Scouts to expand Magic Sky Ranch

RED FEATHER LAKES — The Mile Hi Girl Scout Council plans to invest $10.5 million in its Magic Sky Ranch Girl Scout Camp near Red Feather Lakes.

The Girl Scouts have owned the 630-acre parcel for more than 30 years and now plan to turn it from a primitive weekend campsite to a year-round scouting ranch. Plans call for 12 winterized resident cabins, a dining hall, an activity center and a horse stable.

“This camp will provide an opportunity for many, many more girls to have an outdoor camping experience each year,´ said Nancy Koberstein, property manager for the Mile Hi Council, which serves 36,000 scouts across 13 counties in Colorado.

Most of the existing ranch is open land, but there are two cabins that can house 50 scouts at a time with room for another 40 scouts in tents at two campsites. The expansion will allow more than 250 scouts to use the ranch at the same time.

Koberstein said the council decided to make the improvements at Magic Sky rather than its Flying “G” Ranch in southern Jefferson County.

“We needed a facility where people could feel comfortable going to on the weekends in the winter,” she said. Access to the Flying “G” Ranch is on a six-mile stretch of a narrow forest service road and virtually inaccessible in the winter.

“Rather than put more money into developing that property, we’ve chosen to put it into Magic Sky,” Koberstein said.

Access to Magic Sky ranch is along County Road 74E, also known as the Red Feather Lakes Road, which is a paved main artery for the region.

The Girl Scout Camp is just minutes away from the 3,400-acre Ben Delatour Boy Scout Ranch, which has been in operation since 1959. Terry Dunn, director of support services for the Longs Peak Council of Boy Scouts, said the Boy Scout Ranch served more than 10,000 campers last year from 25 states.

“I think it’s fair to say we have a fairly significant impact on Larimer County’s tourism base in the summer,” Dunn said.

The boys’ ranch grosses about $700,000 annually, just about enough to cover its costs.

Dunn said the location creates special issues, like wildfire mitigation, water supply and interaction with native wildlife, including bears and mountain lions.

“It’s tough to run and operate a camp in Larimer County and Colorado,” Dunn said, citing increasing fees and regulations that force campers to pay more.

The Mile Hi Council is preparing to embark on a fund-raising campaign to raise the $10.5 million for the expansion and the council itself will contribute an undisclosed portion. The Larimer County Planning Commission is scheduled to review the project on Jan. 17, and city planner Karin Knauf said it will likely recommend approval with several standard conditions. For example, before the project can progress the Girl Scouts must submit forest-management and wildfire mitigation plans and receive final approval of water and sewer systems and permits from the health department.

The group hopes to break ground in spring 2004 and have an operational camp by late 2005 or early 2006.

The Mile Hi Council does not serve Northern Colorado Girl Scouts, although other councils are able to use the Magic Sky facility on a contract basis.

The Fort Collins-based Mountain Prairie Council, which serves nine counties in northeast Colorado, operates separate camp faciltiies, including Meadow Mountain Ranch near Allenspark and Kiwa Korral near Lyons.

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