Boy Scouts work to replace cabins at Eagle Beach camp
Organization looks to expand programs, facilities at the site
Boy Scouts of America launches a plan to expand its operations at Eagle Beach this week.
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Seven new cabins sitting at Crow Point will be hauled to the Eagle River Scout Camp in the coming days, district executive Cal Hiebsch said. The timing of the move depends on weather and tides.
The project marks the beginning of larger plans the Great Alaska Council has for its 300-acre site at Eagle Beach, also a popular recreation spot with the general public. The trailhead is located north of downtown Juneau near mile 27 of the Glacier Highway.
The Scout camp is open year-round for outings that typically involve camping, fishing and kayaking, but it is mostly used during summer months. The main area includes cabins and a dining hall with a commercial kitchen.
About 150 Scouts used the camp last summer, but the organization would like to see 200 Scouts use it in 2008, Hiebsch said.
Long-term plans are to expand programs so that a 10- to 12-week summer season will bring more than 1,000 Scouts to the site. It is hoped that some of those visitors will arrive from the Lower 48, Hiebsch said.
"The seven cabins are the first step toward replacing all the cabins out there and improving the facilities," he said.
Icy Straights Lumber out of Hoonah will use steel skids to lift the new modular cabins and haul them at low tide to the camp. The buildings were brought to Crow Point last month.
The cabins will replace the same number of older ones that currently sit at the camp. The old cabins will be torn down and scrapped.
Originally from Kansas, Hiebsch recently accepted his new post with the Great Alaska Council, the Boy Scouts of America's governing organization in Alaska. His district includes 300 volunteer leaders and more than 1,200 youth in Southeast Alaska. There are about 300 Scouts in Juneau.
Hiebsch, an Eagle Scout, worked as a photographer at Philmont Scout Ranch in Cimarron, N.M., before accepting the new position in Juneau. He arrived in October.
In his new position, he said he hopes to recruit additional volunteers and expand the organization's outreach in outlying areas, especially Ketchikan and Prince of Whales Island.
Scouting presents opportunities for 14- to 20-year-old boys and men to learn about leadership, citizenship and physical fitness through outdoor activities.
A "camporee" is planned Dec. 14-15 at the camp, when boys from around the region will gather for Scouting activities.
• Contact Kim Marquis at 523-2279 or kim.marquis@juneauempire.com.