Camp Tuscazoar overflowing with scouts for Dover Dam Days

Camp Tuscazoar hosted 27 Boy Scout troops for the camp's annual Dover Dam Days weekend, April 30 through May 2.

Rick Kessler came with his troop from St. Joan of Arc Parish in Canton, "so my boys could earn a merit badge in soil and water conservation." He added, "We really wanted to go inside the Dover Dam. I didn't know you could inside until now."

Brandon Stebbins, 14, is a member of the Canton troop. He explained, "This is our first time going in the dam, (but) we've been to dam before." Stebbins has been to Camp Tuscazoar three times before. "I like being down here at Tuscazoar," he shared.

The dam is located in between Camp Tuscazoar property and SR 800.

Stebbins was looking forward to learning more about the Earth and how to preserve its natural resources during the weekend.

Ivan Redinger, of Canton, is a committee member with Troop 912, of Massillon, and helped plan the Dover Dam Days weekend. He explained what was involved in the planning process.

"You first pick a merit badge that you think you can accomplish in one day and would be interesting to the Scouts," he shared. "You want to try to round up professionals who can deliver the merit badge requirements at the highest level of knowledge."

Those who helped the Scouts meet the badge requirements included staff from the Tuscarawas Soil and Water Conservation District and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which oversees the dam.

Redinger added that a different merit badge is selected for Dover Dam Days every year.

"As Scouts," he said, "it's one of our chief missions to respect the environment and do what we can to make sure its here for our children and our children's children."

He specified, "soil and water conservation really touches on a lot of important green issues."

Redinger hoped that the Scouts would learn additional eco-friendly practices to conserve natural resources. "We also hope they have some fun in the process," he added.

The Dover Dam Days weekend has been held for approximately 20 years. Previous merit badges offered during the weekend have included law, auto mechanics, American heritage and forestry.

Stan Rosenblatt, park ranger at the dam, taught the Scouts about some differences between dams in the area. Rosenblatt is a ranger at multiple dams and has been a ranger at Dover Dam for 18 years.

"Dover Dam, being a concrete dam, is what they call a dry dam," he said. Rosenblatt explained to the Scouts that the Dover Dam has the Tuscarawas River running through it, but does not have a constant body of water on one side, such at the Atwood Dam at Atwood Lake.

The Atwood and Bolivar dams are examples of dams in the area that are not concrete dams. These two dams are clay-core center dams, the ranger explained. This means that they are constructed of clay, which is resistant to water. The dams are reinforced by the earthen materials around them.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers evaluates what material a dam should built out of based on the waterways in that particular area, Rosenblatt said.

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers staff guided the Scouts through the inside of Dover Dam where they could see the mechanics of how each one of 18 dam gates worked.

Dave Callahan, who was volunteering his time to help with the dam tours, said, "I hope they learn a little bit of the history, the construction of the dam and what the future plans are for the dam."

He commented that with a few minor updates, the engineering designs of the original construction in 1938 are still incredibly effective today.

Michael Fleming, 15, is part of Troop 912 of Massillon liked the tour. "I thought it was pretty cool," he said. "I learned a lot."