Scouting in New Mexico

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Scouting in New Mexico
Philmont Scout Ranch Tooth of Time 2004.jpg
The Tooth of Time, an icon of Philmont Scout Ranch
Southwest Chief @ Raton NM.jpg
Scouts arriving in Raton
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Scouting in New Mexico has had a rich and colorful history, from the 1910s to the present day, serving thousands of youth in programs that suit the environment in which they live. The state is home to the Philmont Scout Ranch.

Contents

Early history (1910–1950)

Burnham with BSA Troop, Carlsbad Caverns, 1941 Burnham nm 11may1941.jpg
Burnham with BSA Troop, Carlsbad Caverns, 1941

On May 11, 1941, the Boy Scouts of America honored Major Frederick Russell Burnham on his eightieth birthday, at Carlsbad Caverns, New Mexico. Burnham had only recently returned from Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge which he had dedicated with the Boy Scouts in Arizona after a long campaign to save the Desert Bighorn Sheep. [1]

In 1918, the Albuquerque Council (#412) was founded. It changed its name to the Bemalillo County Council (#412) in 1926. The council changed its name again in 1927 to the Rio Grand Area Council (#412). In 1934, the Rio Grande Area Council became the Northern New Mexico Council (#412).

In 1920, the Carlsbad Council and the Roswell Council (#413) were founded. They merged in 1924 to become the Pecos Valley Council (#413). In 1925, the Pecos Valley Council became the Eastern New Mexico Council (#413).

In 1927, the Gila Grande Council (#579) was formed, merging with the El Paso Area Council (#573) in 1930.

In 1927, the Kit Carson Council (#574) was formed, merging with the Rio Grande Council (#412) in 1929. [2]

Lake in Camp Wehinahpay Lake in Camp Wehinahpay.jpg
Lake in Camp Wehinahpay

Recent history (1950–1990)

In 1955, the Northern New Mexico Council (#412) became the Kit Carson Council (#412). The council changed its name in 1976 to the Great Southwest Area Council, and again in 1982 to the Great Southwest Council (#412). [2]

Scouting in New Mexico today

There are five Boy Scouts of America (BSA) local councils in New Mexico.

Conquistador Council

Conquistador Council (#413)
Owner Boy Scouts of America
Headquarters Roswell, New Mexico
CountryUnited States
PresidentChris Lauderman
Council CommissionerMichael Hunter
Scout ExecutiveKarl Shelton
Website
www.conquistador-bsa.net
WikiProject Scouting fleur-de-lis dark.svg  Scouting portal

Located in southeast New Mexico, the Conquistador Council office is in Roswell, New Mexico.

Organization

  • Chisum Trail District - Eddy County
  • El Llano Grande District - Curry, De Baca & Roosevelt Counties
  • Oil Patch District - Lea County
  • Rio Hondo District - Chaves County
  • Sierra Blanca District - Lincoln County [3]

Camps

Order of the Arrow

The Kwahadi Lodge #78 of the Order of the Arrow serves local Arrowmen. [7]

Grand Canyon Council

Grand Canyon Council serves Scouts in Arizona and New Mexico.

Great Southwest Council

Great Southwest Council (#412)
Owner Boy Scouts of America
Headquarters Albuquerque, New Mexico
CountryUnited States
Website
gswcbsa.org
WikiProject Scouting fleur-de-lis dark.svg  Scouting portal

The Great Southwest Council is headquartered in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and provides Scouting to youth in northern New Mexico, northeast Arizona, Utah south of the San Juan River, and the Durango and Mesa Verde areas of Colorado.

Organization

  • Rio Grande District
  • San Juan Mountains District
  • Sangre de Cristo District
  • Sandia District

Camps

The Great Southwest Council's summer camp program is based at the Gorham Scout Ranch, [8] located near Chimayo, New Mexico [9] northwest of Pojoaque, New Mexico. [10]

Great Southwest Council is home to Cimarron, New Mexico's Philmont Scout Ranch, the oldest of the national high-adventure bases operated by the Boy Scouts of America.

Although the Mesa Verde District [11] of the Great Southwest Council includes San Juan County, Colorado, the council no longer owns or operate the Cascade Scout Camp located in the San Juan National Forest, north of Durango, Colorado, and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. [12]

South Plains Council

South Plains Council serves Scouts in Texas and New Mexico.

Yucca Council

Yucca Council serves Scouts in Texas and New Mexico.

Girl Scouting in New Mexico

Girl Scouting in New Mexico
New Mexico-gsusa.svg
Map of Girl Scout Councils in New Mexico
WikiProject Scouting fleur-de-lis dark.svg  Scouting portal

Three Girl Scout Councils serve New Mexico.

Girl Scouts Arizona Cactus-Pine Council

Most of this district is in Arizona but as the Navajo Nation straddles the border the portion of it in northwestern New Mexico is also included in this district.

Girl Scouts of New Mexico Trails

Girl Scouts of New Mexico Trails
Headquarters Albuquerque, New Mexico
CountryUnited States
Website
nmgirlscouts.org
WikiProject Scouting fleur-de-lis dark.svg  Scouting portal

Girl Scouts of New Mexico Trails serves some 5,000 girls in 23 counties in northern and central New Mexico. It was formed in November 2007 by the merger of the two previous councils of Sangre de Cristo and Chaparral.

Camps

  • Camp Elliott Barker located near Angel Fire, NM
  • Rancho del Chaparral located in the Jemez Mountains

Girl Scouts of the Desert Southwest

Formed from the May 1, 2009 merger of Zia, Permian Basin and Rio Grande Councils. Serving Southern New Mexico & West Texas.

Organization

Service Centers in New Mexico

Camps

Scouting museums in New Mexico

The Scouting Museum of New Mexico, formerly run by Dennis Downing was located at 400 South First Street in Raton, New Mexico, is permanently closed. The museum was privately owned at a private facility, displays included Wood Badge, Philmont, Order of the Arrow, National Jamboree, international Scouting, Scout books and magazines, videos, reference library, and also rotated loaned exhibits.

The National Scouting Museum is located at Philmont Scout Ranch, 4 miles south of Cimarron, NM on NM-21. The National Scouting Museum is also home to the Ernest Thompson Seton Memorial Library.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scouting in Arizona</span>

Scouting in Arizona has a long history, from the 1910s to the present day, serving thousands of youth in programs that suit the environment in which they live.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scouting in Colorado</span>

Scouting in Colorado has a long history, from the 1910s to the present day.

Scouting in Texas has a long history, from the 1910s to the present day, serving thousands of youth in programs that suit the environment in which they live. Scouting, also known as the Scout Movement, is a worldwide youth movement with the stated aim of supporting young people in their physical, mental and spiritual development, so that they may play constructive roles in society.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scouting in Utah</span>

Scouting in Utah has a long history, from the 1910s to the present day, serving thousands of youth in programs that suit the environment in which they live.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Philmont Scout Ranch</span> Large ranch for youth high adventure in New Mexico, US

Philmont Scout Ranch is a ranch located in Colfax County, New Mexico, United States, near the village of Cimarron; it covers 140,177 acres (56,728 ha) of wilderness in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains on the east side of the Cimarron Range of the Rocky Mountains. Donated by oil baron Waite Phillips, the ranch is owned and operated by the Boy Scouts of America. It is a National High Adventure Base where crews of Scouts and Venturers take part in backpacking treks and other outdoor activities. By land area, it is one of the largest youth camps in the world. During the 2019 season, between June 8 and August 22, an estimated 24,000 Scouts and adult leaders backpacked through the Ranch's extensive backcountry. That same year 1,302 staff were responsible for the Ranch's summer operations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jornada del Muerto</span> Desert region in New Mexico, United States

Jornada del Muerto was the name given by the Spanish conquistadors to the Jornada del Muerto desert basin, and the almost waterless 90-mile (140 km) trail across the Jornada beginning north of Las Cruces and ending south of Socorro, New Mexico. The name translates from Spanish as "Dead Man's Journey" or "Route of the Dead Man". The trail was part of the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro which led northward from central colonial New Spain, present-day Mexico, to the farthest reaches of the viceroyalty in northern Nuevo México Province.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Villa Philmonte</span> United States historic place

The Villa Philmonte is a large ranch home located outside of Cimarron, New Mexico, on Philmont Scout Ranch, owned by the Boy Scouts of America. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1995 as part of Villa Philmonte Historic District, which included two contributing buildings, two contributing structures, and two contributing sites. Those resources are the Villa Philmonte, an associated guesthouse, two courtyards, and a pool, pergola and pond.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baldy Mountain (Colfax County, New Mexico)</span> Mountain peak in New Mexico, US

Baldy Mountain, Baldy Peak, Mount Baldy, or Old Baldy is the highest peak in the Cimarron Range, a subrange of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains of New Mexico. It is located in Colfax County, about 6 miles (10 km) northeast of Eagle Nest. It rises abruptly, with 3,640 feet (1,110 m) of vertical relief, from the Moreno Valley to the west and has a total elevation of 12,441 feet (3,792 m).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Valle Vidal</span>

The Valle Vidal is a 101,794 acres (41,195 ha) mountain basin in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains within the Carson National Forest, northwest of Cimarron, New Mexico. Elevations in the basin range from 7,700 to 12,554 feet. Valle Vidal is noted for its pristine scenery and wildlife. It was protected from oil and gas exploitation by an act of Congress in 2006. The Valle Vidal borders on Vermejo Park Ranch, Philmont Scout Ranch, and other private lands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wilderness Grace</span>

The Wilderness Grace, also known as the "Worth Ranch Grace" and the "Philmont Grace", is the common name of a simple prayer recited before meals by many boy and girl members of the Boy Scouts of America. The original version, the "Worth Ranch Grace", was written in 1929 by A. J. "Jerry" Fulkerson, Camp Director at Worth Ranch Scout Camp in Palo Pinto County, Texas, part of the Longhorn Council in the Fort Worth Area. Fulkerson was also the Scout executive of the Fort Worth Area Council, Boy Scouts of America.

James P. Fitch was a Scouting notable in the early history of the Boy Scouts of America (B.S.A.). He was born at Montserrat, Missouri, and attended Missouri State Normal School at Warrensburg. It was there that he met Dr. Elbert K. Fretwell of Teachers College, Columbia University, who was a summer instructor at Warrensburg, and an early leader in the B.S.A. They formed a strong friendship, and Fretwell recruited Fitch to work for the B.S.A. during its first decade.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Los Angeles Area Council</span>

Founded in 1915, the Greater Los Angeles Area Council (GLAAC) (#033) served most of the City of Los Angeles as well as several other cities in the greater Los Angeles area. It was one of five Boy Scouts of America councils in Los Angeles County, California. Since its founding in 1915, the Los Angeles Area Council has brought its purpose and values to millions of youth. The Council served 54,567 youth in the Greater Los Angeles Area in 2008 alone.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rayado, New Mexico</span> Place in New Mexico, United States

Rayado was the first permanent settlement in Colfax County, New Mexico, United States and an important stop on the Santa Fe Trail. The name Rayado derives from the Spanish term for "streaked", perhaps in reference to the lot lines marked out by Lucien Maxwell.

Rayado may refer to:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Theodore Roosevelt Council</span> Boy Scouts local council

The Theodore Roosevelt Council, 386 is a local council of the Boy Scouts of America. It is one of the nation's oldest, having been home to its namesake, the former US president, who was a founding member of BSA.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Utah National Parks Council</span>

The Utah National Parks Council (UNPC) is a former local council of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) that served youth in areas of Utah who live south of Salt Lake County and in some isolated areas of Nevada and Arizona. It was headquartered in Orem. As of December 31, 2013, UNPC was the largest of 272 local councils and is geographically within the Western Region of BSA. In 2011, the UNPC was recognized by the Utah Best of State Foundation as Utah's Best Humanitarian Organization. UNPC is a non-profit corporation governed by Scouting policies and a local community-based Executive Board. In April 2020, it combined with the former Great Salt Lake and Trapper Trails councils to create the new Crossroads of the West Council.

High Adventure Bases of the Boy Scouts of America are outdoor recreation facilities located in several locales in North America operated by the Boy Scouts of America at the organization's national level. Each facility offers wilderness programs and training that could include wilderness canoeing, wilderness backpacking trips, or sailing, and provide opportunities for Scouts to earn the 50-Miler Award. These bases are administered by the High Adventure Division of the National Council of the Boy Scouts of America.

Philmont Scout Ranch is located in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains of the Rocky Mountains of New Mexico. Philmont is about 12 miles (19 km) across at its widest point, and about 30 miles (48 km) long. The southern part of the ranch is mostly grasslands/prairie, while the north is rocky and rugged, but a small part of the eastern area is prairie.

Chase Ranch in Cimarron, New Mexico was founded in 1867 by Manly and Theresa Chase. As pioneers, from Wisconsin by way of Colorado, they crossed the Raton Pass in a covered wagon and establish a new home in New Mexico. Manly Chase purchased the land from Lucien Maxwell, part of the Maxwell Land Grant. The ranch is near the Ponil Creek, a mile north of the Cimarron River, not far from the Santa Fe Trail. The Ranch included the old Kit Carson homestead. Before the arrival of pioneers, the land was populated by Apaches and Ute people. Manly provided the local Native Americans with beef, creating peaceful coexistence.

References

  1. Edward H. Saxton (March 1978). "Saving the Desert Bighorns". Desert Magazine . 41 (3). Retrieved 2008-04-27.
  2. 1 2 Hook, James; Franck, Dave; Austin, Steve (1982). An Aid to Collecting Selected Council Shoulder Patches with Valuation.
  3. "Districts | Conquistador Council, BSA". Conquistador Council. Retrieved 2024-10-01.
  4. "Home | Wehinapay Mountain Camp". Wehinapay Mountain. Retrieved 2024-10-01.
  5. "Dowling Aquatic Base". Conquistador Council. Retrieved 2024-10-01.
  6. "Camp Jim Murray". Conquistador Council. Retrieved 2024-10-01.
  7. "Order of the Arrow". Conquistador Council. Retrieved 2024-10-01.
  8. Scouts BSA Camp Program, Great Southwest Council, 2009. Accessed 2009-02-24.
  9. Year-Round Use of Camp, Great Southwest Council, 2008. Accessed 2009-02-24.
  10. Map to Camp, Great Southwest Council, 2009. Accessed 2009-02-24.
  11. Mesa Verde District, Mesa Verde District of Great Southwest Council, 2009. Accessed 2010-01-30.
  12. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. July 9, 2010.