June 21, 2004

Scouting for treasure to save camp
Richard Meryhew, Star Tribune

IREDWOOD FALLS, MINN. -- A half century of books, records and toys are stashed in Julia Kaardal's attic. Boxes of scouting memorabilia are packed away up there, too.

And if any of it can fetch a few dollars, or maybe more, on eBay in coming days, it might help some Boy Scouts in southern Minnesota preserve a pristine piece of their up-north summer camp.

"This is a wilderness camp," the 78-year-old former Cub Scout den mother said the other day, explaining her passion for Camp Cuyuna, a scenic Scout camp near Crosslake, Minn., that is owned and operated by the Twin Valley Boy Scout Council in Mankato.

"It doesn't have any fancy things to accommodate people. It's just real rugged. And we hope that it doesn't change."

Her plan is to get others involved, too -- a Scout-supporting cadre of grandmothers coming together to save the camp.

Kaardal's affection for Cuyuna dates back to the late 1960s, when Twin Valley acquired the 900-acre camp, and her two oldest sons -- Ivar and Loran -- began making the summer trek north to hike the trails, canoe the lakes and sleep among the pines in Crow Wing County.

In the years since, all six of Julia and Elmer Kaardal's sons and three of their grandsons have camped at Cuyuna. The six sons made Eagle Scout.

So when Julia Kaardal learned this spring that Twin Valley planned to sell a piece of the camp to generate income to address mounting financial pressures, she headed to the attic hoping she could help.

The stuff is going on eBay -- with an assist from Loran, who is heading a fundraising drive that's intended to address the council's finances while keeping Cuyuna from the developers.

Items for sale include a half century's worth of National Geographic magazines, scores of scouting neckerchiefs and patches, dozens of board games and toys and box after box of long-playing record albums featuring songs by Burl Ives, Doris Day and the Dave Clark Five.

"Whatever my kids want, they can take," Julia Kaardal said the other day as she looked across the attic at a collection 50 years in the making. "Whatever they don't, we'll sell. And whatever we make goes to scouting."

Plan put together

Kaardal's effort to peddle the goods is just a part of Twin Valley's plan to address its financial troubles.

For nearly 40 years the council, which oversees scouting for about 4,000 boys in 15 south-central Minnesota counties, has owned and operated Cuyuna, sending Scouts from the southern Minnesota prairie to the northern Minnesota forest each summer to hike, fish and canoe.

But financial troubles, brought on by construction of a new headquarters in Mankato and the ongoing cost of running Cuyuna and two other camps the council operates in southern Minnesota, forced it this spring to consider selling part of Cuyuna, the largest and potentially most lucrative, of its camps.

At one point, interested bidders offered about $1.5 million to buy about 20 percent of the camp's land. Potential developers had assorted visions for the property.

"There was cash to close in two weeks," Loran Kaardal said.

But the prospect of a quick sale made Kaardal and others in Twin Valley's scouting family uncomfortable.

For one thing, Kaardal said, Twin Valley would lose an attractive piece of wilderness that the Scouts had used for nearly 40 years. For another, prospective development of the land would forever change Cuyuna.

"If you start selling off 160 acres at a crack, what you end up with is a small camp in the midst of a residential development," Loran Kaardal said. Hoping to preserve the land earmarked for sale, Kaardal approached the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.

A deal took shape: Twin Valley would sell 150 of Cuyuna's 900 acres -- including about 2 miles of shoreline along two lakes -- to the DNR, which would allow the Scouts to continue using the land while opening it to the public for hiking and canoeing.

If the council, through pledges, donations, eBay auctions and other fund-raising efforts, would raise $600,000 of the estimated $1.5 million purchase price by September, the DNR would put up the other $900,000. The DNR money would come from the sale of the state's loon license plates and other agency funds.

"It's a win-win," said Mike Halverson, acquisition coordinator for the DNR's fisheries division. "The Scouts will be able to use the area pretty much as they did before and we'll be able to protect the shoreline. And it's open to the public. This is just a great benefit to all groups."

Paul Wilkinson, executive director of the council, said about half of the $1.5 million the council would receive would be spent on upgrading its three camps. The remainder would go toward paying off debt on the headquarters building in Mankato

"If it works, we get to where we need to go with the finances," Wilkinson said. "If it doesn't work, and we don't raise the money, the board has some tough decisions to make."

Right time to sell

For Julia and Elmer Kaardal, who also has been involved in scouting for more than four decades, the timing of the fundraising drive couldn't be better.

Later this summer, the couple will sell their home and move to St. Paul to live with a daughter. With or without the funding drive, the attic needed cleaning.

"The Scouts are short of money now, and it's easier for me to do this than hand them money," Julia Kaardal said. "I might need my money. But this stuff, I don't need. And it's for a good purpose, a good cause."

In recent days, Kaardal has climbed the 31 stairs from the main floor of her house to the attic to sort through dozens of boxes stocked with goods collected over a half century.

Much of what she sees is personal stuff -- games or crafts or projects used or created by her eight children. But much of it is scouting stuff, too, collected from her years as a Cub Scout den mother for Den No. 1, Pack No. 7.

"You didn't throw away when you were in scouting," she said. "You just kept it and you used it the next year."

In one corner of the attic sit several Scout projects, including a few blue-painted ham bones that doubled as candle holders at one of the pack's annual Blue and Gold banquets.

"I went to the grocer and said 'Hey, I want a bone with a hole in it that I can put a candle in,'" Kaardal said, smiling at the memory of how the candleholders were created.

"You used everything you could find back then. We went to the lumber yard for junk lumber and we'd make bird houses and feeders. The boys learned to use a saw and hammer for things they could build and use."

Kaardal even has the "Bear" and "Lion-Webelos" achievement books from 1961 that belonged to Larry Von Mosch, one of the Scouts in her den.

If he wants it back, he'd better act quickly.

"It's unreal," she said, looking at the attic collection. "The kids would just leave stuff and I'd throw it in the box.

"Now, it all has to go. But I think it's better to go this way than just put it in the garbage can."

Richard Meryhew is at richm@startribune.com.

Last Updated: June 21, 2004