Camp Trexler drapes across 755 sylvan acres in the Poconos where, for a century, Boy Scouts have enjoyed swimming, making campfires, and hiking. But the forested land, complete with lake, is expected to soon go up for sale with zoning that could transform it into a housing development amid the rural hamlet of Jonas in Polk Township, Monroe County, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The camp’s owner, the Minsi Trails Council of the Boy Scouts, is one of 250 local councils across the United States under pressure to pay toward a $2.5 billion national sex-abuse settlement that led to the organization’s bankruptcy. Some scout groups are cash-poor but land-rich, prompting them to put thousands of acres for sale. The sales have set off a mad scramble as the scouts try to sell to the highest bidder, while conservationists rally to preserve what they can. The best scenario, conservationists say, is to have the lands bought by states and folded into public lands. It’s no trivial matter: Scouting organizations own about 17,000 mostly forested acres in Pennsylvania alone. The Boy Scouts of America filed chapter 11 protection in February 2020 after states began allowing sex-abuse victims to sue over claims stretching back decades. More than 82,000 abuse claims have been filed against the scouts. The organization says 85% or more of those claims are from before 1990, predating modern child protection policies. Most of them date to the 1970s. Victims who became creditors in the bankruptcy reorganization stand to gain parts of a $2.46 billion settlement trust for victims. The national scouts organization and its 250 local councils are on the hook for $820 million. A federal district judge still needs to give final approval to the plan, which also calls for contributions by insurance companies.
