Girl Scouts Heart of Michigan camps Continue to Thrive

PLYMOUTH – The closure of a camp owned and operated by the Girl Scouts of Southeastern Michigan does not mean the end of camping experiences for girls who are members of GSSEM, said Jan Barker, Chief Executive Officer of sister council Girl Scouts Heart of Michigan.

During the last three years Girl Scout councils throughout the United States have idled or sold camp properties citing dwindling attendance rates and increasing maintenance costs. Barker said Girl Scouts Heart of Michigan is bucking this trend and has embarked on an ambitious plan to make improvements and renovations to each of its six camp properties. This includes Camp Linden in Livingston County which is the most convenient location for girls with GSSEM.

The decision to invest in camp properties was made to better accommodate the increasing number of girls and volunteers who are staying at the various camps, Barker said.

“Our camps are always open to our sister Girl Scouts throughout the United States and the world,” Barker said. “There is only one place to get an authentic Girl Scout camping experience and that is with the Girl Scouts. We look forward to welcoming our sister Girl Scouts from southeast Michigan at our camps.”

In September GSSEM leadership announced that Camp Inisfree in Howell will no longer operate as a sleepaway camp and may be sold.

“The camp is idled, and that means we’re no longer providing residential summer camp, and we’re stepping back and thinking about what we may do next,” said Denise Dalrymple, the CEO of Girl Scouts of Southeastern Michigan (GSSEM), in a Detroit Free Press article.

“That could mean the site will still be open for some Girl Scout activities,” said Dalrymple, but she added that it could also mean the property could be up for sale.

The decision to close or idle Girl Scout camps is largely the result of increased extracurricular opportunities for girls, said officials with Girl Scout camps throughout the United States. Nancy Philippart, GSSEM’s board chairwoman, said girls, and youth in general, have a lot more opportunities for what they want to do with their time.

Despite the camp closings and consolidations, Kelly Parisi, a spokeswoman for Girl Scouts of the USA, said the importance of the outdoors is core and central to what Girls Scout is about.

Proponents who believe in the importance of getting children outdoors agree with GSUSA’s position on this issue.

Richard Louv, author of “Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder,” asks why so many Americans say they want their children to watch less TV, yet continue to expand the opportunities for them to watch it?

“More important,” Louv said, “why do so many people no longer consider the physical world worth watching? The highway’s edges may not be postcard perfect. But for a century, children’s early understanding of how cities and nature fit together was gained from the backseat: the empty farmhouse at the edge of the subdivision; the variety of architecture, here and there; the woods and fields and water beyond the seamy edges--all that was and still is available to the eye. This was the landscape that we watched as children. It was our drive-by movie.”

Barker said her organization embraces this philosophy and is placing a major emphasis on getting girls and volunteers outdoors.

“We are the original experts on girls in the out of doors. Going to camp continues to be among the most eagerly anticipated activities for our girls and volunteers,” Barker said. “Our camps play a vital role in laying the foundation for a lifelong appreciation of the outdoors.

“GSHOM camps are growing and improving.”