Broad Creek Memorial Scout Reservation

The Baltimore Area Council acquired the first 45 acres of this camp on April 17, 1946 from W. David Terrell. It is now the fifth largest block of undeveloped land in the traditional Baltimore metropolitan area (after Aberdeen/Edgewater, Patuxent Wildlife Refuge, and parts of Gunpowder and Patapsco State Parks). The reservation's centerpiece, Lake Straus, was formed in 1948 as when Susquehanna River tributary Broad Creek was dammed. Later Saffran, Spencer, and Oest (then called Areas I, II, and III) each built piers on the lake. In 1948 lodges and maintenance and administration buildings were added in Area I (Saffran). Canoe trips for older Boy Scouts were held as early as May 1954. In 1966 the Seabees completed a bridge across the Lake Straus dam. In June 1972 Hurricane Agnes overflowed the dam by . Camp Spencer was closed for summer camp use after 2012. Spencer reopened in 2015 as a specialty resident STEM camp. That program moved to Camp Saffran just before the summer of 2017. In 2016 and 2017 Camp Spencer hosted a resident camp for the youngest youth called Cub Camp at Broad Creek. A total of 1624 acres of the reservation's 1676 acres have been permanently protected under a combination county, state, and federal conservation easements. Hemlocks The easternmost substantial hemlock forest in Maryland, home to the smokey shrew, is a old-growth hemlock forest with trees measured (by tree ring cores) up to 325 years old, located on both The Hemlocks area of the reservation and Conowingo Dam property. In 2005 area volunteers worked with state officials to study and reduce the destruction caused by an invasive species, the hemlock woolly adelgid. Since May 15-16, 2005, when the first 218 trees were treated, area youth volunteers have recorded data and marked trees while trained adult volunteers have injected imidacloprid into soil at the base of over 2000 hemlock trees. Trees closer to streams and wetlands have received trunk imidacloprid injections from Maryland Department of Agriculture staff. As a biocontrol remedy the Forest Service released over 2,300 Laricobius beetles into the forest. In 2013 the Forest Service reported that the "Laricobius beetles are spreading, the hemlock woolly adelgid is less prevalent, and the condition of the hemlock forest has noticeably improved." Camp Cone The southwest part of the reservation is named after the Baltimore Area Council's former Camp Cone where summer camp was held from 1945-47 and which was located near Glen Arm, Maryland. It is now part of Gunpowder Falls State Park. Land patent In 1632 Charles I of England granted Cecil Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore the land that is now Maryland in a charter. That charter land was divided by land patents. By the 19th century almost all land in Maryland had been so divided. In 2012 land surveyor Frank S. Richardson confirmed what had appeared on reservation surveys as "vacant land" since the 1940s that used by the reservation for a universal access site and other campsites was apparently not a part of any existing patent or subsequent land acquisition. The Baltimore Area Council applied for a land patent to resolve the issue. On June 20, 2012 Governor Martin O'Malley signed a land patent granting the acreage to the Baltimore Area Council. == Camp Saffran ==