Northland Scouts to merge with Northern Star Scouting

Northern Star Scouting has announced that nearly 600 Scouts in 59 troops and packs from northern Minnesota will join the Twin Cities-based Northern Star Council starting this month.
Members of the Voyageurs Area Council, based in Hermantown, voted to merge with the Northern Star Council back in September 2024. Voyageurs Area Council includes scouts from Carlton, Cook, Lake, Pine and St. Louis counties and scouting units in the counties will now be known as the Arrowhead District and the Boundary Waters District of the Northern Star Council.
“This move was made in the best interest of delivering the highest quality Scout program. I have seen the corporate structure of Scouting evolve over the past 35 years, and this takes into account” those changes, said Ernie Stauffenecker, Voyageur Area Council board member and former president. “I am confident that our unanimous vote to merge the Voyageurs Area Council and the Northern Star Council, as well as their combined resources, is great news for growing the Scout program and will be a tremendous benefit to young people of the northland.”
A representative form Northern Star Scouting said the merger will “allow the new districts to operate more efficiently, taking advantage of Northern Star’s infrastructure, and providing more program resources directly to Scouting units.”
Northern Star Scouting will now encompass 30 counties in Minnesota and Western Wisconsin.