Opponents of the sale of an 82-year-old Boy Scouts camp have stepped up their game.

A handful of North Idaho individuals have formed a nonprofit to battle the proposed sale of Camp Easton and pursue complete Idaho control of the Gotham Bay facility.

Camp Easton Forever Inc. will use "every means possible" to achieve its goals, according to the nonprofit's articles of incorporation.

"We're trying to do everything to keep this facility forever," said Tom Little, on the nonprofit's board of directors. "That's what it was intended for originally."

The group was created by folks upset with Discovery Land Company's offer to purchase the camp and build a replacement at Windy Bay, Little said.

According to the organization's incorporation documents, filed Sept. 6, Camp Easton Forever aims to preserve the camp at its current location and oppose a sale by Inland Northwest Council Boy Scouts of America.

The nonprofit's most ambitious goals are establishing a capital campaign to repair and improve the current camp, as well as restore exclusive Idaho camp management and control.

"We can manage the camp, we can take care of it, we can repair it," said Little, a past Easton ranger and volunteer.

He and many others want to see the camp back in the hands of the Idaho Panhandle Council of Boy Scouts, he explained, which controlled the camp until it was turned over to the INC in 1992.

He added that since town hall meetings about the proposed sale of Easton, a multitude of area residents have volunteered their dollars and time to restore the camp's current problems, like facilities in disrepair or in need of expansion.

The nonprofit will even pursue building a tunnel under Highway 97, Little added, which divides the camp and poses risks to scouts.

Earl Lunceford, nonprofit board member as well as longtime Eagle Scout, added that he and others are disappointed with the beach at the Windy Bay site. Plus, he added, many like him have donated thousands of dollars already into the camp's current facilities.

"Most people if not all believed those gifts were given in perpetuity," the Coeur d'Alene man said.

He expects many will be involved who believe Discovery, the Gozzer Ranch developer, has an unreliable business history.

"I think we can't afford to be in a mess with them," Lunceford said.

The nonprofit is currently rallying folks through Facebook pages like Saving Camp Easton.

Tim McCandless, scout executive with the INC, said he hadn't heard of the nonprofit on Tuesday.

Upon learning of their goal to regain Idaho camp control, he noted INC is comprised of individuals across the region, including Idaho.

"It's not an Idaho vs. Washington question, it's not a Coeur d'Alene vs. Spokane question. It's a scouting question," McCandless said. "There's not a single person on our board who is looking at this in terms of, 'What's best for the kids in my town, or best for the kids from Idaho or Washington?'"

The INC board is still weighing the proposed land agreement, McCandless added, under which Discovery would build a new camp and provide a $2.5 million endowment foundation to maintain scout facilities.

"The decision that's going to be made by the board, I'm confident, is going to be made for the right reasons," he said. "Maybe that's to stay where we're at, maybe it's to accept the proposal."

McCandless acknowledged reactions to the proposed new site have been mixed.

If the camp does move, he said, past donations will continue to be recognized, just like that of the camp's namesake who first donated land for the facility at Bennett Bay.

"The only way anything gets destroyed in terms of that legacy is if we allow in our minds for it to be destroyed," McCandless said.