Committee backs transfer of Clear Creek Camp to FFA

The Assembly Natural Resources, Agriculture and Mining Committee has voted to support legislation to turn Clear Creek Camp over to the FFA.

Committee Chairman Tom Collins, D-Las Vegas, said AB371 directs the state Lands Division to deed the camp on Clear Creek Road just south of the Spooner Summit Highway to the youth leadership organization in perpetuity provided it still be used to provide an educational and camp facility for nonprofit and youth groups.

Clear Creek is a former federal camp, which was turned over to the state 20 years ago. The state has seldom had enough money to maintain the camp, and the buildings and infrastructure at the 120-acre site have fallen into disrepair.

Because of budget cuts, Buildings and Grounds Administrator Mike Meizel said, the state can't continue to maintain the property. So his office and the state budget office began negotiations with FFA, which expressed interest in taking over.

Collins said without specific legislation, the state can't sign a long enough lease with FFA to attract donors who will help pay for the needed repairs. AB371, he said, fixes the problem.

"We're basically giving it to the FFA Foundation," said Collins. "But if they ever stop using the facility, the land reverts to the state."

He said it would be restored and repaired as a facility for the FFA's leadership programs, for camps and training programs, church, civic and youth groups.

"The FFA will get it in much better shape than the state has kept it," Collins said.

Turning the Clear Creek camp over to FFA will save the state an estimated $250,000 a year.

The camp has been closed for some time, forcing some groups including the Fraternal Order of Eagles to find another place to hold its summer camps for speech and hearing impaired youths.

AB371 was referred to the Assembly Ways and Means Committee, which will review what, if any, fiscal effect the bill would have.