel Reserve since its grand opening in 2014.