Scouts celebrate 60th anniversary of Buffalo Trail Ranch

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Scouts celebrate 60th anniversary of Buffalo Trail Ranch

 

http://www.mywesttexas.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18247488&BRD=2288&PAG=461

http://tinyurl.com/2nzxyx

 

04/23/2007

Lynsey Bradley

Midland Reporter-Telegram

 

FORT DAVIS -- The long and dramatically bumpy road to the Buffalo Trail Scout Ranch nestled between mountains in Fort Davis is somewhat of a metaphor for the camp; it mimics life's ups and downs, but shows how perseverance can help anyone overcome any obstacles to reach the desired destination.

 

Heading into its 60th anniversary, the Buffalo Trail Council's ranch, which boasts serving about 13,000 youth in 18 West Texas counties, continues its passion for teaching young people honesty, leadership, teamwork and other characteristics to help them to become "contributing members of society."

 

"The world and America may have left many of those values, but the Boy Scouts has not," said Lyman Gifford, scout executive and CEO of the Buffalo Trail Council.

 

The ranch's summer camp lasts about eight weeks. During that time, the children are exposed to horseback riding, rock climbing, hiking and other character-building activities.

 

Gifford said he expects the summer camp for 2008 to be 75 percent full by October.

 

"Boy Scouting reinforces what parents are teaching their kids at home and solidifies that," he explained. "It's a partnership with parents, it's not a baby-sitting service.

 

"A lot of times you have parents who just drop their kids off at activities and they don't have the someone reinforcing what they are teaching their kids at home."

 

Gifford said Boy Scouts is something that will stay with young people throughout their lives.

 

"With the latest situation with what happened at Virginia Tech, the boy that is seen being carried out and you can see his leg, the kid was an Eagle Scout and he tied an electrical cord around his leg and ended up saving his own life because he knew what to do," he said.

 

"Then, look at what happened a few months ago with the boy who got lost (12-year-old who was lost in North Carolina woods for four days). He had only been in the program for one year, when he got lost, he reverted back to the skills he learned and he was OK."

 

Boy Scouts has more than 150 million alumni, and the numbers continue to rise.

 

Though the ranch is used by the Scouts, it is not by any means restricted to boys, he explained. The scouts have some co-ed programs including Soccer and Scouting, Venturing, Learning for Life and others.

 

"We have boys and girls that come to the ranch. Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts are only for boys, but we have co-ed groups that do venture out too," he said.

 

The ranch spreads out over about 9,300 acres in Fort Davis.

 

"We can take our kids out for 50-mile hikes and the boys won't cross the same lands twice," Gifford explained.

 

But the Buffalo Trail Council doesn't plan to keep this much land to themselves. Gifford said they have been working with Border Patrol for about six months to be able to invite scouts from Chihuahua, Mexico for the International Camparee. The camparee will take place the weekend of May 18-20.

 

"It's a hand of fellowship to kids across the boarder that are doing what we're doing," he explained.

 

While the ranch is hitting its 60-year mark, the Boy Scouts organization celebrates its centennial year in 2007. The fact the values the organization was founded on 100 years ago have not changed is what makes Boy Scouts what it is.

 

"We teach exactness, perseverance, follow-through and we use the outdoors as our classroom," Gifford said. "We've been doing it for about 100 years and I'd say we're pretty good at it."