The Miami Valley Council is a local council of the Boy Scouts of America and serves Darke, Preble, Miami, Shelby and Montgomery counties in Ohio.
Organization
Prior to June 1, 2014, Miami Valley Council was divided into six districts. There were four rural districts: Darke District, Miami District, Preble District, and Shelby District, each named for the county in which they were located. There were two urban districts: Sunwatch District, which roughly covered the northern half of Montgomery County, and Wright Brothers District, which roughly covered the southern half.
Part of the 2012-2014 Miami Valley Council Strategic Plan called for the council to review its district structure. A District Realignment Proposal was approved by the Miami Valley Council Executive Board in November 2013, and took effect on June 1, 2014, reducing the total number of districts from six to four. As a result of the realignment, the former Miami and Shelby Districts were merged into a single, new district known as Two Rivers District, while the former Darke and Preble Districts merged into Wayne Trace District. The Sunwatch and Wright Brothers Districts were not affected.
As of June 1, 2014, the four districts of Miami Valley Council are Two Rivers District, Wayne Trace District, Sunwatch District, and Wright Brothers District.
History
the council has changed throughout the years.
Camps
Woodland Trails Scout Reservation
Woodland Trails Scout Reservation was the Miami Valley Council's year-round camping facility. It was located on a spread of hardwood forests, fields, and streams. As of April 23, 2022 the council no longer operates the camp and is in negotiations to sell the property.
History
At the start of the 1950s, the Miami Valley Council of the Boy Scouts of America operated one camp, Cricket Holler Scout Camp. This camp is located in Butler Township, a community approximately north of Dayton, Ohio. Cricket Holler was established in 1919 and occupies of forested land. Due to the vast increase in the number of boys joining the Scouting movement in the Dayton area at that time, Cricket Holler could no longer adequately meet the burgeoning needs of the area's scouts, so the council leadership began to look for a large tract of land which could better serve the region's young men. In 1958, the Miami Valley Council succeeded in purchasing just over of land on the northern outskirts of the village of Camden in Preble County.
1959
The new scout reservation was originally planned to be a massive property divided into two camps for resident and day camping activities. Each camp would have its own man-made lake with campsites and other necessary buildings and support structures. Financial shortfalls and a decline in membership lead to the eventual abandonment of this master plan, with only the eastern camp being developed for summer resident camping purposes. By June 1959, there existed a new road cut into the interior of the camp, a food preparation building, the swimming pool and the spillway which would soon protect the waters of Mystic Lake. A name for the new property had not yet been selected, so for the first year it was simply referred to as "Miami Valley Scout Reservation."
With only a short time to prepare for the summer season, much of the property was still being developed as campers arrived. With the spillway construction only finished in early June, Mystic Lake was only about 1/3 filled, requiring boats to be carried across more than 50 yards of mud and tree stumps to reach the waterfront. Water lines across camp were limited, and were being run as required to accommodate the greatest need. Roads and campsites were established using a bulldozer with no specific plan. Initially 11 campsites were constructed, but each was nothing more than a cleared area with no physical structures. As much of the property was active farmland until 1958, there were few trees to speak of. Campers and staff planted young trees to help establish the current hardwood forest that covers Woodland Trails.