Summer youth camp takes place at Kamp Kaleo
Sixth and seventh graders from across Nebraska will come together in late June to participate in the Adventure Camp about the Environment (ACE Camp) at Kamp Kaleo near Burwell.
ACE Camp is a four-day, three-night youth summer camp providing students with opportunities to dive into hands-on activities focused on natural resources. Sessions educate youth on Nebraska’s water resources, wildlife, soil, trees and other plants, range, grasslands, and more. ACE Camp gets students outdoors to explore the world around them. Camp activities include fishing, collecting macroinvertebrates, close encounters with educational animals, campfires, swimming, learning about and sampling edible plants, and archery. The camp ends with the famous Water Rockets activity where the campers design model rockets and use water and compressed air to launch them skyward.
The children complete camp with a better awareness of natural resources careers by learning from dedicated professionals who work in those fields every day. The Lower Loup NRD and Upper Loup NRD host the camp. Presenters come from Natural Resources Districts, the University of Nebraska, the Natural Resources Conservation Service, and other organizations. The camp is open to Nebraska youth who have just completed sixth or seventh grade.
Ace Camp was co-founded by the Lower Loup NRD and Upper Loup NRD in 2010. The camp skipped 2020 due to the pandemic. Then, the camp was left homeless after the October 2022 Bovee Fire devastated the Nebraska State 4-H Camp near Halsey where the camp had been held since its beginning. In 2025, ACE Camp returns to Kamp Kaleo for the second year in a row.
“The staff, volunteers, and facilities at Kamp Kaleo are top notch,” said Alan Bartels, the information and education coordinator for the Lower Loup NRD. “Working with the camp’s professionals, and those from several NRDs and other partnering organizations, provides for a positive educational experience for students that will stay with them long after ACE Camp 2025 ends. Learning about our land, water, wildlife, and other natural resources is easy when students are safe and having fun. That is what ACE Camp is all about.”
ACE Camp will take place June 22-25, 2025, at Kamp Kaleo, 46872 Willow Springs Rd. Burwell. Register by May 23, 2025, for early bird pricing of $235 per camper. Many NRDs provide ACE Camp scholarships. Learn more and register online on Facebook at “Adventure Camp about the Environment (ACE Camp)” or contact the Lower Loup NRD at (308) 728-3221.
