A Monroe County preservation group is feeling confident as the Minsi Trails Council of the Boy Scouts of America reviews bids for the purchase of the 755-acre Camp Trexler property in Polk Township.

“We’re optimistic and feel our bid was pretty solid,” said Louise Troutman, Pocono Heritage Land Trust executive director. “I think there is a lot of public support for what we’re trying to do, which is open half of the property up for a nature preserve and let the other half continue as a camp. To us, that remains the best possible outcome for the Camp Trexler property.”

Pocono Heritage Land Trust has been actively pursuing the property since shortly after the Minsi Trails Council announced last year that it would be selling the land to generate settlement funds for nationwide sex abuse claims against the Boy Scouts. The local council’s contribution to the settlement fund is $2.6 million, according to a letter it published last year.

Should the land not be purchased by someone with preservation in mind, Troutman fears it could be clear-cut for solar panels or turned into a housing development.

“If that property is developed then you have runoff from roofs, driveways and paved roads,” Troutman said. “That just leads to contaminants in the water and it impacts everyone all the way downstream. Harry Trexler and all of those neighboring farmers donated or sold their land for a very small amount because they thought they were doing something positive for the kids. Let’s honor those people’s wishes and not change the use of that property.”

While Troutman would not divulge the land trust’s bid or the amount of money it has raised, she did acknowledge that public and private donors have, “come out of the woodwork” to support purchase efforts.

“We had one gentleman donate $500,000,” Troutman said. “Our governmental entities including Monroe County, Polk Township and Chestnuthill Township have also contributed. Monroe County gave us $1 million. In addition, we’ve received a huge amount of support from Scouting families and grownups who are no longer scouts but might be a counselor or something like that. To date, we’ve tallied over 500 individual donations.”

Should the Pocono Heritage Land Trust be successful, Troutman said, it would like to subdivide the piece of the land with camp infrastructure and transfer it to its partnering “Where Angels Play Foundation.”

“It would have a deed restriction so it could never be developed with houses or a solar farm or anything like that,” she said. “One of the things Where Angels Play does is support a summer camp for pediatric burn victims. It’s such a nice camp where those kids who are burn victims can just go and be kids. We’re really excited to partner with them and we think this would be an excellent opportunity.”

No formal list has been released of entities that have submitted a bid for the Camp Trexler property, but Troutman said she expects about 12 to 15 others to be involved. There has also been no official timeline for Minsi Trails Council’s review of the bids.

“We’re expecting more information by the end of April,” Troutman said. “I know it is a bad financial situation that they are in, but I just think there should be some respect or some consideration for the fact that nobody who donated this land ever envisioned it being anything other than what it is right now.”

In 2024, all camping operations that took place at Camp Trexler will be moved to Camp Minsi on Stillwater Lake in Pocono Summit.