Friday, December 14, 2012

KPAX Story Link

Most of what active leaders hoped to have lined up is now lined up or very close to lined up (see Monday's HH News article and our blog post from spring that said what needed to happen), but time is short and financial needs are huge.  Please watch the clip and tell us what you think about how it came across (that there is still hope?).

Flathead Girl Scouts trying to save camping tradition | KPAX.com | Missoula, Montana


A couple of statements warrant clarification, PLEASE NOTE at least these two points---


1. It is not true that Girl Scouts would have to pay $25,000 for this year's lease (DNRC will freeze the $5,000 rate while we complete the steps required for purchasing the easement, so we are hoping Girl Scouts will wait to terminate the lease)

2.  It is not clear that we should have to raise the full 1/2 million dollars by January 15 (we need to raise as much as possible as soon as possible but DNRC is working with us, so we need to convince any partnering entity and our council land board to give us time as well, but we need to raise a substantial amount fast to keep all parties at the table)


Since the public meetings in spring, the following obstacles have been resolved:

1. Received DNRC's assistance in solution finding (many thanks to Bill Beck for his assistance in those discussions), which includes:
    a.  Assistance with the reappraisal process
    b.  Solution finding steps that have led to permanent easement options and exclusive use
    c.  More time to raise the money and more time for exploring options
    b.  Frozen lease rate during fund raising and/or easement application process (no increase would
         occur at this time, as also reported in Monday's Hungry Horse News article) if we are
         allowed to move forward
2. Paperwork, bank account, and council approval is now in place for fundraising
3. Council support for fundraising and easement coordination was granted

And the primary obstacle that remains:

1.  The cost of the easement is an enormous challenge that local leaders and girlscouts are willing (and were approved by council) to attempt (with the burden falling entirely on local troops to raise in order to maintain the last and only remaining Girl Scout resource available locally)

Stay tuned.....

4 comments:

  1. yeah, the clip that I saw made it sound like we had to raise half million by jan 15th and because of that they stopped the appraisal and backed out of everything because it was too late. If the media skewed the story and it now sounds like it did...that makes me very upset.

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  2. Thanks for the answer--it seems to me like a correction or follow up is needed, but in the mean time we want to hear how people are interpreting the story.

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  3. Well, we have a 'possible' entity that is willing to help, if they can. We don't have anything set in stone on that and as far as I know we are still open for any public entity to step in and work with us. The other thing is, we need to raise as much of the $500,000 as possible prior to January 15th. I think if we do submit any corrections or additional comments, we need to communicate how vital it is for us to raise as much as possible before January 15th. Without the funding there we are at higher risk of having council vote to terminate the lease entirely.

    I also think as of now, the response to the clip has been pretty positive. I think we're getting more calls and emails asking for more information and ways to help. That was the mail goal of the interview after we received the email from council earlier this week.

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  4. Thank you, Krystal---this is good feedback, and points to multiple corrections I need to make compared to what I thought the situation was. So...this blog post may look different the next time you see it.

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