Former Boy Scout camp preserved in Salem County

The South Jersey Land and Water Trust (SJLWT) is delighted to report that it has purchased a 39-acre wooded property with house and barn that sits on Oldmans Creek The owners, Charles and Doris MacKannan, sold the property in the Auburn section of Oldmans Township, Salem County, to SJLWT but will remain in the residence as Caretakers of the house and grounds. This outstanding acquisition is the site of the former Boy Scout Camp Kimble, that many older residents recall attending.

There is 3,000 feet of stream frontage along the Oldmans Creek, and a boat landing and dock on the Main Street property in Auburn. It also includes nature and hiking trails, a circa 1790 homestead, an historic log cabin, and a large post-and-beam barn dating from the 1800s.

The land is covered by an old-growth deciduous forest with specimen trees of beech, oak, white pine, and a variety of other endemic upland and wetland flora. This provides valuable habitat for significant migratory songbird populations. The forest supports a healthy level of native fauna along with a recent cougar sighting!

From 1913 to 1938, the property was used as a summer residence for the Andrew Selack family. In 1938, it was purchased by the Boy Scouts of America, which constructed the log cabin and established Camp Kimble there.

In 1967, the MacKannans bought the property from the Boy Scouts and ran the renamed Auburn Hills Campground as a family enterprise until 1982. For the past 27 years, the campground has not been used, although the MacKannans continued to live in the main house. As Doris MacKannan said, “This has long been a dream of ours – to see this property preserved forever.”

The property was purchased by SJLWT with a $250,000 grant through the state Green Acres program and a $200,000 natural resource damage settlement facilitated by Conservation Resources Inc. of Chester. The New Jersey Conservation Foundation contributed substantial staff time and preservation expertise to the project.

Located within the large farming region of the Delaware Bay Watershed, the property is in close proximity to preserved farmland as well as prime agricultural lands ripe for preservation, but threatened by the wave of development that was crossing the region and which will continue in the near future. SJLWT hopes its acquisition will encourage the preservation of contiguous properties along the creek and in the surrounding area.

"The South Jersey Land and Water Trust is very grateful to the MacKannans for their dedication to preserving their land, and to all of our partners who have worked with us to make this effort a success," said Christine Nolan, SJLWT Director. "This forest is a true treasure of the Oldmans Creek watershed."

[This would be a good place for a “Help Save More Sites like the MacKannan-Camp Kimble property: VOTE YES ON RESOLUTION #1 IN NOVEMBER. This will refinance the Garden State Preservation Trust (GSPT) for the next two years. GSPT provides the money for Green Acres, Farmland Preservation, Historic Preservation, and active Recreation fields. Without passage of Resolution #1, there will be no state funding for land preservation!]