Boy Scout Loggers

What comes to mind when thinking about the Boy Scouts of America? The images might include campfires, canoeing, merit badges, and logging -- wait, logging? That's right. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, over the last couple of decades, Boy Scout groups have clear-cut tens of thousands of acres of forest that they own.

Why would a seemingly pro-environment group resort to logging their own pristine lands? "In public, they say they want to teach kids about saving the environment," said Jane Childers, a scouting volunteer from Washington state. "But in reality, it's all about the money." 

So why are the Scouts so strapped for cash? According to one Scout chapter board director, "the Boy Scouts had to suffer the consequences for sticking by their moral values." For those who don't know, the values he's referring to are the organization's staunch anti-gay and anti-atheist policies. But that's all fine with the Supreme Court. In 2000 they ruled that the Scouts' policy of barring gay troop leaders was legal.

-- Michael Fox