Boy Scouts work with state foresters to reforest popular ranch destroyed by wildfire

The Boy Scouts are joining forces with Texas A&M Forest Service to reforest the Griffith League Scout Ranch with roughly 300,000 drought-hardy, loblolly pine seedlings over the next two years. The seedlings — 50,000 to be planted this year and 250,000 more next year — are being provided by the state forestry agency.

Nearly half of the 5,000-acre ranch was destroyed by the Bastrop County Complex, a monstrous wildfire that charred 32,400 acres, destroyed 1,660 homes and nearly consumed the Lost Pines Forest in Central Texas.

“When you take a look at the community as a whole, the Boy Scout Ranch has been there for a long time. It’s a part of the community. Generations of families have had children go through there,” Texas A&M Forest Service Central Texas Operations Department Head Jim Rooni said, noting that the ranch was the second-largest tract destroyed by the Bastrop wildfire.