With Deer Lake For Sale, Politicians, Activists Rally To Save It

KILLINGWORTH, CT — Last fall, the Connecticut Yankee Council Boy Scouts of America announced its plans to sell Deer Lake Scout Reservation — and on Thursday, politicians and activists rallied to save it.

"The precious and pristine treasure that is Deer Lake ... must be preserved," Sen. Richard Blumenthal said at a rally at the camp on Thursday, Hearst Connecticut Media reported.

In September 2021, WSHU Radio and other news outlets reported that the Boy Scouts were selling the camp to help pay for a proposed $850 million sexual abuse settlement. (In 2012, the camp was named in a lawsuit as a site where abuse took place.)

Ahead of a meeting next month where the Scouts' Connecticut Yankee Council will consider bids for the camp, Blumenthal said he would ask for $2-3 million from the Land and Water Conservation Fund, Hearst reported.

The site is home to the Day Camp Adventure at Deer Lake, a summer camp for children entering kindergarten-eighth grade.

Officials announced earlier this month that the camp would be held again this summer, the Shoreline Times reported, though it's unclear whether this summer will be its last.