Sturtevant Camp lodge building is filled with fascinating photos and memorabilia dating back more than a century.
The Friends of the San Gabriels is pleased to announce that they have completed the purchase of historic Sturtevant Camp and the US Forest Service permit is pending two administrative items.
Here is a summary of the transaction and go-forward plans provided by the Friends:
We successfully raised $75,000 which allowed for the purchase and requirement of two years of operating capital. Unfortunately, that does not include any contingency for repairs, maintenance, improvements, or an on-going drought. All of you were very generous with your donations and I do not want ask you for more. We need to determine how to reach out to potential donors outside of this circle and I am looking to you to provide suggestions. The one suggestion that we have had repeatedly is crowd-funding. I have researched just about every funding site and have determined that at this point in our fundraising we are beyond the feasibility of using those services. In essence what these sites do is provide a means to reach out to family, friends, and beyond regarding a project. That is what we did through our website and email. We only incurred a little over 3% fees whereas the best fee structure I found was a little over 7%. What I believe we need are larger benefactors and/or corporate sponsors. Does anyone have any idea how to go about this? This is completely outside of my knowledge base.
For those of you who donated and were identified, I will start working on getting out your receipts as we will no longer need to worry about returning the funds due to the sale not going through.
We have determined that it would be best to move the Camp out from under the Friends of the San Gabriels as there has been some concern expressed that there may be a conflict between Adams’ Pack Station (Burcon Outfitters, Inc.) and FSG. Also, we (Sue Burgess and Deb Burgess) foresee a time when we will need to step back from the project and the Camp needs to continue under good stewardship. Therefore, we are in the process of incorporating a new non-profit called the Sturtevant Conservancy. Initially, the Board of Directors will consist of Sue and Deb. However, in a short period we will want to expand the BoD. Unfortunately, due to some recent events we are going to be very careful who will be placed in this decision-making role.
Work… Work… Work…. Yep, we still have a lot of work to do at the Camp. Some urgent projects include: re-pipe the sewage drainage from the manager’s cabin. The toilet is current not functioning. The potable tank and the poly tank (the two water tanks we have) need to be plumbed together to allow for alternating which tank is drawn from. This is primarily to resolve an issue with chlorinating that continues to be re-filled by the ground water. It will also allow up to access both tanks to get us through June. Who out there is a plumber or is very familiar with plumbing who can help with this? Next, the micro-hydro pond needs to be dug out. We are having very little water flow already as the ground water is starting to sink under the surface. The raking needs to be completed.
Hosts: The current boot squad has done a fantastic job putting together check lists and laminated instructions for hosts. We will be expanding upon this and providing training sessions. We are targeting late June for this as the Camp will most likely have insufficient water to have guests. As a host you will be asked to learn things like running the generator, how to provide an orientation to guests, how the propane system and water system works, and we will be planning to have a wilderness first aid class so that everyone is certified in CPR and first aid. Let me know if you are interested.
Deb Burgess Cell: 310.488.7608 Pack Station: 626.447.7356 dburgess@burcon-group.com