Girl Scout Council plans year-round facility in RFL

By Linda Bell
Correspondent

The 750-acre Magic Sky Ranch in Red Feather Lakes will soon be the new camping destination for Girl Scouts served by the Mile-Hi Girl Scout Council in Denver.

According to Rachelle Trujillo, the council's public relations and marketing manager, the much enlarged facility will open in the spring of 2007. She said the council eventually intends to make the camp available 50 weeks a year to serve as many as 7,300 girls and volunteers from the council's 14-county service district. Girl Scouts from outside the council's area will also be eligible to use the camp on a space-available basis, she said.

The Mile-Hi Council bought the Magic Sky property in 1969, but never fully developed it, Trujillo said. The council is presently in negotiations to sell its Flying G Ranch near Deckers, she said, because it is limited to seasonal use. "To meet present needs and future growth," Trujillo said, "the council requires a facility that can remain open all year long and be designed for and accessible to all girls."

The plans, she said, are for the construction of a new dining hall, an activities center, a science center, camp cabins, high and low ropes courses, an indoor climbing wall and a stage.

"We want to keep the rustic nature of our old camp program at Flying G Ranch," Trujillo said. "We'll move the horses to Magic Sky, and provide challenging backpacking experiences for the scouts."

In 1985 the council applied for and was granted a water augmentation decree that anticipated the eventual expansion of the property, she said. "At this time," Trujillo said, "there is sufficient legal water to meet the needs of the project." There is a small reservoir on the property for water storage.

Trujillo said a capital campaign, started in 2003 to fund the improvements, already is at $9.5 million, only a million short of the $10.5 million goal needed to complete the first phase of building. In the past year the campaign received two challenge grants, $1 million from The Gates Family Foundation and $500,000 from the Coors Foundation, in addition to a matching gift of $500,000 from the Daniels Fund. The estate of Helen M. McLoraine provided $750,000 to the building fund plus another $750,000 to provide scholarships to the camp.

The first stage of construction began this summer, Trujillo said, with some road building, excavation for wastewater systems and installation of power poles. A major fire mitigation project was completed on the ranch in 2004.