On September 29, 1875, Richard McClimans filed a timber claim on this site under the Timber Culture Act of 1873, which, through legislation sponsored by Senator Phineas W. Hitchcock of Nebraska, allowed homesteaders to gain up to a quarter section of additional land by agreeing to cultivate timber on the tract. In 1960, the family of Osceola and Laura McClimans Cram donated part of the McClimans Timber Claim to the Nebraska Conference of the United Church of Christ as a memorial in their honor, and in 1961 the church acquired additional acreage and added it to the original donation as Kamp Kaleo. Many trees there survived from the original McClimans Timber Claim, and some 32 acres of forest were designated a managed nature area by the Soil Conservation Society of America. Although the Timber Culture Act was largely unsuccessful in promoting tree planting on the plains, Kamp Kaleo reflects how pioneer farmers often made significant contributions to Nebraska's natural beauty.