Selling a New Mexico Girl Scout Camp
It was discovered in September of 2025 that Girl Scouts of New Mexico Trails has been exploring the possibility of selling one of it’s two camp properties: Rancho del Chaparral which is located in the Jemez Mountains between Cuba and Los Alamos, and Camp Elliot Barker which is located in the Angel Fire Ski Valley. Each of these properties has been with Girl Scouts of New Mexico Trails for many years, and most of us have grown up attending one- or both!- of these camps. Rancho’s history can be found here, and Barker’s history will eventually be made available on this website as well. Currently, it’s under construction.
When it was discovered that the leadership of Girl Scouts of New Mexico Trails has been exploring the possibility of selling one of these beloved properties, our Girl Scout community was absolutely devastated, but before the dust even began to settle, we knew we had to do something to preserve our beloved camps. Our first action was to protest the sale of either camp during the Board Meeting on October 18th. While these meetings are typically closed, we chose to protest in the parking lot of our local Council office at the scheduled time. The members of the Board caught wind of the protest we staged and chose to change the venue of the meeting without notice. Unfortunately, we were unsuccessful at speaking to any member of the Board that day.
What did come about was a set of hastily scheduled town hall meetings throughout the state concerning the sale of an as-yet-to-be-determined camp, and over the past several weeks we have attended all scheduled town hall meetings. The general consensus from each meeting is that the membership of Girl Scouts of New Mexico Trails does not support the sale of either camp, and that everyone believes other alternatives should be explored first. We have also met directly with Service Unit Delegates to Girl Scouts of New Mexico Trails’ Annual Meeting to discuss the ongoing issues and hear volunteer feedback.
During the Annual Meeting on November 15th, 2025, the reason given for exploring the possibility of selling a camp property was two-fold: Girl Scouts of New Mexico Trails as a Council is running on a deficit budget, and the financial investment to bring each property up to date is massive. We were presented with two potential plans to fix these problems: sell one camp and fix the problems immediately, or extend the issues well into the future by slowly making up the differences. While this is a very simplified summary of the presentation, no other efforts to address the issue of a budget deficit were presented. During the Open Mic portion of the meeting- where delegates are allowed to address the Board- many important questions were raised by participants. In response to these concerns and the continued need for clarity, a Special Meeting has been scheduled for January 24th, 2026. We encourage all delegates and members to attend and stay engaged as updates continue to unfold.