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TYLER \u2014 As the heat starts to settle in and children\u2019s schedules free up for the summer, several youth camps are opening up their doors and stretching out their hammocks in the Piney Wood\u2019s forests for the upcoming season. For 14 camps in East Texas, however, state approval hasn\u2019t come through yet, leaving cabins empty and lake fun at a standstill.<\/p>\n
According to our news partner KETK, as of May 22, 16 of 30 East Texas summer camps that have applied for licensing have been approved by the state, according to data from the Texas Department of State Health Services. The new licensing regulations result from Gov. Greg Abbott\u2019s signing of several bills, including Heaven\u2019s 27 Camp Safety Act, which enhances safety measures for summer camps after the tragic floods at Camp Mystic last summer. Under the bills, state officials require camps to comply with new safety measures, such as installing and maintaining emergency systems, to be eligible for licensing and operation.<\/p>\n
In East Texas, only the following 16 camps have their licensing approved so far, even as summer begins:<\/p>\n
Bette Perot: Palestine, Anderson County
\n Camp Fern Legacy, Inc.: Marshall, Harrison County
\n Circle Ten Council Trevor Rees Jones Resident Camp: Athens, Henderson County
\n Frontier Camp: Grapeland, Houston County
\n Daniel Spring Baptist Camp: Gary City, Panola County
\n Cho-Yeh Camp & Conference Center Inc: (Lazy Lane) Livingston, Polk County
\n Cho-Yeh Camp & Conference Center Inc: (South Washington Ave) Livingston, Polk County
\n Camp Akiva: Point, Rains County
\n Pine Springs Baptist Camp: Laneville, Rusk County
\n Camp Gilmont: Gilmer, Upshur County
\n Pine Cove East Texas: Tyler, Smith County
\n Camp Olympia: Trinity, Trinity County
\n YMCA Camp Cullen: Trinity, Trinity County
\n Allaso Ranch: Hawkins, Wood County
\n Salesmanship Club Youth Camp: Hawkins, Wood County
\n Camp Deer Run: Winnsboro, Wood County<\/p>\n
The following 14 camps in East Texas have applied for licensing renewal and are still pending approval:<\/p>\n
Lakeview Methodist Conference Center: Palestine, Anderson County
\n Camp Shiloh Lutheran Retreat: Pittsburg, Camp County
\n Disciples Crossing: Athens, Henderson County
\n Waters Edge Encampment: Crockett, Houston County
\n Lakeview Baptist Assembly: Lone Star, Morris County
\n Camp Ta Ku La: Chester, Polk County
\n Lake Tomahawk Christian Retreat Center: Livingston, Polk County
\n Camp Huawni: Timpson, Shelby County
\n Timberline Baptist Camp: Lindale, Smith County
\n Trinity Pines Conference Center: Trinity, Smith County
\n Sky Ranch Camp: Van, Smith County
\n The Pines Catholic Camp: Big Sandy, Upshur County
\n International Alert Academy: Big Sandy, Upshur County
\n Pineywoods Baptist Encampment: Woodlake, Trinity County<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
TYLER \u2014 As the heat starts to settle in and children\u2019s schedules free up for the summer, several youth camps are opening up their doors and stretching out their hammocks in the Piney Wood\u2019s forests for the upcoming season. For 14 camps in East Texas, however, state approval hasn\u2019t come through yet, leaving cabins empty … Continue reading Several summer camps await approval<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1510979,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/wp-content\/media\/2026\/05\/2026-05-28_031144-200x200.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[177],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1510700","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news-archive-archives"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-16 00:50:13","action":"change-status","newStatus":"trash","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/wp-content\/media\/2026\/05\/2026-05-28_031144-200x200.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1510700","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1510700"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1510700\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1511272,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1510700\/revisions\/1511272"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1510979"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1510700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1510700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1510700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}