Mid-America Council

For other uses, see Mid-America Regional Council.

Mid-America Council
Owner	Boy Scouts of America
Country	United States
Scouting portal

The Mid-America Council of the Boy Scouts of America offers programs in 58 counties in Nebraska, Iowa and South Dakota. The Mid-America Council was formed from a merger of the Covered Wagon Council and the Southwest Iowa Council in 1965. The first recorded Scouting in the area was in 1918 as the Omaha Council. In 2000 the council merged with the Prairie Gold Council in Sioux City, Iowa.

Organization

The Council is separated into ten districts.

• Goldenrod District
• Lewis and Clark District
• Many Rivers District
• Ohwahnasee District
• Prairie Gold District
• Soaring Eagle District
• Trailblazer District
• Wagon Wheel District
• War Eagle District
• Venturing ^[1]

Camps

Mid America Council operates five camps. Its summer camps are located at Camp Cedars, near Fremont, Nebraska. Other council camps include Camp Eagle, near Fremont, Nebraska, Little Sioux Scout Ranch, Little Sioux, Iowa, Thomas Ashford Scout Ranch outside Homer, Nebraska, Camp Wa-Kon-Da, Bellevue, Nebraska and Camp Butterfield, near Orchard, Nebraska. The council formerly operated Camp Wakonda near Griswold, Iowa, in operation from 1948 until 1978. The Little Sioux Scout Ranch was heavily damaged by a tornado on June 11, 2008, which killed four Scouts and hospitalized 40 of 93 Scouts and Scouters attending a leadership development event.^[2] Camp Butterfield is currently being sold for private hunting and recreation purposes.^{[citation needed]}

Little Sioux Scout Ranch

Main article: Little Sioux Scout Ranch

The Little Sioux Scout Ranch is a 1,800 acres (7.3 km²) Scout reservation operated by the Mid-America Council of the Boy Scouts of America. It is located in Little Sioux, Iowa, approximately sixty miles north of Omaha, Nebraska in Iowa's Loess Hills and is approximately 15 minutes east of Interstate 29.^[3]

Hiking trails cover the heavily timbered camp, along with mowed meadows and several remote campsites. There are also four cabin shelters and a 15 acres (0.061 km²) lake. The Mutual of Omaha Administration Building was completed in 2000, and two years later the MidAmerican Energy Pavilion was finished, seating 300 at picnic tables. Individual packs, troops and posts use the facility, along with Order of the Arrow conclaves, district and council camporees. Pahuk Pride, a weeklong National Youth Leadership Training event, is held annually at this camp.^[4]

The camp was the site of a tornado that killed four Boy Scouts and injured 48 others on June 11, 2008.^[5]

Camp Cedars

The Mid-America Council's summer camp is located at Camp Cedars, located on the Covered Wagon Scout Reservation near the village of Cedar Bluffs in Saunders County. Perched on a bluff above the Platte River, the camp has 700 acres (2.8 km²) of deciduous woods, prairie, and river bottoms. Facilities include a heated outdoor pool, shower houses, an air-conditioned dining hall seating over 500 and an amphitheater with seating for over 1,000 audience members, as well as four renovated, air-conditioned cabins and three air-conditioned lodges. Cedars features an extensive Challenging Outdoor Program Experience, or COPE, course a zip line, a 60-foot (18 m) tall rappelling tower and climbing walls. There is also a shooting sports facility, a nature center, and an equestrian center.^[6] Twelve campsites provide 264 permanent tent platforms, including a wheelchair-accessible campsite, for Scouts and leaders.^[7]

It has been the site of archeological digs.^[8] Following the tragedy at the Little Sioux Scout Ranch, it was revealed that Cedars does have tornado shelters.^[9] In addition to Little Sioux, Cedars plays is an important site for the Kit-Ke-Hak-O-Kut Lodge of the Order of the Arrow,^[10] as well as its own camping society called Nani-Ba-Zhu. Nani-Ba-Zhu was founded in 1919 at Camp Gifford, which was the Council summer camp prior to Cedars. After ceasing to operate starting in 1939, the tradition was renewed at Cedars in the late 1980s.^[11]

Thomas Ashford Scout Ranch

Situated in a valley by the Missouri River seven miles outside Homer, Nebraska this primitive 600 acres (2.4 km²) heavily wooded camp has 13 multi-troop campsites, a climbing tower, picnic shelter, campfire amphitheater, and chapel. The climbing tower, archery, and shooting ranges are opened for large events. Thomas Ashford regularly hosts Cub Day camps, Webelos camps, Kit-Ke-Hak-O-Kut Lodge Conclaves, District, and Council events.^[12]

Kit-Ke-Hak-O-Kut Lodge

Kit-Ke-Hak-O-Kut Lodge
Location	Omaha, Nebraska
Lodge Chief	Micheal K.
Lodge Adviser	Vince Cummings Jr.
Lodge Staff Adviser	Jason Cruse
Website http://www.mac-bsa.org/camp_order.aspx

The Order of the Arrow Scouting's national honor society is represented in the Mid-America Council by the Kit-Ke-Hak-O-Kut Lodge. The lodge is administratively divided into chapters corresponding to the council's districts. The Kit-Ke-Hak-O-Kut Lodge is part of Section C-5A, in the Central Region.

See also

• Scouting in Nebraska
• Scouting in Iowa

References

1. ^ [1]
2. ^ "Official: 4 dead after twister tears through Scout camp". CNN. 2008-06-11. http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/weather/06/11/severe.weather/index.html. Retrieved 2008-06-11. 
3. ^ Whye, Mike (2004). The Great Iowa Touring Book: 27 Spectacular Auto Trips. Big Earth Publishing. pp. 29. ISBN 1931599351. 
4. ^ "Little Sioux Scout Ranch". Mid-America Council. Archived from the original on 2008-06-15. http://web.archive.org/web/20080615010213/http://www.mac-bsa.org/index.php?Itemid=80&id=92&option=com_content&task=view. Retrieved 2008-06-13. 
5. ^ "Official: 4 dead after twister tears through Scout camp". CNN. 2008-06-12. http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/weather/06/11/severe.weather/index.html. Retrieved 2008-06-13. 
6. ^ "Operation Purple: Nebraska", National Military Families Association. Retrieved 9/19/08.
7. ^ "Camp Cedars", Mid-America Council. Retrieved 9/19/08.
8. ^ Sheldon, A.E., Sellers, J.L. and Olson, J.C. (1953) Nebraska History. Nebraska State Historical Society. p 299.
9. ^ "Not all camps have tornado shelters", Omaha World-Herald. June 13, 2008. Retrieved 9/19/08.
10. ^ "History of the Vigil in our Lodge", Kit-Ke-Hak-O-Kut Lodge. Retrieved 9/19/08.
11. ^ "Nani-Ba-Zhu", Mid-America Council. Retrieved 9/19/08.
12. ^ "Thomas Ashford Scout Ranch". Mid-America Council. http://www.mac-bsa.org/camp_info.aspx?ID=5. Retrieved 2009-06-16. 

External links

• Mid-America Council website
• Camp photos and video from WOWT-TV, Omaha, Nebraska
• Remembering the Boy Scouts at NPR.org