Survey to gauge support of Camp Easton sale

Area Boy Scouts of America officials plan to survey more than 13,000 volunteers and scout leaders on whether to sell historic Camp Easton to a North Idaho developer.

Tim McCandless, CEO of the Inland Northwest Council of Scouts, said a survey should go out in three to four weeks asking questions about the future of the camp, which has been used for decades by Scouts and their families.

North Idaho’s Discovery Land Co. has offered to buy Camp Easton, set on the east shore of Lake Coeur d’Alene, and replace the camp with a new facility along Sunup Bay on the lake’s west shore.

Many area Scouts have criticized the plan, saying Camp Easton has unique historic and physical qualities that can’t be replaced. Some camp neighbors oppose Discovery acquiring the camp’s 380 acres, saying the company will create another North Idaho gated community marketed to high-worth buyers not from Idaho.

The Inland Northwest Council’s board last month approved the plan to conduct the survey. It is hiring a national company that specializes in online surveys to administer the survey and compile the results, McCandless said.

The council board is also doing additional research on the proposed land swap, looking at whether the proposed new site is fully acceptable for future use, added McCandless.

No date for a final decision by the board has been set, McCandless said.

Stacey Cowles, publisher of The Spokesman-Review, is a member of the Inland Northwest Council board.