In October 2016, the Sam Houston Area Council Boy Scouts of America broke ground on its $65 million project to build a new Camp Strake in the Sam Houston National Forest.

Originally scheduled to open May 2019, unfavorable weather over the last two years has delayed construction and pushed the camp’s projected opening date to December 2019, SHAC Chief Operating Officer Thomas Franklin said.

“[Hurricane] Harvey obviously happened since our groundbreaking, and it’s been a record wet season this fall and winter, so it has delayed construction,” Franklin said.

Therefore, Tsuru Scout Camp’s summer resident program for scouts ages 11-17 and the Leadership Program at Camp Strake will not accept campers for this summer season but will begin registering campers in late spring or early summer for Tsuru Scout Camp’s December camp.

Currently, the SHAC is waiting on a permit from the Army Corps of Engineers to continue digging the camp’s 28-acre lake.

Camp Strake was formerly located at I-45 and South Loop 336 West in Conroe for decades, where Grand Central Park is now. Franklin said the SHAC began looking for a new location because urban development was booming there.

At its new site, Camp Strake will have a science, technology, engineering and math center, a shooting sports complex, zip lines, climbing and rappelling towers, lake- and pool-based aquatics programs and a 1,200-seat arena.

In 2019, Boy Scouts began welcoming girls into all of its programs. In December, Franklin said the council will welcome both boys and girls to experience the new Camp Strake.

“The former Camp Strake was one of the most-used camp properties in the country for scouts. …We have been kind of busting at the seams at our other properties trying to make up for it, and we haven’t been able to fully do that,” Franklin said. “So there’s no question that we have the demand to need this thing built.”