Editor’s note: Following are the remarks given by a Fayette County commissioner Tuesday during the announcement that The Summit: Bechtel Family National Scout Reserve is locating in Fayette County, bringing its National Jamboree and a high adventure base.

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As a county commissioner, and speaking today on behalf of the elected officeholders and citizens of Fayette County, I want to express our gratitude that the National Scouting Center, including the high adventure center and the National Jamboree, will be in the New River Gorge Region of Wild and Wonderful West Virginia.

We want to express our appreciation to all who made it possible: Congressman Rahall; Gov. Manchin and Commerce Secretary Kelly Goes; members of the task force.

Words fail me in trying to acknowledge the generosity of Steve Bechtel. I am unable to properly express suitable appreciation to Mr. Bechtel for his financial commitment to this project and what this project will mean to our greatest asset — the youth of this country — the future of our nation.

Without a doubt the competition was rigorous. Clearly there were many attractive and suitable sites submitted to the Boy Scouts for consideration. However, the choice of Fayette County was not by accident.

So today, we also must pause to thank an earlier generation of progressive, forward-thinking citizens and elected officials who made this day possible. Their vision defined our future. Like good scouts, they, too, knew the motto “Be Prepared”

Having witnessed the dramatic job losses in the coalfields, these are the leaders who in the 1960s and ’70s had the foresight and wisdom to know that the future of our county must rely on a different use of our natural resources and that they must take measures to protect those natural resources, which today have given us a sustainable and competitive advantage.

Public officials and private citizens, they preserved that which was most worth preserving — the “God-given” beauty of Fayette County.

Elected leaders like Jim Lively, Dr. C.W. Stallard and Orville Kessler serving as the county commission in 1963 had the political courage and fortitude to provide Fayette County with county-wide zoning, to this day one of only two counties in West Virginia with land use planning and county-wide zoning.

Civic leaders like Bob Holliday, Bud Hill, Jim Hess, Norville Ellison, Duval Schultz, Pat and Helen Hamilton, these citizens along with a new, forward-thinking member of Congress, Nick Rahall, who very early in his career recognized the significance of preserving the New River Gorge and worked tirelessly to have that piece of Almost Heaven designated as a part of our National Park System.

Entrepreneurs like John Dragan and the other early pioneers who in the 1970s brought to our region whitewater rafting, the start of a flourishing tourism industry. These were bold people, who took bold steps, visionary steps; steps that today are paying genuine economic dividends.

Fayette County has long been a progressive county, fortunate over the years to have placed confidence in the leadership of people like John Lopez, John Witt, Gene Carte and Ken Eskew who continued the vision to preserve and protect these resources, preparing our county for an opportunity such as the National Scouting Center.

Today’s announcement is not the end point, but rather a point in time to acknowledge and celebrate a significant achievement and know there is much to be done.

There are many rewarding aspects to this project:

- It will increase participation among our region’s youth in Scouting.

- It is a perfect complement to the preservation of the New River Gorge National River.

- The high adventure center will introduce our region to over 20,000 scouts and their families each year.

- It will build more bridges across county lines adding value to our New River Gorge brand.

- And there will be immediate jobs for many who are unemployed, under-employed and some who just want to come home.

This is more than a single economic development effort, it is a centerpiece that can be leveraged to create many other broad-based gains to the economy in Fayette County and this 4-C/New River Gorge Region of our state.

Starting with today’s evening news and every four years thereafter, the National Jamboree will give our region a place on the world stage. Once on that world stage, this generation of leaders must also Be Prepared; we must be smart enough, and work hard enough to leverage that stage into a regional economic success.

If we don’t, then we will have let down a prior generation who gave us the benefit of their vision.

We will have left unfilled promises to the citizens we now represent.

And most regretfully, we will have failed our future generations.

Thus, we, the elected officeholders of Fayette County, stand ready to assist our governor, our congressman and the leaders of the Boy Scouts of America as this project moves forward from this day. The vision continues and our work must go on.

Ladies and gentlemen, Godspeed and may this National Scouting Center be everything we know it can be to Fayette County, the New River Gorge region and the great state of West Virginia.

— Wender is a member of the Fayette County Commission and its former president.