CLEARFIELD – On Tuesday, the Clearfield County Commissioners authorized Solicitor Kim Kesner to draft a letter to the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Bureau of Forestry, to request the transfer of Camp Wopsononock to the DCNR.
Prior to the board’s approval, Commissioner Mark B. McCracken said he’d been engaged in discussions about Camp Wopsononock with DCNR representatives over the past several months. He said Camp Wopsononock has been under the responsibility of the Clearfield County Recreation & Tourism Authority.
He said for a number of years, Terry Malloy, who previously served on the CCRTA board, took on the responsibilities so far as overseeing Camp Wopsononock. However, he said with Malloy no longer on the CCRTA board, there’s been some confusion regarding those responsibilities.
Additionally, McCracken said there has been work on a pump station expansion project at Camp Wopsononock. He said the county has become almost like a “middleman” in discussions between the municipal authority and the DCNR.
As a result, he said he started to engage in discussions with the DCNR about how it would really benefit everyone involved if the DCNR assumed the maintenance and public use requirements of Camp Wopsononock.
According to McCracken, the DCNR has followed up by expressing written interest in potentially accepting the transfer of Camp Wopsononock. He said the DCNR would be interested pending conditions, such as the property having a clean title, a legal transfer without any compensation to Clearfield County, the county providing any copies of existing leases and agreements for Camp Wopsononock that haven’t already been approved, etc.
McCracken said the commissioners would have Kesner look into these matters and draft a letter to request the transfer of Camp Wopsononock to the DCNR.
There was one question, McCracken said, regarding the boy scouts’ use of Camp Wopsononock. However, both he and the DCNR were confident that issue could be resolved.
“It would really resolve the issues and move things forward. It would be a win for the DCNR, the county and the CCRTA,” he said.
If DCNR assumes responsibilities of Camp Wopsononock, McCracken said it would become a part of the Moshannon State Forest.
