Welcome to the Ma-Ka-Ja-Wan Scout Reservation Master Plan website!
The Ma-Ka-Ja-Wan Master Plan is ready for your review! Click here to download your version!
The State of Ma-Ka-Ja-Wan Scout Reservation is ready for your review! CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE DOCUMENT.
This report encapsulates the team’s understanding, thoughts, and observations as well as an assessment of the camp’s facilities, unique site attributes and environment, and programs. This summary also denotes current obstacles and constraints and begins to identify potential opportunities for future improvement to share and confirm with NEIC leadership. This report will serve as the basis for the planning team to move into developing preliminary Master Plan concepts and strategies in the second phase of the process, Envision.
A more comprehensive version of the camp assessment is also available for your review! CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE DOCUMENT.
Ma-Ka-Ja-Wan Scout Reservation (MSR) is a special place. For over nine decades, Scouts from the Northeast Illinois Council of the Boy Scouts (NEIC), along with other local councils, have been making the yearly journey to the Northwoods of Wisconsin to experience its magic and form everlasting memories at summer camp. Thousands of Scouts have hiked the paths, earned merit badges, eaten in the dining hall, lived amongst nature, and learned countless life skills on this 1500-acre property. Change occurred to MSR last summer in the form of a devasting windstorm, leaving many parts of the reservation in ruins.
The Storm of 2019 may have altered the landscape of this unique place, but in the spirit and resiliency inherent in the Boy Scouts cannot be changed…NEIC has not hesitated to initiate “Rebuilding Ma-Ka-Ja-Wan.” With the first phase, Remediate, completed and the second phase, Recover, underway, it is time for phase three, Renewal, to kick off. The Lakota Group Team is assisting MSR 100 Task Force in leading this process and ultimately creating an exciting, but realistic, vision to guide MSR well into the future.
The project aims to assess the camp’s built environment and spatial relationships, program experience, land use, circulation, service areas, parking, while addressing emerging interests among target age groups. The result of this planning process will include recommendations for improvements, prioritized action steps, and a potential implementation timeline.
Project Phase 1: Engage & Analyze
This phase will focus on defining camp Ma-Ka-Ja-Wan’s needs related to the site’s recovery and future, as well as developing a baseline of information for analysis and decision-making. Phase 1 will also involve a wide range of stakeholder representatives in determining the camp’s strengths, opportunities, aspirations, and desired results. During this phase, an online survey and a community open house will be conducted by the planning team, in collaboration with the Northeast Illinois Council, to gather ideas, thoughts, and visions. This phase will culminate with the delivery of a State of the Camp Report incorporating a review and assessment of current programs, establishment of a camp vision statement, and recommended key goals.
Project Phase 2: Envision – We are here!
Phase 2 will focus on taking the results of the State of the Camp process and recommended goals first with the Task Force and then to the community at large to create preliminary strategies and preliminary cost estimates. This phase will involve the Task Force and the community at large for additional reflection and fine-tuning
Project Phase 3: Implement
During this phase, the planning team will develop a preferred program and design alternative and craft the final Ma-Ka-Ja-Wan Master Plan.
