Boy Scouts of America Outdoor Ethics Conference

Damascus, Arkansas: The Boy Scouts of America 1^st Annual Outdoor Ethics Conference was this past weekend.  The Center and the BSA have had a partnership since 2004.  The BSA has over 4 million members and 300 councils nationwide, is one of our master educator course providers, and has a national task force to implement Outdoor Ethics within the Scouts.  The Boy Scouts of America trained more scouts and scoutmasters as master educators last year, than the other 6 master educator providers combined.  The Center’s relationship with the BSA is important for educating our youth. 

Bigfoot got to meet six of the Leave No trace State Advocates at the BSA conference!

During our time at the conference we talked about our PEAK program.  PEAK stands for Promoting Environmental Awareness in Kids and is sponsored by REI.  The BSA works with millions of youth annually and utilizes the PEAK program to better teach the principles of Leave No Trace.  These are the following activities that can be found in the PEAK packet.

Discovering the Leave No Trace Principles - An introduction to the principles through demonstration of preparing for an outdoor trip; works great as a skit.

How Long Does it Last? - Find out how long it really takes for common trash/recyclable items to break down in nature and why it's important to Trash our Trash.

Watch Your Step - There are living organisms in everything. Explore your world from an ant's level and find out why it's important to stick to trails.

Leave No Trace Draw - Many Leave No Trace decisions can be made along the trail. A version of a relay race, participants will decide whether they advance on the trail by answering Leave No Trace related questions.

Step on It! - Why is it important to stick to trails? How do we know how to do this? Compete with your team to answer questions and learn how to Choose the Right Path when outdoors.

What Principle Am I? - Test your knowledge of the Leave No Trace principles by listening to clues and deciding What Principle Am I?

Pat and TJ