Summit Bechtel Reserve Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Scouts Put Together Cleaning Kits For Flood Victims

The Scouts are having their national jamboree this year in the Summit Bechtel Reserve near Glen Jean, West Virginia

The Scouts are having their national jamboree this year in the Summit Bechtel Reserve near Glen Jean, West Virginia, and participants are helping residents in flood-hit states.

During the jamboree, 15,000 scouts will be partaking in the “Flood Bucket” project. For this project, scouts are assembling at least 5,000 cleaning kits that will help flood victims to reconstruct their lives.

Tom Kraeutler says the scouts pledge is to help other people at all times and this is a great way to put their pledge into action.

“These buckets contain essential cleaning supplies, about 15 different items. There’s soaps, there’s gloves, there’s masks, there’s mildewcide to take care of mold,” Kraeutler said.

There are some flood victims partaking in this project who have had flood happen in their hometowns across the nations.

The Disaster Response Ministries of the West Virginia Conference of the United Methodist Church are providing assistance.

Watch the scouts assemble the kits. Any additional information is available here.

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 Scouts Break Ground on Expansion at West Virginia Site

The Boy Scouts of America have broken ground on a leadership training complex at their massive southern West Virginia grounds.

A news release Wednesday announced construction has begun on the addition at Summit Bechtel Family National Scout Reserve.

The Thomas S. Monson Leadership Excellence Complex is expected to be completed by 2020. It’s named for the president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Scouts’ oldest partner and largest sponsor.

The release says the complex will host guest speakers and offer training, including in areas like communication, storytelling and conflict resolution.

Sections of the complex will be named after executives, including Rex Tillerson of Exxon Mobil Corporation; J.W. “Bill” Marriott Jr. of Marriott International Inc.; John Tickle Sr. of Strongwell Corporation; and Philip Condit, retired from Boeing.

Girl Scout Gathering in W.Va. to Focus on Outdoor Adventures

Dozens of Girl Scouts are heading to the Summit in West Virginia for five days of mountain biking, rock climbing and other outdoor challenges.

The Girl Scout Jamboree gets under way Wednesday at the Summit Bechtel Family National Scout Reserve in Fayette County. The Jamboree is expected to welcome about 240 girls and adults through Sunday.

While most of the Scouts and adults will be from West Virginia, some are also coming from Virginia and Maryland.

The Jamboree is hosted by Girl Scouts of Black Diamond Council.

Lawmakers Prepare to Craft Boy Scout Legislation

The Legislature’s Joint Committee on Finance traveled to Fayetteville Monday evening to hear from area residents about their concerns about the financial implications of a newly approved Constitutional Amendment.

The amendment, which was approved in November by West Virginia voters with 62 percent of the vote, will allow the Boy Scouts of America to lease their Summit Bechtel Reserve to private organizations while maintaining their property tax exemption.

The amendment, however, came with a requirement for lawmakers to write enabling legislation to include more specific cans and can nots for the Scouts. The forum was a chance for lawmakers to hear concerns directly from the public.

Some shared worries over the possible competition to the Scouts.

"I hope the committee will take into consideration to consult with local outfitters, restaurants, lodging properties that we don’t get ourselves in a situation where because of a tax exempt status we have an unequal playing field.”- Skip Peter, New River Adventure

“At Ace we are probably the most similar facility to what the Scouts have to offer. We have a lot of acreage, we do a lot of similar activities on the property and we would very much like to not see us in direct competition for those activities.”- Dave Bassid, Ace Adventure Resort

Others addressed complaints from area business owners who said they didn’t see enough economic gain in the area during the 2013 Scout Jamboree on the reserve.

“The game changer is not the jamboree. The game changer is what they’re trying to do now is to open it up, let people come there and see what that does for your businesses. It can only do good.”- Elmer Coppoolse, Glade Springs Resort in Beckley

“The key I think is if the Summit constructs large scale lodging and restaurant facilities that allows these events to be contained on the property, the effect will be the same, but if they hold these events there but allow the crowds to spill over in the community then I think they’ll be a big benefit to the local area”- Bill Wells, rental property owner

The Joint Committee on Finance is accepting written public comment for the next 30 days on the enabling legislation that is being drafted. Those comments should be sent to:

Melissa Lilly, Counsel to the Joint Standing Committee on Finance

State Capitol Building 1 Room 465

Charleston, WV 25305

How Should You Vote on Amendment One?

When you go to the polls on Election Day, or maybe before if you’re looking to vote early, there will be more than just candidates listed on your ballot. You’ll also be asked to decide whether or not West Virginia’s Constitution needs a change, but that question is not quite so clear.

Amendment One is titled the “Nonprofit Youth Organization Tax Exemption Support Amendment” and in case you don’t think that is self explanatory, here’s what it means.

In its most simple terms, Amendment One would allow the Boy Scouts of America, a 501c3 nonprofit, to lease out its Summit Bechtel Reserve in Fayette County to private organizations. The Scouts are exempt from paying property taxes on the multi-million dollar facility now because of their nonprofit status, but leasing the space would cause them to lose the exemption.

The Scouts say the change would allow them to attract major events into the area, like possibly the X-Games or major concerts.

“A good example is the Jamboree,” Gary Hartley, director of community and government relations for the Summit said.

“When we threw the Boy Scout Jamboree in 2013, we spent over $2 million in the local communities around us, that’s direct spending from the Boy Scouts.”

But some local officials say the amendment privatizes the state’s Constitution for the benefit of a singular organization and with the declining participation in the Scouts, could give them an unfair advantage to local businesses if they’re forced into the market.

“What if that (declining) trend continues?” Fayette County Commissioner Matt Wender said.

“Let’s now assume that the revenues generated by scouting are not sufficient to pay the cost of operating and maintaining the Summit facility. What choice will the Scouts have but to compete aggressively in the marketplace to generate additional revenues to sustain the Summit?”

Wender added with the amendment in place, the Scouts could hurt the profits of businesses who, because they pay property taxes, support the county emergency and school systems.

So, according to Hartley and Wender, here’s the breakdown of how you should vote.

Vote Yes If:

You think the Boy Scouts of America should be able to lease out the Summit Bechtel Reserve to outside organizations for events without giving up their state property tax exemption.

Vote No If:

You think the amendment would give the Scouts an unfair advantage over area businesses in the future.