Girl Scouts forest for sale in Maryland sparks protest in its ranks

Nethra, of Herndon, decided to start a petition urging Girl Scouts Nation’s Capital (GSNC) to instead sell to a group dedicated to conservation. Soon, three fellow members of troop 153 in Fairfax County, decided to help too. They knew the big climate group, the Sierra Club, had launched its own petition, but they thought that just maybe the adults weighing this sale would listen to the girls in their ranks.

The girls’ online appeal, which Nethra said launched in November 2022, has since garnered more than 1,200 signatures. Two months later, Nethra and her friends met with the then-Girl Scouts Nation’s Capital CEO and have continued to advocate that this land be conserved, rather than sold for development. Through the process, the girls said they have learned how to make their voices heard, stand up for what they believe in and hold those in power accountable to their purported values.

“Girl Scouts has a tree pledge and all these nature, environmentally-friendly things. And by selling this forest to developers, they’re kind of going back on all those policies,” Nethra said. “If they’re teaching us all these skills our whole lives, we feel like they should be following them too.”

Potential for 1,178 residential lots

The area at stake is more than 600 acres of forest in East Marlton, about 20 miles southeast of D.C. Maryland property records indicate the Lake Marlton Limited Partnership, the land’s previous developer, donated the forest in 2019 to GSNC, which serves more than 47,000 Girl Scouts in D.C., Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia, and has eight camps in the region.

An offering memo prepared by a real estate company shows that this property was being marketed as land with the potential for 1,178 residential lots in “a premier and wholly unique site ripe for new development with easy access to Route 301, Route 4, Andrews Airforce Base, and numerous other thoroughfares and public transportation options.” Upon accepting the donation, GSNC hoped to sell the property to support its operations, including “robust” outdoor programming and the council’s existing camps, GSNC spokesperson Gabriela Alvarado said in an email to The Washington Post.

It is not clear what impact the girls’ petition has had on the negotiations, but more than a year since the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission (M-NCPPC) — which oversees the parks departments in Montgomery and Prince George’s counties — voiced an interest to buy and conserve the land, negotiations are moving forward, said Dominic Quattrocchi, the commission’s land management and environmental stewardship supervisor who spoke to The Post in his individual capacity and not on behalf of the commission.

The Prince George’s County staff in the commission’s parks and recreation department said in a statement that to “reserve its negotiating power” it would not “comment on specific properties that it may or may not be considering for acquisition.”

“Large unfragmented properties are critical in maintaining the health of the Chesapeake Bay and perpetual protection of such large woods are perhaps the most direct way to combat climate change, ensure healthy air, and water quality,” the statement reads.

When asked about the petition and the sale of the Marlton property, GSNC acting CEO Colleen K. Cibula cited “confidentiality constraints” and did not elaborate on the group’s plans for the forest.

“There are many competing interests to consider as we plan the disposition of the Marlton property,” Cibula said in a statement. “While the board … continues to explore all options, you can be assured that we are most definitely trying to do the right thing for Girl Scouts and our Council, while adhering to Girl Scout principles of leaving the world a better place.”

Some of the girls behind the petition have been Girl Scouts since they were 5 years old. They have become friends through camping, hiking and kayaking trips, including one near the Marlton forest.

Miraya Bhonde, 13, of Herndon, hopes their petition and advocacy not only influences the GSNC’s decision about this land, but also inspires other kids to make a change in their communities. Rishima Singh, 13 of Fairfax, said this was her first time protesting — and she hopes to continue.

The girls said they often think about their future on this planet and worry how climate change is destroying it.

Nethra, who helped start a climate advocacy group at her middle school, cited the “30 by 30” agreement reached last year at a U.N. biodiversity summit, calling on nations to conserve for wildlife at least 30 percent of land, inland waterways, and coastal and ocean areas by 2030. The possible sale of this forest to M-NCPPC, she said, presents an opportunity to follow that guidance.

M-NCPPC was hoping to purchase and preserve the land, while possibly providing natural surface walking trails for visitors, Quattrocchi said. The forest is entirely within the Patuxent watershed, a critical area for drinking water, with mature trees and animals and plants such as marbled salamanders and putty root orchids, he said.

The park commission requested to meet with GSNC to discuss potentially purchasing the property for more than $11 million in 2022 and believed the deal would be a “win-win scenario” in terms of providing GSNC with funds and conserving valuable land, according to a May 2022 letter of interest the commission sent to GSNC.

“Just kind of the sheer size and the fact that this intact forest is still there, is just a windfall of an opportunity for resource conservation,” Quattrocchi said. “We’re acting in good faith, you know, kind of a handshake agreement at this point. But yeah, I’m reasonably optimistic.”

The girls hope that GSNC will sell the land to the park commission over developers. Meanwhile, they want more people to sign their petition to hold GSNC to their principles.

“A lot of people, their focus isn’t on doing the right thing. It’s doing the easier thing. And so I just say, like forest destruction or saving a forest starts one organization, or one forest at a time,” said Sienna McIntyre, 13 of Herndon. “They’ve always told us like, ‘leave this spot better than you found it.’ And developing it for like a bayside residence, or whatever, is not exactly leaving it better than you found it.”