A national park ranger converses with a Boy Scout leader at the Boy Scouts’ Order of the Arrow Conference in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Back to Chapter 6: Outreach Education
Developing ambassadors for endangered fish
By David Whitman
Watershed science program unites park and neighbors
By Dave Kronk
Student stewardship in Glacier National Park
By Joyce Lapp
Black Canyon of the Gunnison opens new exhibit about the Gunnison River
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In August, representatives of the National Park Service and Bureau of Land Management traveled to the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, to teach Leave No Trace Outdoor Skills and Ethics to about 2,000 Boy Scouts and their adult leaders at the National Order of the Arrow Conference. The Order of the Arrow is the Boy Scouts’ national honor society, whose members are dedicated to public service. Leave No Trace seeks to educate the public about minimum-impact camping, planning and preparing for wilderness adventure and solitude, and respect for people and wildlife. Also in 2000 the National Park Service worked closely with Boy Scouts to update 23 lesson plans in the National Camping School curriculum, which trains youth and adult Scout leaders to become counselors at Boy Scout camps during the summer season. Upon completing the seven-day course, counselors are certified in a variety of fields, including nature and the environment. In addition, NPS rangers coordinated the efforts of individual Scouts and their leaders as they completed more than 21,000 hours of service in national park units. For example, the Scouts planted native vegetation at Santa Monica National Recreation Area, built bluebird houses at Hopewell Culture National Historical Park, and removed exotic plants at Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. The National Park Service is working with Eastern National (formerly Eastern National Parks and Monuments Association) to identify service projects that the Boy Scout volunteers will complete on national parklands. In addition, the National Park Service expanded its relationship with the Girl Scouts and is now participating in the Linking Girls to the Land initiative. This initiative began in 1995 and includes the the USDA Forest Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the Natural Resource Conservation Service, and the Environmental Protection Agency. Linking Girls to the Land encourages girls to become aware of and involved in environmental issues in their communities through environmental education, outdoor skills development, volunteer service, and career awareness. The goal is to offer joint conservation and outdoor projects for 2.6 million girls (ages 5–17) and more than 800,000 adult volunteers nationwide through Girl Scout councils across the country. |
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This material is from Natural Resource Year in Review--2000, published by the National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, in May 2000 (publication D-1459)
/YearInReview/yir/yir2000/pages/06_outreach_education/06_05_sidebar_scouts.html
Last Updated: 06/17/2001
Direct comments on this website to jeff_selleck@nps.gov