Minnesota Land Trust

Support the Youth Camp Conservation Initiative and Help Save a Camp! New contributions matched dollar for dollar!

Before the internet, before video games, before year-round sports, kids spent more time outdoors -- and more time learning about the outdoors -- at camps and nature centers. Whether at Scout camps, YMCA camps, faith-based camps or the historic youth camps dotting Minnesota’s lakes and woods, youth camps are places where we pitched our own tent, cooked over an open fire, learned camp songs and became part of the rich tradition of youth camping.

Minnesota has more than two hundred youth camps and nature centers that give our children memorable and meaningful outdoor experiences. In this era of concern over childhood obesity, “nature deficit disorder” and over-programmed lives, these experiences are more important than ever. Yet sadly, the economic downturn and other factors have forced many camps to close in recent years with many more still at risk. These closures threaten to undermine Minnesota’s legendary youth camp heritage which is essential to educating and inspiring the next generation of Minnesota citizens. At the same time, these closures mean a loss to the communities which rely on the camps for jobs and tourism dollars as well as a threat to thousands of acres of the state’s best remaining shoreline habitat.

Over our 20-year history of protecting natural and scenic land, the Land Trust has worked with several youth-serving camps and nature centers to protect their extensive land base, primarily through the purchase of conservation easements, which in turn has allowed these organizations to reinvest in their future and thrive. Just as importantly, these efforts have resulted in the protection of hundreds of acres and miles of shoreline at camps and nature centers including places like Belwin Conservancy in Afton, Bay Lake Camp in Deerwood, a Girl Scout camp in Duluth, and Camp Kingswood in Hennepin County.

Today, due to changing land values, difficult economic conditions and the increased pressures on camps, the time to “save a camp” and protect some of our best remaining habitat is now! In order to respond to this challenge, the Minnesota Land Trust has launched its Youth Camp Initiative. With this initiative, we aim to build on our expertise in land protection and our prior experience working with camps to develop a comprehensive and aggressive program to save more camps, protect more habitats, and inspire a new generation of conservation-minded youth.

Give today and your first-time gift will be matched dollar for dollar by a generous Land Trust member. And if you're a current member, any increase in your annual gift will also be matched up to $5,000. Help us help the camps that give our youth the outdoor experiences that will shape their childhood.

The Minnesota Land Trust is a state-wide, non-profit organization with regional offices in Ely, Duluth, St. Paul and Red Wing. Since its founding in 1991, the Land Trust has completed 425 land-protection projects throughout the state that now preserve over 38,000 acres of natural and scenic land including working farms and forestlands, summer camps and nature sanctuaries. These projects involve a mix of public and private lands that benefit the public by conserving important wildlife habitats, critical shoreline areas and lands that preserve the scenic integrity of communities.