Scouts Return to Camp Josepho: Volunteers Begin Restoring Canyon After Palisades Fire

Eleven months after the Palisades fire and subsequent mudslides ravaged Camp Josepho, Scouts, parents and regional leaders returned to the 110-acre canyon to begin hands-on restoration and healing.

Restoration Day

About four dozen volunteers — including Eagle Scouts and members of the Order of the Arrow — gathered on a brisk Saturday to pull invasive plants from exposed soil, dig out a veterans memorial partially buried by silt and clear debris from trails and gathering areas. The work was modest but meaningful: practical stewardship of the land and an opportunity for the community to grieve and reconnect.

“It was just weird. It felt wrong,”

said Elliot Copen, 17, recalling the online videos of the damaged lodge; later on the restoration day he added, “We might not have the physical structure, but this is still that camp.”

Camp History

Camp Josepho, donated in the 1940s by Ganna and Anatol Josepho, is a long-standing refuge for Los Angeles Scouts. Its centerpiece was a hangar-like redwood lodge built by aircraft maker Donald Douglas, listed as a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument. For generations the site hosted Order of the Arrow inductions, service weekends, and countless camping trips.

Community Response

The Palisades fire destroyed the lodge, several cabins and the trading post; heavy rains weeks later pushed mud and debris into the canyon, burying parts of the camp under feet of silt. More than 100 Scouting families lost homes in the January fires, and many Scouts lost uniforms, awards and traditions — including Malibu’s Cub Scout Pack 224, which lost its pinewood derby track.

In response, the Western Los Angeles County Council replaced lost uniforms and awards, distributed gift cards for camping gear, organized respite trips (including a Catalina outing), and supported trauma counseling for affected families. Local Packs swapped resources — Culver City’s Pack 18 ran a pinewood derby workshop for Malibu Scouts and brought a new track to a neighborhood school.

Scouts also converted service projects into community aid: one Eagle project produced ash sifters donated to fire stations to help homeowners search rubble, while others assembled care packages for displaced families.

Looking Ahead

Lee Harrison, chief executive of the council, said leaders will likely avoid fully rebuilding the camp’s previous footprint. Given the increasing risk of wildfire, a smaller, more resilient layout will better protect Scouts and the landscape over the long term.

On site, signs of recovery were clear: native grasses and chaparral were resprouting, sycamores and elder oaks sent up new leaves from charred trunks, and the veterans memorial foundation that had been hidden by mud re-emerged into the sunlight. For many Scouts, the day was both a service project and an affirmation that Camp Josepho’s legacy — its friendships, traditions and formative experiences — will endure.

Why It Matters: The day combined ecological restoration with emotional recovery: youth leaders practiced stewardship, families received tangible support, and the council set a practical vision for a safer, more sustainable camp.