New docks part of a revamped Scout camp

Improvements under way on Melita Island

Three years ago Melita Island on Flathead Lake was a fairly primitive place, newly purchased by the Montana Council of the Boy Scouts of America.

It has since evolved toward a vision of becoming one of the premier scouting camps in the country.

"Two years ago it was really a diamond in the rough and now they are polishing it," said Dale Hamilton, scout master for Troop 115 Florence. Some of the troop's older scouts, including Hamilton's son, Jonathan, made return trips to the island this week.

"They've made a lot of improvements," Jonathan Hamilton said.

The biggest change on the island is an expansive flag-studded dock network, primarily built out of heavy dimension lumber cut with a portable sawmill on the island.

Steel pilings were driven into the lake last fall, mostly downed trees were collected and milled during the winter, and construction got under way in the spring.

"We are utilizing what he have here on the island," said Roger Wendt, who was one of about a dozen volunteers who worked on the project. One dock extends 100 feet from shore with a 60-foot wing. A second dock extends 70 feet with a 40-foot wing.

Wendt has yet to calculate the board-foot volume of lumber harvested from the island, but he stresses that it has mainly cleaned up the island interior with no visible signs of logging from offshore.

The docks are outfitted with solar-powered harbor lights and a dozen boat slips.

"We figure we saved approximately $45,000 in the cost of building the docks with our labor and our materials," Wendt said.

The new docks replace a crude, 30-foot aluminum dock that served as a base for boats and the camp's swimming area. That dock has been relocated to a cove on the north side of the island that serves as a new swimming area with far fewer boat wakes for swimmers to contend with.

Three years ago, the camp had just a handful of boats and other watercraft.

With many vessels out on the water during a sunny day this week, the dock area was crowded with four rowboats, nine canoes, eight sailboats of varying size, nine fishing boats, a dozen windsurfing boards and 16 kayaks.

But there's a lot more to the evolution of the scouting camp than structures and watercraft. It has grown programmatically as well, now offering visiting Scouts more than 30 pursuits, most of them water-related and many of them for merit badges.

Jonathan Hamilton is enrolled in one of the most popular programs, the Advanced Camper Experience for Scouts older than 14. It involves more adventuresome, all-around activities, such as canoeing to the backside of the island for camping and exploring nearby Wild Horse Island for training in GPS navigation.

"I'm really close to Eagle, so I don't need merit badges," Hamilton said. "I'm just at camp for fun."

One of the biggest challenges in running a first-rate scouting camp is recruiting an adequate number of qualified staff for all of the specialized programs.

"All of these are staff-based programs," said Kyle Boyd, the camp's aquatics director.

And for Melita Island to rise near the level of the Boy Scouts of America Florida Sea Base - a superlative aquatics camp that attracts scouts from across the country - will depend on staffing and programs.

"We want to be a freshwater base similar to their operation," said Chris Roberts, one of the camp's senior staffers.

But already, Melita Island is drawing Scouts from far away. Last year there were campers from Oregon and Washington and this summer there will be 35 campers from the Estes Park, Colo., area.

"To me, that says something to draw a troop from a beautiful place like Estes Park," said another senior staffer, Larry Shadow. "They have some first-class camps in Colorado."

During the camp's four-week season, there will be more than 400 campers, and at any given time, there are more than 40 staffers on the island.

Logistically, Melita Island has challenges that no other scouting camp in the country has - it relies entirely on boats for getting food, supplies and visitors ashore. So the camp eventually will be limited in the number of campers it can accommodate, Roberts noted.

The camp is limited, too, in how fast it can proceed with planned improvements.

"We're paced by two things - one is money and the other is manpower," said Jack Sherick, the camp's director.

In addition to the docks project, an amphitheater is under construction with benches coming from the island mill. The mill also provided lumber for tent platforms and 30 picnic tables for the mess hall inside the island's historic main lodge.

A well was drilled and a water distribution system has been installed. Future projects include the installation of a septic system to allow for improved shower facilities and an expanded kitchen in the main lodge.

Sherick said there is an effort to get composting toilets installed. That would allow the camp to do away with the existing portable toilets.

The $29,000 mill was donated by the Phoenix Patrol, a group of former Melita Island Scouts who resurrected it as a scouting camp and spearheaded the campaign to purchase the island three years ago.

Roberts, one of the patrol's active members, said there are fundraising activities under way to purchase a portable wood chipper that can be used to clean up small-diameter wood debris, with the chips being used to keep the dust down on trails and in the camping areas that are located on about a third of the island.

Early this year, the patrol pursued a Donate-Your-Boat campaign, mostly in the Missoula area. Eleven boats were donated, and most of them have been sold to raise money for the patrol's projects, Roberts said.

"We are just hoping these incremental changes will keep taking place," Roberts said.

Reporter Jim Mann may be reached at 758-4407 or by e-mail at jmann@dailyinterlake.com