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 Council in the area was in 1918 as the Omaha Council. The first recorded Scouting activity was a 1917 potato harvest by Troop 42, still in existence, reported on by the Omaha World-Herald. In 2000 the council merged with the Prairie Gold Council in Sioux City, Iowa.
Mid America Council operates four camps. Its Boy Scoutsummer camp is located at Camp Cedars, near Fremont, Nebraska while its Cub Scout resident camp is located at Little Sioux Scout Ranch near Little Sioux, Iowa. Other council camps include Camp Eagle, near Fremont, Nebraska and Camp Wa-Kon-Da, Bellevue, Nebraska. The council formerly operated Camp Wakonda near Griswold, Iowa, in operation from 1948 until 1978. The Little SiouxScout 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. Camp Butterfield is currently being sold for private hunting and recreation purposes.
Little Sioux Scout Ranch
The Little Sioux Scout Ranch is a 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. Hiking trails cover the heavily timbered camp, along with mowed meadows and several remote campsites. There are also four cabin shelters and a lake. The Mutual of OmahaAdministration 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. The camp was the site of a tornado that killed four Boy Scouts and injured 48 others on June 11, 2008.
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, Nebraska. Perched on a bluff above the Platte River, the camp has of deciduous woods, prairie, and river bottoms. Facilities include a heated outdoor pool, shower houses, the Thomas Equestrian Center, 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 tall rappelling tower and climbing walls. There is also a shooting sports facility, a nature center, and an equestrian center. Twelve campsites provide 264 permanent tent platforms, including a wheelchair-accessible campsite, for Scouts and leaders. It has been the site of archeological digs. Following the tragedy at the Little Sioux Scout Ranch, it was revealed that Cedars does have tornado shelters. 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, 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 1990.
Kit-Ke-Hak-O-Kut Lodge
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.
