Since its founding in 1910, more than 130 million youth have participated in scouting with The Boy Scouts of America. Today it remains one of the largest youth organizations in the U.S., with more than 2 million members and nearly 900,000 adult volunteers. 

But the Boy Scouts of America find themselves in financial straits. After mounting lawsuits alleging sexual abuse, the BSA filed for bankruptcy in February of 2020. More than 82,000 survivors of alleged abuse have filed claims against The Boy Scouts. In order to fund whatever claims are ruled payable, the BSA has proposed to federal judges the creation of a $2.7 billion dollar trust to compensate the claimants.  In order to create the fund, the BSA has called on local Boy Scout chapters to make contributions to the national organization.  If the plan goes through, no further claims of past sexual abuse can be brought against the Boy Scouts of America or its chapters. 

One of the Boy Scouts largest assets is land. In order to pay their contributions, local Boy Scout chapters have been selling their land, or announcing intentions to do so across the country. Much of this land is preserved, pristine land, and is a hot commodity for the interests of both developers and conservationists.

We explore what is being described as "The Great Boy Scout Land Sell-Off" and the legal and ethical questions of how, and to who, the land is being sold.

We first hear from Molly Osberg, freelance writer and reporter and author of the recent Curbed piece "The Great Boy Scout Land Sell-Off."

Then we hear from Keith Ainsworth, an environmental lawyer based in New Haven, Connecticut, and Tim Kosnoff, an attorney representing victims of sexual abuse from the Boy Scouts.