Hearst Newspapers Investigate Logging & Land Sales at Boy Scouts Councils Across the Country

Clearcuts, Timber Sales Conducted In and Around Protected Forests for Quick
Profits
NEW YORK--(Business Wire)--
Boy Scouts councils across the country have widely logged or sold prime
woodlands to turn quick profits, sometimes on lands that were bequeathed to the
Boy Scouts by donors intent on preserving the lands for outdoor recreation,
according to an investigation by Hearst Newspapers.

The Hearst journalists found that over the past 20 years, scouting councils
nationwide have carried out clearcuts and other commercial timber harvests in
and around sensitive and protected forests. Local Boy Scouts administrations
across America have also reaped tens of millions of dollars from selling
campgrounds and other properties.

The investigation was a cooperative effort among five Hearst newspapers-the
Albany Times Union, Houston Chronicle, San Antonio Express-News, San Francisco
Chronicle and Seattle Post-Intelligencer-in conjunction with Hearst-Argyle
Television, which is scheduled to run the story across some of its 29 television
stations and Web sites today. Seattle P-I investigative reporter Lewis Kamb and
P-I assistant managing editor and I-team editor Rita Hibbard were the primary
team on the project.

The investigation found that while the Boy Scouts` Outdoor Code directs youths
to "be conservation-minded," the organization has often sought cash exclusively
from developers, not land trusts or conservation groups. Across the country,
mega-mansions, senior housing complexes, retail offices, and even a casino`s
golf course have risen in place of timberlands once owned by the Boy Scouts. A
few councils have sought to use revenues from logging or land sales in part to
help make up for economic losses due to the organization`s recent ban of gay and
atheist members.

Hearst Newspapers found some Scouts` executive salaries and retirement packages
were larger than those offered by many comparable non-profits. Also, the
reporters found examples of cozy relationships between councils and influential
volunteers, including timber company employees serving in key Boy Scouts board
positions.

The investigation, which began in the spring of 2007, included a review of more
than 400 timber harvests, court papers, property records, tax filings, and other
documents dating back to 1990.

I-team reporter Lewis Kamb is available for interviews. Please call media
contacts below.

Hearst Corporation (www.hearst.com) is one of the nation`s largest diversified
media companies. Its major interests include ownership of 16 daily and 49 weekly
newspapers, including the Houston Chronicle, San Francisco Chronicle and Albany
Times Union; as well as interests in an additional 43 daily and 72 non-daily
newspapers owned by MediaNews Group, which include the Denver Post and Salt Lake
Tribune; nearly 200 magazines around the world, including Good Housekeeping,
Cosmopolitan and O, The Oprah Magazine; 29 television stations through
Hearst-Argyle Television (NYSE:HTV) which reach a combined 18% of U.S. viewers;
ownership in leading cable networks, including Lifetime, A&E, History and ESPN;
as well as business publishing, including a minority joint venture interest in
Fitch Ratings; Internet businesses, television production, newspaper features
distribution and real estate.

Hearst Corporation
Paul J. Luthringer, 212-649-2540
pluthringer@hearst.com
or
Lisa K. Bagley, 212-649-2337
lbagley@hearst.com

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