ASSOCIATED PRESS • June 4, 2022
As the financially struggling Boy Scouts sell off campgrounds, conservationists, government officials and others are scrambling to find ways to preserve them as open space. A $2.6 billion proposed bankruptcy settlement designed to pay thousands of victims of child sexual abuse has added pressure to an organization beset by years of declining enrollment. The Scouts have been cashing in on their extensive holdings. In Maine, the Androscoggin Land Trust has an agreement to buy the 95-acre Boy Scout Camp Gustin near Lewiston. The Land for Maine’s Future program will chip in half of the $415,000 appraised value. The rest is being raised through private donations. The purchase is part of a larger effort to preserve about 1,000-acres of open space along the Androscoggin River, land that also has been targeted by developers. ALT will allow Boy Scouts to use the land while opening it to the larger community for camping and other activities.