Bay-Lakes Council

The Bay-Lakes Council is the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) council serving eastern Wisconsin and Upper Michigan. Headquartered in Appleton, Wisconsin, it is geographically one of the largest local BSA councils. Bay-Lakes Council #635 was formed on July 1, 1973, the product of a merger between six east Wisconsin councils. The council is served by Kon Wapos Lodge #635 of the Order of the Arrow.

Bay-Lakes Council
OwnerBoy Scouts of America
HeadquartersAppleton, Wisconsin
CountryUnited States
Founded1973
PresidentRod Goldhahn
Council CommissionerRoy LaPean
Scout ExecutiveRalph Voelker

Organization

Bay-Lakes Council has a professional staff of approximately 26 people. There are over 18,400 Scouts in the council's 23 counties in Eastern Wisconsin, and 14 counties (all but Gogebic) in Michigan's upper peninsula. There are 320 Cub Scout packs, 230 Scouts BSA troops, 90 Venturing crews and 75 Explorer posts and over 4,600 adult volunteers.

Districts

Bay-Lakes Council is divided into eight districts.

  • Gathering Waters District covers parts of Calumet, Winnebago & Waupaca and all of Outagamie and Shawano counties.
  • Hiawathaland District covers Michigan's upper peninsula; formerly Hiawathaland Council.
  • Kettle Country District covers Ozaukee county, and parts of Dodge and Washington counties.
  • Lakeshore District covers Calumet, Manitowoc and Sheboygan counties.
  • Ledge to Lakes District covers Fond du Lac, Green Lake, and Marquette counties.
  • Northern Lights District covers Marinette, Oconto and Langlade Counties and part of Menominee county in Upper Michigan.
  • Twin Lakes District covers Waupaca, Waushara, and Winnebago counties.
  • Voyageur District covers Brown, Door and Kewaunee counties.

Board of Directors

The council's board of directors comprises the seven district chairpersons, the council president, council commissioner, and council treasurer.

Endowment

An endowment fund has been created for Bay-Lakes Council to help ensure the financial viability of the council into the future.

History
Neckerchief slide from historical Waumegesako Council

Bay-Lakes Council was formed in 1973 by a merger of the following councils: Badger (based in Fond du Lac), Waumegesako (based in Manitowoc), Nicolet Area (based in Green Bay), Valley (based in Menasha), Twin Lakes (based in Oshkosh), and Kettle Moraine (based in Sheboygan). The Hiawathaland Council joined in 2012. The history of each of these parent councils is depicted below.[1][2]

Fond du Lac #622
founded 1920		Manitowoc #625
founded 1919		Green Bay
founded 1920		Neenah-Menasha
founded 1920		Appleton
founded 1920		Oshkosh #630
founded 1919		Sheboygan County #632
founded 1919		Marquette #271
founded 1915		Sault Ste. Marie
founded 1917
Green Bay
ended 1922		Valley #635
merged 1922		Chippewa County #259
name changed 1920
Fox River Valley #635
name changed 1924		Marquette #271
ended 1928		Copper County #260
founded 1923
Badger #622
name changed 1926		Manitowoc County #625
name changed 1929		Green Bay Area #621
founded 1930		Valley #635
name changed 1925		Marquette Area #261
founded 1931		Chippewa Area #256
name changed 1929
Waumegesako #625
name changed 1940		Nicolet Area #621
name changed 1934		Twin Lakes #630
name changed 1935		Kettle Moraine #632
name changed 1935		Hiawatha Area #261
name changed 1933		Iron Range #649
founded 1938		Red Buck #263
founded 1938
Hiawathaland #261
merged 1945
Bay-Lakes #635
merged 1973
Bay-Lakes #635
merged 2012

Camps
Bear
Paw
Gardner Dam
Rokilio
Jax
Hiawatha
Bay-Lakes Council camps (click on markers for Geohack maps)

The Bay-Lakes Council offers five main summer camp programs:

  • Cub Scout World Camp Rokilio, a Cub Scout resident camp
  • Gardner Dam Scout Camp, a Webelos resident camp and offers many high-adventure activities in partnership with Bear Paw Scout Camp
  • Bear Paw Scout Camp, week-long summer resident camping for Scouts BSA
  • Camp Hiawatha for Scouts BSA, Cub Scout resident camping and high-adventure activities in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

As well as one group camp without a summer program:

  • JAX Camp in Door County is a base for high adventure such as sea kayaking and sailing.

Bear Paw Scout Camp
Main entrance to Bear Paw
Bear Paw's waterfront, viewed from Chapel Point

Located on Bear Paw Lake 5 miles (8.0 km) east of Mountain, Wisconsin in the Nicolet National Forest, Bear Paw Scout Camp has year-round camping, both indoor and outdoor, but is primarily a week-long resident summer camp for Boy Scouts. In addition to rustic campsites and heated cabins for camping, Bear Paw has several permanent buildings supporting its program areas, a trading post for snacks and memorabilia, an enclosed chapel on a wooded point overlooking the water, a large and modern dining hall, a lakeside fire circle for evening council fires and ceremonies, and a nine-hole disc golf course. Hiking trails range from short, in-camp jaunts to destinations such as Explorer Point to longer treks to Oconto County features such as Lost Mountain, Staff Mountain, and Waupee Rapids. Marked cycling trails up to 50 miles (80 km) long criss-cross the roads in the vicinity of camp.

Besides summer camp weeks, Bear Paw's sixteen campsites and four heated cabins can be rented by Scouts.[3] Some events and programs offered throughout the year include shooting sports, Maple Syrup Days, Cooking merit badge, Paul Bunyan Woodsman Award, geocaching, orienteering, and wilderness search and rescue.

The camp has a website.

Gardner Dam Scout Camp

As of 2019 Gardner Dam Scout Camp hosts the summer Webelos program which was held before at Camp Twin Lakes.

Opened in 1932, Gardner Dam Scout Camp is located along the Wolf River, near the village of White Lake, in the town of Wolf River, Langlade County. Gardner Dam offers a variety of programs including many high adventure opportunities including rock climbing, bouldering, whitewater tubing, whitewater kayaking, whitewater canoeing, and ATVs. Gardner Dam also offers shooting sports ranges for shotgun, rifle, and archery, as well as a host of trails for hiking and biking. The camp inhabits both sides of the river with one side being dedicated to campsites and the other side being dedicated to the numerous program areas. When Gardner Dam first opened in 1932, it was a dining hall camp. Then in 1970, it changed to a patrol cooking camp for then-Boy Scout troops (now Scouts BSA troops) where troops would pick up their food from the commissary each meal and cook in their campsite. With the change in summer programs to Webelos, a dining hall is going to be erected on the north side of the Wolf River. There is a man-made pond fed directly from the Wolf River. The water flows freely through the pond and is held in by a dam. Because of this design, the water avoids becoming stagnant, because fresh water is constantly being fed from the river. Gardner Dam also has a 35 ft (11 m) climbing tower available for Climbing merit badge and climbing during free time. In 2008 a new shooting sports facility was built. The shooting sports area has a section for both rifle shooting and shotgun trap shooting. The camp is also available in spring, fall, and winter months for Scout troops and non-Scouting groups to come and camp on their own. In the non-summer months, units may stay in either the older Wisconsin Electric lodge, or the newer Wausau Homes Adventure Lodge (WHAL - pronounced Wall), both of which have indoor bathrooms including showers.

The campsites and program areas are home to 13 sessions of four-day, three-night Webelos resident camp from June through August, and weekend use by all units the remainder of the year.

Camp Rokilio

This camp was founded in 1924 as a Boy Scout Camp. Original funding came from several service clubs: the Rotary, Kiwanis, Lions, and later the Optimist clubs, hence the name Rokilio. Cabins were built and Rokilio became a winter destination as well. Sledding down the driveway from the cabins to the dining hall became classic. Camp Rokilio is 213 acres (0.86 km2) of hilly terrain with tall timber located in the Kettle Moraine 7 mi (11 km) east of Kiel, Wisconsin. The camp is on Cedar Lake and has a waterfront. In the late 1990s, Cub Scout day camp moved from Twin Lakes, and Cub Scout World at Rokilio was created. The camp features six program theme buildings: Fort J.J. Keller, Gunderson Viking Bäten, Knauf Space Station, Kohler Castle, and Oertle Train Station. The sixth, Gold Miner's Village, is no longer in use due to the Webelos program at Gardner Dam Scout Camp.

The buildings are home to 13 sessions of four-day and three-night Cub Scout resident camp from June through August, and weekend use by all units the remainder of the year. Camp Rokilio offers waterfront activities in Cedar Lake, BB guns and archery ranges, and a natural bog conducive to nature hikes and environmental studies.

Camp Hiawatha

Founded in 1967, this camp consists of 800 acres around Bunting Lake in the Hiawatha National Forest south of Munising, Michigan. The camp provides eight developed campsites for Scouts BSA and Cub Scout resident camps, a number of buildings to serve the programs and activities, and a few cabins that can be rented by families.[4]

JAX Camp

JAX Camp is a rustic weekend camp that offers basic amenities, and is located in Door County near Sturgeon Bay, in the town of Sevastopol.[5]

Former camps
Maywood-
Wilderness
Sinawa
Red Buck
Twin Lakes
Former Bay-Lakes Council camps (click on markers for Geohack maps)

The following properties were originally owned by the council (or one of its predecessor councils) or operated by the council as a camp:

  • Camp Maywood-Wilderness, founded 1970, (over 200 acres near Wautoma) was primarily used for Wood Badge and JLT courses. In addition to some rustic campsites, it had a heated barn with kitchen and bunkhouse, a pavilion, a private lake, hiking trails, and geocaching.[6] The camp was sold to private buyers in 2014 as a part of the Imagine 2024 initiative, and some of its assets given to the other Bay-Lakes camps.
  • Camp Sinawa[7][8] is now a privately run camp in Valders, WI. Sites are rented out by the public and various youth groups.[9]
  • Camp Shaginappi, used by the former Badger Council, was on Pipe Creek and is now a county park.
  • Camp Red Buck was an early Boy Scout summer camp located on Scout, Council, and Red Jacket Lakes in Michigan's Upper Peninsula near Munising. The camp was closed with the opening of Camp Hiawatha. The site is currently occupied by the Council Lake Dispersed Campsite in the Hiawatha National Forest.[10]
  • Camp Twin Lakes was located on County Road K, 11 miles (18 km) south of Waupaca, WI, on 425 acres (1.72 km2) of woods and meadowland, with three lakes that were used for swimming, boating, canoeing, and fishing. It was developed into sixteen campsites ranging from improved sites for group camping to leave-no-trace sites for backpacking to family campsites for registered Scouters and family. It also had several hiking trails and three winter buildings, two housing twenty-four people and one for eighteen. Originally designed for Cub Scout Day Camp, Camp Twin Lakes was later used as the home of Twin Lakes Webelos Resident Camp.[11][12][13][14] Camp Twin Lakes, which by April 2018 was being leased for use as the Webelos Summer Camp, was moved to Gardner Dam Scout Camp as part of the Imagine 2024 (later Growing Future Leaders) initiative.[15]

Order of the Arrow

Bay-Lakes Council is served by the Kon Wapos Lodge of the Order of the Arrow. The Kon Wapos totem is the snow shoe hare,[16] and the number is 635.[17] This lodge was formed as the 2013 merger of Ag-Im and Awase lodges.

Awase Lodge #61 was chartered on January 1, 1974. The name Awase, originally derived from the word owasse, which means "bear" in the Menominee Indian language, was adopted as the name for this lodge, which was created as new lodge, due to the merger of the six Northeast Wisconsin Councils. The original lodges, Shaginappi, Sinawa, Chequah, Wa Zi Ya Ta, Day Noomp, and Wolverine chose lodge #61 for the new Awase Lodge. Some arrowmen have chosen to correlate the lodge number "61" to signify "six lodges to one" (circa 2010).

Ag-Im Lodge #156 was formed in 1945 from Northwoods Circle Lodge #156 (originally part of Copper Country Council), Ottawa Lodge #198 (originally part of Iron Range Council), and Minnewasco Lodge #250 (originally part of Red Buck Council).

The ancestry of each of these lodges is depicted below.[18][19]

Shaginappi #61
founded 1932		Ay-Ashe #73
founded 1934		Northwoods Circle #156
founded 1939		Ba-Ta-Wa-Ga-Ma #198
founded 1941
Sinawa #73
name changed 1937		Chequah #194
founded 1941		Wa Zi Ya Ta #233
founded 1943		Day Noomp #244
founded 1943		Ottawa #198
name changed 1943		Minnewasco #250
founded 1943
Wolverine #501
founded 1953		Ag-Im #156
merged 1945
Awase #61
merged 1974
Kon Wapos #635
merged 2013

Growing Future Leaders Capital Campaign

The primary mission of the Growing Future Leaders Capital Campaign (formally Imagine 2024) as stated by its website:

"The mission of the “Imagine 2024” Plan is to enhance Council properties ensuring that they support and complement a diverse year-round program offering. This plan will focus on: Fiscal responsibility of valuable Council resources; Utilization of the unique natural qualities of each property, as well as surrounding program opportunities to enhance program offerings; Provide continuous improvement to allow for growth and flexibility of the plan as needs change; and Create sustainable camp models..."

As of June 2016, the following changes were made:

  • The Dining Hall at Camp Rokilio had its roof replaced.
  • Camp Maywood-Wilderness was sold.
  • 20 acres of JAX camp were sold.[20]

As of October 2019, a new welcome center and multiple purpose building was built in Camp Rokilio.

Additional changes announced to be completed after June 1, 2018:[15]

  • Boy Scout Summer Program at Camp Gardner Dam to move to Camp Bear Paw
  • Boy Scout Summer Program at Camp Hiawatha to Camp Bear Paw when new high adventure base camp programs are ready
  • Webelos Summer Program at Camp Twin Lakes to Camp Gardner Dam (completed)
  • Hiawatha Adventure Base Camp at Camp Hiawatha

See also

References
  1. "Council Guide 2012 Edition, Vol 5" (DOC). Retrieved April 2, 2012.
  2. "Council Guide 2012 Edition, Vol 6" (DOC). Retrieved April 2, 2012.
  3. "Bear Paw Short Term Camping Leader's Guide" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on May 17, 2008. Retrieved March 30, 2012.
  4. "Camp Hiawatha". Archived from the original on July 16, 2012. Retrieved July 17, 2012.
  5. "JAX Camp - Weekend Camping". www.baylakesbsa.org. Archived from the original on July 7, 2016. Retrieved June 25, 2016.
  6. "2014 Bay Lakes Council Annual Report". Archived from the original on September 25, 2015. Retrieved September 24, 2015.
  7. http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/WI/WI-idx?type=turn&id=WI.Monograph48&entity=WI.Monograph48.p0002&isize=text
  8. http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/WI/WI-idx?type=turn&entity=WI.Monograph48.p0015&id=WI.Monograph48&isize=text
  9. "Sinawa events". sinawaevents.yolasite.com. Retrieved June 25, 2016.
  10. "Facility Details - COUNCIL LAKE DISPERSED CAMPSITE, MI - Recreation.gov". Retrieved June 11, 2018.
  11. "Camp Twin Lakes - Webelos Summer Camp". Archived from the original on June 29, 2016. Retrieved February 11, 2019.
  12. "Camp Twin Lakes map". Archived from the original on March 31, 2016. Retrieved February 11, 2019.
  13. "Camp Twin Lakes - family campground map". Archived from the original on July 29, 2013. Retrieved February 11, 2019.
  14. "Camp Twin Lakes". Archived from the original on July 28, 2013. Retrieved February 11, 2019.
  15. Alberts, Michael (April 23, 2018). "Growing Future Leaders Announcement Update". Bay-Lakes Council. Retrieved September 28, 2020.
  16. "OAImages Blog » 2013 » April » 06". Archived from the original on May 24, 2013. Retrieved April 8, 2013.
  17. "LISTSERV 15.5 - SCOUTS-L Archives". Retrieved April 8, 2013.
  18. "Lodge Merger History Chart". Retrieved February 13, 2013.
  19. "Lodge Merger History Chart". Retrieved February 13, 2013.
  20. "Imagine 2024". Archived from the original on June 9, 2018. Retrieved February 11, 2019.
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