Less than a month after the Girl Scouts of Central Maryland’s board recommended selling Camp Ilchester, the Howard County Girl Scouts, their parents and environmental activists are working to stop the potential sale of the Ellicott City camp or at least keep it from being sold to a residential developer.

The board of directors for the umbrella organization, which must subsidize its camps, recommended selling the camp off Ilchester Road and using the money to re-envision Camp Woodlands in Annapolis. There are also Girl Scout camps in Pasadena in Anne Arundel County and Conowingo in Cecil County.

Since the March 30 announcement, Girl Scouts and their parents have been organizing to stop the potentialsale. Eileen Brewer, a Columbia resident and Girl Scout troop leader, and Frances Keenan, who started the Save Camp Ilchester effort through a Facebook group, helped organize an April 11 rally in Ellicott City attended by hundreds to build support.

“As much as our girls have lost, it doesn’t make sense to take more from them right now,” said Brewer, citing the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

The 19-acre Camp Ilchester is used for camping, program activities and meetings by the Girl Scouts. Other organizations use its spaces as well, including the YMCA, which hosts a summer camp there.

The Girl Scouts of Central Maryland’s board has scheduled an advisory, nonbinding vote on the potential sale for Thursday. If approved, the board will then hire a real estate broker to market the property and find a buyer.

Keenan, an Ellicott City resident who is the troop leader for her daughter’s second grade troop, said the group is working to stop the potential sale. But if that’s not possible, she said they want to ensure the camp is not sold to residential developers and goes instead to a conservation buyer so it still can be used for youth programming as it is now.

“If the Girl Scouts can’t keep this a green space, let’s find someone who will and make the Girl Scouts see that that’s a better path forward,” Keenan said. “It’s one thing to lose a camp because they can’t or won’t manage it; it’s another thing to see that property turned into houses especially if there is another buyer that’s interested in using that property. Were these summer camp options to go away, that affects a lot of families.”

Girl Scouts of Central Maryland said in a statement Tuesday that there currently is no buyer for the property and that it has not been listed for sale.

Alex Dunbar of Highland has been involved with Camp Ilchester since 2000. His daughter — who died in 2004 at age 15 — is the namesake of the Caitlin Dunbar Nature Center located inside the camp. He said he has watched countless girls fall in love with the outdoors through his involvement with Camp Ilchester.

“There’s a lot to Camp Ilchester,” Dunbar said. “It’s not just a piece of property; it’s a shame to see it go away.”

Howard County Council Chair Liz Walsh attended the April 11 rally and represents the district where the camp is located.

“It used to be a larger property and in the early 2000s it was carved up for development. What’s left is this [19]-acre parcel blocked in by the suburban development. [Camp Ilchester is] an oasis in the middle,” Walsh said. “It’s important to prioritize and preserve the wooden land that is there; otherwise it just becomes a sea of cul-de-sacs.”

Walsh wants the county to use part of its $121 million fund balance to purchase the land. The fund balance can only be spent on one-time uses.

“If we don’t buy it now, it will go to a developer,” Walsh said.

On Monday, County Executive Calvin Ball released his $1.88 billion operating budget, in which he allocated $59.1 million of the fund balance to one-time uses. Walsh is suggesting the County Council ask Ball’s administration to use those one-time funds to buy the camp.

Ball declined to say whether he supported efforts to promote a possible conservation sale or what the county’s involvement was.

“We are closely monitoring the Camp Ilchester property and the Girl Scouts of Central Maryland as their board of directors evaluates a potential sale,” he said in a statement. “We understand that [Girl Scouts of Central Maryland] has yet to decide on whether they plan to sell the property.”