Camp Pico Blanco

Camp Pico Blanco
Pico Blanco Scout Reservation patch from the 1960s
Owner	Silicon Valley Monterey Bay Council
Headquarters	San Jose, California
Location	Big Sur, California
Country	United States
Coordinates	36°19′56″N 121°47′51″W / 36.3323°N 121.7976°W / 36.3323; -121.7976Coordinates: 36°19′56″N 121°47′51″W / 36.3323°N 121.7976°W / 36.3323; -121.7976
Founded	1954
Website Camp Pico Blanco

Camp Pico Blanco is a Boy Scout camp of about 800 acres (320 ha) (originally 1,445 acres (585 ha)) on the coast of Central California. It is operated by the Silicon Valley Monterey Bay Council, a new council formed as a result of a merger between the former Santa Clara County Council and the Monterey Bay Area Council in December 2012. The camp is surrounded by the Los Padres National Forest and the Ventana Wilderness and is located astride the pristine Little Sur River. The land was donated to the Boy Scouts by William Randolph Hearst in 1948 and the camp was opened in 1955.

The camp vicinity is an ecologically diverse and sensitive environment containing a number of unique animal and plant species. It is located at 800 feet (240 m) elevation on the North Fork of the Little Sur River south of Carmel, California. Historically, the camp area was visited regularly by the Esselen American Indians, whose food sources included acorns gathered from the Black Oak, Canyon Live Oak and Tanbark Oak in the vicinity of the camp. The camp has been repeatedly threatened by fire, including the Marble Cone Fire of 1977, the Basin Complex fire in 2008, and the 2016 Soberanes Fire, which were successfully kept at bay by fire fighters. The three fires burned entirely around the camp. In 2008 and in 2016 the camp was evacuated as a precautionary measure due to the fires.

Prior council leadership struggled to adhere to government regulations affecting rare and endangered species. In 2002 the camp was impacted by a change in state regulations governing seasonal dams on California rivers that affected the council's dam on the Little Sur River. The dam limited the ability of steelhead that frequent the river to swim upstream. An inspector found fault with how the council filled the dam and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration threatened to fine them up to $396,000. The council responded by installing a $1 million fish ladder and other modifications that satisfied the regulators and allowed the council to continue to use the dam in following years. Expenses related to the fish ladder and the new Hayward Lodge dining hall significantly contributed to the Monterey Bay Area Council's debt, leading to the dissolution of the council and its merger with the Santa Clara Council in December 2012.