About a year ago, local U.S. Forest Service personnel started working with the Boy Scouts of America regarding a service project that was expected to bring up to 700 Scouts and their leaders to Cook County this month. Projects included building bike trails and improving the Superior Hiking Trail. Gunflint District Assistant Ranger Steve Schug reported to the county board on May 31, 2011 that the scope of the projects has been reduced because a lot fewer Scouts— only a little over 200—will be able to make it.
The Scouts coming to Cook County are members of a Boy Scout honor society called Order of the Arrow, and they will be coming from throughout Minnesota, North and South Dakota, Wisconsin, and Iowa. Boy Scout representatives working with the Forest Service have indicated that a lot of families have not been able to come up with the money needed to send their Scouts on this mission.
Other Scouts between the ages of 16 and 21 that were expected on this trip will be busy working as counselors at Scout camps, Schug said. “[Boy Scout organizers] have some regrets in not making it a regional event – an eight-or-nine-state area,” he said.
Schug was impressed with the work force that will be here, anyway. An organization recruiting over 200 volunteers to work on a project over the course of a several days is “a success story in and of itself,” he said. “Everyone will have a great time.”
Minnesota Conservation Crews will be completing the Superior Hiking Trail projects that had formerly been assigned to the Scouts, Schug said.
District Ranger Dennis Neitzke said he had hoped the event would significantly affect the local economy. It’s still “quite a volunteer effort,” he said.
The Scouts will be in Cook County June 18-27 and are paying Cook County School District 166 for use of its facilities and buses. The first couple of days will be spent on registration, training, and opening ceremonies.
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