For generations of Boy Scouts in the Lehigh Valley, the Trexler Scout Reservation has been a chance to get in touch with nature.
The camp features two lakes, a 65-foot climbing wall and zipline, a crafts building, hiking trails and dozens of other activities to pass a summer day.
But the 2023 season will likely be the last one for Camp Trexler, which has a history stretching back more than 90 years. The Minsi Trails Council announced in March that it plans to sell the land to raise money for its share of a historic nationwide settlement with thousands of people who say they were abused when they were Scouts.
Louise Troutman, executive director of the Pocono Heritage Land Trust, would like to live up to the legacy of Gen. Harry C. Trexler, the Valley lumber and cement tycoon-turned-conservationist for whom the camp is named, and keep its rustic charm instead of seeing the land developed into a subdivision.
She, and others in the Pocono region, are keeping a sharp eye on the upcoming sale of the 755-acre site in Polk Township, wary of potential development. The organization says it plans to bid on the site.
Ideally, Troutman said, the land trust would partner with another organization to run the camp.
“We are not in the camp-running business,” Troutman said. “We are definitely not doing that. We would hope to find a partner, either a church group that wants it as a camp and a retreat center, or maybe a hunting club that wants to remove some of the buildings and maybe keep a few of them and let the Scouts or other groups use it during the offseason when they’re not hunting.”
Selling the land
Minsi Trails Council Scout Executive and CEO Rick Christ did not grant an interview to The Morning Call, but said in a statement the council is finalizing the timeline and process for sale.
“When the time comes, the Council will encourage and give all interested buyers an equal opportunity to bid,” Christ said in an email. “No asking price has been established at this point and I’m not yet able to release the land value.”
The council announced in March that starting in 2024, all Minsi Trails camping activity would be transferred from Trexler to Camp Minsi in Coolbaugh and Tobyhanna townships.
“Under the BSA Chapter 11 plan of reorganization, an Abuse Victims Trust will be established and funded with at least $2.7 billion,” the Minsi Trails Council, which covers the Lehigh Valley region, said in the notice. Money is coming from the national organization and local councils, as well as insurers.
Minsi Trails is required to contribute $2.6 million to the fund. The local council says it has been implicated in more than 130 abuse cases.
While the council did not give a value to the Trexler land, Troutman estimated the asking price could be $4.5 million, though it may sell for $3.5 million.
“We have been in contact with Rick Christ,” Troutman said, “and he said that there are 15 or 16 interested entities, organizations, individuals at this point. I think some of those are like a veterans group across the street that probably doesn’t have any money; people that want it but don’t necessarily have the ability to get it.”
Future use
Camp Trexler’s fate is an emotional issue for many in the area. Besides the woods and habitats, the land serves as the headwaters for Middle Creek, which flows to Beltzville Lake.
“We want to save Camp Trexler from being divided into traffic jams and houses,” said Linda Snyder, a PHLT board member, whose family has lived in Polk Township for generations and helped create nearby Jonas Mountain Nature Preserve. “That’s nearly 800 acres of pristine forest land. It would be very sad for lots of animals and trees that won’t grow up in a peaceful area.”
Troutman said the land could be an extension of the preserve, which is across the street from Trexler’s entrance.
She also shopped Camp Trexler to some Pocono camp operators to see if they might partner with PHLT in buying it.
“We brought them there trying to sell them on it, saying this would be great,” she said. “You could have a campaign and then we could take this other half of it and we could turn it into a public nature preserve.”
However, they found the amenities lacking compared with the modern camps they run.
“Both of them said this is really rustic and Scout camps can get away with that … but [they said] our kids don’t want to walk down the road in the dark to the bathrooms and our kids don’t want to touch them,” Troutman said. “Our kids want air conditioning. Scout camp is a pretty cool experience. It’s pretty unique these days. You can’t get away with just a plain old Poconos camp anymore.”
If anyone has any ideas, Troutman and the PHLT are all ears.
Morning Call reporter Evan Jones can be reached at ejones@mcall.com.