A BIG THANK YOU FROM RANGER SKIP

2007 year end report for camp Topenebee

2007 was a very busy year, there were a very large number of attendances in the camp and there was a lot of work done through out the year. The camp is looking better then it has in years.

Major project completed

1. A 2.7 mile fitness trail was built in the spring. it has 12 work out stations at the beginning of the trail and the remainder of the trail is a hiking trail, this trail is also going to be used for hiking & biking & cross country skiing, it goes around the out side perimeter of the camp and it is in parts of the camp that has not been used in years.

3. Along with the fitness trail there were 5 out back camp sites built that will be used for back pack camping, and 5 new program areas.

Plans are to have compass and GPS courses to get to the out back camp sites.

4. There was new roofs put on 3 of the cabins

A. Mohawk Cabin

B. Scouters East Cabin

C. Scouters West cabin

Attendance

We had the largest number in attendance that we have had in the past 3 ½ years that I have been here at camp Topenebee with 16,185 scouts and leaders using the camp.

Lake Topenebee clean up

We started a weed treatment in 2007 on lake Topenebee it work real well, there was so much weeds in the lake the scouts had a hard time finding a place to fish, and it was almost imposable to do any boating in the lake. We did 3 treatment on the lake to kill the weeds this summer ( was only to do twice but when they did the first one it rained not long after it was done, so they did it again at no charge) and we did not have a weed problem.

We also installed 2 air eaters in the lake to add more oxygen to the water ( we had a very low Oxygen count ) when they came out and checked the lake before treatment, this is going to help not only the Oxygen in the water but it will also help to clear up the bottom of the lake.

It is has been recommended and put into the long range plan that we keep this treatment up to improve the lake for fishing and boating.

There was also another fishing pier built before day camp we had a pontoon boat that was here , the ranger and his work crew built side rails around the pontoon and put it along the bank of the lake with a walk way out to it with side rails to give the scouts another place to enjoy the lake for fishing , it worked out well because with the large groups of scouts that we had during day camp they could not all fit in a safe manner on one fishing pier.

Road Improvements’

We hired the neighbor to haul stone in for the roads we put new stone on the main road into camp from Holmesville road up to the road that goes to the parking lot .it improved the road by filling the holes and making it a better road into camp.

It has been recommended by the properties committee that we do a little of the road each year, at a cost of 50.00 per load it is a cheap way to rebuild the road that has been let go for years in the camp and I believe this was in our long range plan as well.

Parking lot Improvements

In the year of 2006 there was a new parking lot built by the warehouse it helped improve the parking in camp and made the camp a safer place for the scouts during day camp, because we did not have traffic driving through camp with the cub scouts during the day camp I have a good working relationship with a DM excavating and they are filling more space that is around this parking lot to expand it (AT NO COST) to make it bigger and in the future I hope to have this as the only parking lot in camp, as I feel it is not safe to have a parking lot where there are scouts camping and to have people driving through the main part of camp when there is programs going on such as day camps and it worked so well shutting the main road off after the start up time for the day camps I fell if we could have a parking lot at the beginning of camp property not in the middle of camp property it would be a safer place for the scouts.

Chappel Improvements’

We started to rebuild the chappel in the spring of 2007 by setting new poles, there has been a donation made to help pay for the cost to rebuild the chappel ( after 15 years ) this is something the camp needs as we try to teach or scouts to walk in the grace of the lord, we plan to use lumber that will come from trees in our camp

The ranger and Duane Thormahlen went together and bought a saw mill that will be used to cut the lumber for this project and other projects in camp.

UP COMING PROJECTS FOR 2008

1. Put new roof on scout master cabin.

2. Put new roof on picnic shelter.

3. Put new roof on range shelter

4. Put stone on more of the road.

5. Finish the chappel.

6. Start new building for nature center

7. Put new roof on warehouse and paint warehouse

(Paint and labor has been donated)

Haunted Trail

2007 was the second year we held the haunted trail at camp Topenebee and we doubled what we did the first year that we held it. We had 1216 go through the trail and we had 528 scouts that worked the trail, we grossed 6,638.27 on this event, it is recommended that we keep having this event as down the road in years to come it is believed that this will be a very large money maker for the camp.

Ranger Skip Hartline

Thank you all for your help and support.