[Philmont]: Challenges with our reputation and relationships with Parks & Such

Hi, I'm new to this list and have been lurking. I appreciated the string of
discussion on the federal agencies that have had difficulties with Boy Scout
troops.

My observations and understanding coincides with some comments, but I have one
thought that I didn't notice in the string.

Many of our scoutmasters, and this includes assistant scoutmasters, except for
being outdoors with the boys are not backpackers or wilderness folks. Out of
the goodness of their scout spirit they take their boys out for adventures, but
hiking, backpacking, canoeing, climbing and wwRafting are not necessarily
hobbies or avocations for these men and women. Many of our leaders are novices
at these activities themselves, but they have maturity, common sense and life
experiences to keep them safe and limit their risk during the activities.

As a result sometimes these leaders aren't on the same page as those people and
groups who instead of "Scouts" being their thing or hobby, the wilderness and
the outdoor activity is their thing, their hobby.

I'm aware, and have often been told or read, that many wilderness or outdoor
associations or clubs are not high on Boy Scouts when it comes to LNT or
wilderness activities. We go in large groups, we have huge fires and worse
we're noisy. They do however, respect the Boy Scouts for community service,
First Aid, and in general working with youth.

That said, I've also heard from these same people that anyone that gets bent
because a group of boys is "noisy" needs to get over it. But the fires and
large groups causes others to have concerns about us.

In my troop LNT is a sore spot for me, because we will plan an outing and
because we're "Boy Scouts," it's okay to ignore the rules establilshed by a
local national forest or wilderness area that has a group size restriction. IMO
this sends the wrong message to both our scouts and the people we meet on the
trail. A scout is trustworthy and obedient.

I recently, along with my son a star scout, took 4 scouts and 1 dad backpacking
who had never backpacked before. We were a group of 7. Before we started out
the scouts and dad wondered if it was okay to go with such a small group. By
our first evening the dad came to realize that this was a great size group of
scouts to have out. They spent a lot of time with each other, some of these
scouts hadn't hung together before and they found out that they had a good
time. The dad also got to spend time with some scouts that he had only been
around at the large group events. He really appreciated the quantity time he
got to spend with these scouts getting to know them better. There are benefits
to the smaller crew.

Anyway, I believe that the hearts and intentions of scoutmasters is in the
right place, but sometimes innocently and unintentionally we alienate others
because we don't know their etiquette expectations.

Happy Turkey Day to Everyone, Hope to see you on the trail,

Kevin

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As you gather around this virtual campfire with fellow
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Received on Fri Nov 18 10:23:21 2005