Northern Star Scouting Delays Summer Camp Opening to July 5th

Greetings Scout Families,

In coordination with our key volunteers, we have made the difficult decision to delay the opening of our summer camp operations to July 5, 2020 for all overnight programs. Additionally, because most of its registrations were in June, we will not be operating Cub Summer Camp at Stearns in 2020.

We have been working hard to develop as many scenarios as possible to be able to offer this important experience as we continue to wait for local and state health officials to release critical guidance that we will need to meet in order to reopen our overnight camps.

We have waited as long as we could for such guidance, but since we are now within weeks of our scheduled opening, we need to give our June and early July campers and camp staff time to react.

The health and safety of our camp participants continues to be our top priority. We are actively working on key protocols (see below) for cleaning, sanitation and social distancing that will be necessary for our camps to reopen. We are also benchmarking our processes against those developed by industry experts for the American Camp Association and the CDC.

If allowed to open on July 5th, our camps will look and feel different but we will still provide our participants with a valuable outdoor experience that reinforces our key principles and connects them with nature and each other.

We are beginning the process of reaching out and rescheduling all Packs and Troops who were scheduled to attend camp in June. It’s important to note that this situation continues to evolve and change daily. Should our targeted start date of July 5th be altered, we will let you know promptly.

We are also planning to increase our offerings of week-long day camps for Cub Scouts beginning in mid-June as well as ramp up opportunities for single family camping at our properties. Watch for details over the next two weeks.

We will continue to plan for summer camp because it is a critical need for our children and families. Camp builds resilience, determination, leadership and connection.

Thank you for understanding,

Travis Sutten
Director of Camping and Properties

Steve Mathews
Camping Committee Chair
Northern Star COVID-19 Webpage

Northern Star COVID-19 Webpage

Examples of Changes to Summer Camp 2020:

Heightened sanitation and cleaning – more frequent required handwashing, greater access to handwashing and hand sanitizer, additional cleaning of high touch surfaces, sanitizing program equipment between each use, elimination of self-serve dining and program supplies, additional screening protocols before travel and once arriving at camp.

Social distancing – camp schedules will be simplified to reduce contact among Troops and Packs, large group gatherings will be avoided, we will implement additional dining rotations and increased commissary service at our Scouts BSA camps, single person/single household tenting will be encouraged, capacities will be reduced.