Outdoor Ethics Program

BSA Leave No Trace Level 1 Instructor Course

Theodore Naish Scout Reservation

 May 2-4, 2025

October 24-26, 2025

The Leave No Trace Level 1 Instructor Course will provide Scouts, Scouters, Venturers and Unit Commissioners that successfully complete course requirements with recognition as a Leave No Trace Trainer in BSA and Leave No Trace (www.LNT.org). Youth and Adults can use this to train both non-scouting and scouting audiences in the 7 Principles of Leave No Trace. This course will meet BSA Leave No Trace National Camp Standards, develop and expand the knowledge of Leave No Trace principles and skills, and complete requirement #5 of the Outdoor Ethics Awareness Award.

A Leave No Trace Trainer Course is highly recommended for Scouts BSA who wish to hold the Outdoor Ethics Guide position in their Unit and for those attending any High Adventure Camp.

Questions or Concerns? Please contact our Course Director, Jenna Grubbs at jknoxgrubbs@gmail.com.

Register Here 2024 Leave No Trace Flyer

 

Outdoor ethics is deeply ingrained in the BSA program. No place is this more important than in the outdoors. Scouting and Venturing have a long, proud tradition of conservation service to the nation. How do we preserve that tradition? By heeding the challenge in the Outdoor Code:

As an American, I will do my best to 
Be clean in my outdoor manners. 
Be careful with fire.
Be considerate in the outdoors.
Be conservation-minded.

Building upon this foundation, the Cub Scout, Scouts BSA, Venturing, and Sea Scout programs all include outdoor stewardship, care for the environment, and Leave No Trace as part of their programs. At the Boy Scout and Varsity Scout levels, youth are encouraged to take leadership positions in encouraging proper outdoor ethics using the principles of Leave No Trace. Many Venturing crews have similarly adapted Leave No Trace principles to guide their outdoor recreation activities. Through the Outdoor Code and Leave No Trace, we can take responsibility for our own impacts. We can provide leadership to those around us to reduce their impacts by making good choices. Together, we can preserve and conserve our rich environmental heritage.

To learn more about the Principles of Leave No Trace, click here

 

To learn more about Tread Lightly, click here

Scouts and Venturers who embrace the Outdoor Code and principles of Leave No Trace often find that they wish to give back and help protect the environment that has given them so much. Some may find that they are "wild with love for the green outdoors - the trees, the tree-top singers, the wood-herbs, and the nightly things that left their tracks in the mud," in the words of Ernest Thompson Seton, the first Chief Scout. These Scouts of Venturers have begun to feel what Aldo Leopold called the "Land Ethic." The Land Ethic extends our concern beyond our fellow Scouts and Venturers, our families and friends, and even humanity itself to the entire environmental community of which we are a part - the deserts, forests, fish, wildlife, plants, rocks, oceans, and web of life encompassing them - what Leopold called "the Land."

To learn more about the Land Ethic, click here

Outdoor Ethics is not just for youth. Adult volunteers are encouraged to seek training in basic outdoor skills and even take specialized courses to learn Leave No Trace skills. Many councils have Outdoor Ethics advocates who provide leadership to their local units in learning and practicing good outdoor ethics.

To learn more about earning the Outdoor Ethics Awareness and Action award, click here or contact the Council Outdoor Ethics Chair, Jenna Grubbs.