Skip to main content

Into the Woods

 



Last week County Executive Calvin Ball announced that the County had come to an agreement with the Girl Scouts of Central Maryland to purchase the land known as Camp Ilchester. This has been welcome news to those who have advocated that the land be preserved as natural parkland.

Howard County’s $6M offer to purchase Camp Ilchester accepted; Ball pledges to preserve the land as open space, Katie V. Jones, Baltimore Sun

The announcement took me back to about a year ago when I first learned that word of a possible sale was afoot.

On March 31st a reader reached out to me with the question: is this on your radar? The enclosed link took me to an announcement that the Girl Scouts of Maryland were considering the sale of Camp Ilchester. The reasoning was that they would be the best stewards of their resources by using money from the sale to support other state Girl Scout properties and programs.

The best defense for what the land could be, in my opinion, came from people who had experienced what it was. The first-hand recollections of a college student looking back on her Girl Scout years gave a vivid account of what Camp Ilchester had meant to her and her peers.

An Expert Witness

Camp Ilchester will host one last summer of Girl Scout Camps this year. After that, its exact future has not yet been determined. Some possible uses suggested include sports programs, outdoor adventure camps, active aging activities and a nature center with nature-based educational programming. In my opinion, the use most closely aligned with Camp Ilchester’s roots would be the latter. 

I imagine that the County will work with the community to come up with a plan on how to move forward. For local Girl Scouts and their families, this must be a bittersweet conclusion. The land will be preserved, but it won’t be Camp Ilchester as they have known it. 

On the other hand, I hope those who advocated and organized around this issue are proud of their impact on its resolution. There’s no question that their involvement made a difference. I hope they stay involved as the future of this space takes shape.

I have a hunch that they probably will.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Getting Fresh

One of my favorite days in the Spring comes when this year’s list of Farmer’s Markets is released. That happened this week. New this year are markets in Old Ellicott City and the “Merriweather Market” which, according to the address, will be located here . I mistakenly thought at first glance that it was in the new-construction part of the Merriweather District. I find the name confusing considering its actual location. I’m going to guess that this market is an initiative of the Howard Hughes Corporation because the name seems chosen more for branding purposes than anything else.  Alas, the market in Maple Lawn is gone. The thread on the markets on the County Executive’s FB page will provide you with quite the education in who actually runs the Farmers Markets vs what people often think is going on. Short answer: they are not  chosen nor run by the county. Each market is an independent entity, sometimes started by community volunteers, other times supported by local businesses...
1 comment
Read more

They Can Wait

This is not a typical Saturday post. That’s because, in my community, it’s not a typical Saturday.  Oakland Mills High School, after years of deferred repair, needs massive renovation. It’s pretty simple: when you don’t fix a problem it gets bigger. The school system itself said the the OMHS school building was  "no longer conducive to learning" back in 2018.  2018 .  But Thursday the Boad of Education voted to push it out of the lineup of important projects which will be given the go-ahead to proceed soonest.  In my opinion it’s a terrible decision and sets a dangerous precedent. To explain, here’s the advocacy letter I sent in support of Oakland Mills High School. I was rather proud of it. I am writing to ask you to proceed with needed renovation at Oakland Mills High School in the most timely and comprehensive manner humanly possible. I have read the letter sent to you by the Oakland Mills Community Association and I am in complete agreement. You are extremel...
1 comment
Read more

What Kids Are Thinking

  It’s a Monday in February, and if you guessed that a lot of Howard County students have the new cell phone policy on their minds, you’d be right. It will mean big changes and it will be stressful, no matter how much good we hope it will do in the long run. But on this particular Monday cell phones might not be top of mind, as amazing as that seems. Some kids will go to school wondering if they or family members will be seized by ICE. Some will fear that their parents’ employment will be purged by the ongoing rampage of Elon Musk and his cronies through Federal Government. Some fear heightened and renewed racism as programs that supprted Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion are vilified and destroyed.  Some worry that it soon won’t be safe for them to use the bathroom in school anymore. It goes without saying that some kids fear going to school every day because of the prevalence of school shootings.  And look! Here’s something new to fear. That old hate group, Libs of TikTo...
1 comment
Read more