A Plan For Camp Bomazeen

by Esther J. Perne

The windows are boarded, the beach deserted, and the tent platforms empty, but plans are in place. Boy Scout Camp Bomazeen on Great Pond in North Belgrade, with the help of a million dollar capital campaign, will become Cub Scout Adventure Camp!

"A beautiful piece of property," is how Belgrade realtor Gail Rizzo describes the camp's Horse Point location. Sitting on a valuable gravel esker, containing 1300 feet of developer-dream shorefront, the 308 prime acres can be looked at in many ways. But Gail sees it as the site, where as a former leader of Belgrade Troop 453, she spent summers camping with her scouts, which included her own two sons.

For alumni like Gail and all the other parents and youth who experienced Camp Bomazeen, to call the site beautiful is an understatement. The setting is spacious and serene, the beach sandy, the pines lofty, and the trails extensive. Included in the property is almost all of Austen Bog. Ospreys soar overhead, breezes sweep gently off the water, and the haunting call of the loon accompanies starlit lakeside nights.

Gail's sentiments about the beauty of the property are echoed by Jason Agren, Financial Director of the Pine Tree Council Boy Scouts of America headquarters in Portland, which oversees the ten southern counties in Maine (the Katahdin Council oversees the northern counties) comprising 18,000 boys and 5,000 adult volunteers. Committed to utilizing the Camp Bomazeen facility, the Council has researched successful camp transitions around the country and held numerous focus groups in state.

Of the 18,000 scouts in the Pine Tree Council, 10,000 are Cubs. Comprising grades one through five, the Cub Scouts are divided as follows: 1st grade are the Tiger Cubs, 2nd grade Wolves, 3rd grade Bears, and 4th and 5th grades Webelos (We Be Loyal Scouts). Few new members join the older Scout programs, but a large majority of Cubs move on up, and therein lies the future.

Why an Adventure Camp facility? According to the Pine Tree Council brochure that has been developed for the capital campaign, the strategic planning process indicated the following:

• The concept was learned from the experiences of the Boy Scouts of America, other Boy Scout Councils, and from the Cubs and Leaders of the Pine Tree Council.
• It meets the needs of today's Cub Scouts and the standards of the Boy Scouts of America.
• The facility offers unique Cub Scout experiences both now and in the future.
• The vision for the Adventure Camp includes Fun Pack Weekends, Family Programs, Cub Scout Day Camp and Webelos Weeks during the summer season. There would also be some programs and rental opportunities year round.

The execution of the Cub Scout Adventure Camp plan is based on the concept of themed areas: A Western Fort in connection with BB Shooting, a Pirate Ship for climbing and other Scout skills, a classic Maine Lighthouse for waterfront activities, a Native American theme for archery, and other themes designed to engage Cub Scouts in imaginative activities that introduce them to the Scouting experience and help them relate educational and play activities to real-life challenges.

In keeping with the Scout philosophy that doesn't let any child not attend camp because they can't afford it, the Cub Scout Adventure Camp will benefit thousands of youth and adults in the Kennebec Valley District of the Pine Tree Council, a District that currently serves over 1,500 youth in over 63 Cub Scout Packs, Boy Scout Troops, and Venturing Crews.

"It's in the very infant stages," states Jason of the renovation plan, explaining that step one will be to re-route the road that cuts through the camp to private properties. Other improvements would include updating some of the more primitive facilities. "Families, of course, require more anemities than latrines," describes Jason, and family participation, especially Moms, in Cub camping is big. Finally, there would be the construction of the theme areas.

Although local hearsay suggests that the land is covenanted and cannot be sold, sources at Boy Scout headquarters say this is not so. In fact, the Boy Scouts have sold several parcels over the years, including the point itself (referred to on some maps as Snake Point) in the eighties. Eight private owners currently have camps there that must be accessed through Bomazeen. Additional camps to the south also share the road.

According to Boy Scout lore, Bomazeen was an Indian Chief who lies buried under a rock on the premises. If so, he would perhaps have approved of the close to nature, simple roughing-it, outdoor skill oriented lifestyle of the camp. Donated to the Boy Scouts in 1943 by a Waterville trustee, Camp Bomazeen has given many of Maine's youth the direction, motivation, character, self-sufficiency, and fun that have turned them into exemplary citizens.

The adult volunteers who have contributed generously to Camp Bomazeen and its scouting philosophy have also reaped rich rewards in contributing to the healthy, positive development of the region's youth. Representatives of these volunteers serve on the fund-raising committee: Belgrade parents Matt Scott, Karen Swan, Karen Childs and Gail Rizzo, Dave Grenier of Waterville, and Dan Nichols and Roger Pomerleau of Augusta.

As Scouting, along with many other organized youth groups, athletics, and outlets, is metamorphosing to meet the times, the support of projects such as the re-making of Camp Bomazeen will provide a far-reaching impact. After all, boys will be boys, thank goodness. Give them a little positive adventure and all that overdrive energy, curiosity and imagination will transform into solid, lifetime values. Now that's an investor's dream!

For more information, contact any members of the committee, including Gail Rizzo at 495-2525 or Karen Swan at 495-2264, or the Pine Tree Council at 797-5252, Ext. 21.