Our club was joined by Scott Suchan, who is a commercial banker with Coastal Community Bank, but Scott is also the Senior Vice President of Development for the Mount Baker Council BSA. Scott is a long-time member of the Scouts, having joined in the second grade. Scott joined the Council Board in 1989, and he continues his service with his work at the Fire Mountain Camp.

 

Scott has stayed connected with the Scouts BSA because this organization is the slow fix to our societal issues. Scouts BSA teaches our youth (now both boys and girls) about character, leadership, grit and so much more; all of those characteristics are essential in restoring the strength of this Country. The kids who join Scouts and stay in for at least a few years have an impact of a lifetime and they take their skills with them for the rest of their lives.

 

To get young scouts engaged as quickly as possible, Scouting looks to the use of summer camps to provide a safe and fun learning environment. One of the premier locations for summer camp has become Fire Mountain Scout Camp (FMSC), which is located just outside of Mount Vernon and sits in a foothill to the North Cascades. FMSC was purchased in 1971 with the first summer camp starting in 1972.

 

Over the history of Fire Mountain Scout Camp, the camp has seen many renovations. The Rotary Club of Arlington has been a longtime supporter of the FMSC and has completed many service projects at the Camp. Most recently, the FMSC has been under a 15-year renovation, with many of the projects being sponsored by our club.

 

One our club's first projects at the camp was building shelters at an outlying campsite in the mid 1980's. In 2012 the War Eagle Campsite was constructed, which is the largest campsite at FMSC and it lodges four patrols.

In 2013, the rifle range shelters, which are used to teach age-appropriate Scouts the basics of firearm safety, was reconstructed. Then, in 2014, one of the most exciting additions to the FMSC was constructed, which is the zipline that stands 65 feet in the air and runs across Lake Challenge to Bjorn’s Island. Apart of that project included the cutting of a path and the placement of gravel to preserve the path to the zipline, which was aided by our Rotarians.

 

Additional projects at FMSC have included updating the swim beach at the north end of the lake (2015), adding a rope swing to the lake (2016), renovating and adding swim beach changing facilities (2016), repairing and replacing the dinning hall deck (2017), adding new staff cabins and shower houses, two of which were funded by Rotary and our members helped build the other structures (2018-2022), adding a boat house, creating a new parking lot, adding a gate for security, updating the water system, and so much more.

 

One of the aspects that makes the improvements so special is the fact that the Council leadership, including Scott, have made sure that these improvements will last. They use metal roofing and concrete foundations, which will last for decades. Plus, they have a special account just for the short-term and long-term maintenance of all the new facilities. In other words, this will be a destination camp for all of the Boy Scout troops in America.

 

It was announced that our Club will be completing additional service projects at Fire Mountain Scout Camp in the near future. Look out for more information to come.

 

We thank Scott for his commitment and work he has done for the Scouts BSA and for being a friend and partner with the Rotary Club of Arlington.

 

Editor's Note:  There are several photo albums of work we have done at the camp and some of the older albums have again been added to the links on this site