This Award is meant for All scouts, Venturer scouts.
Decide for yourself if it is appropriate for your younger scouts or not.

The William T. Hornaday Award recognizes Scouts and Scouters for their service to conservation and ecology efforts in their communities. There are seven different Hornaday awards with varying requirements. The youth individual awards are based on earning certain merit badges and completing one or more significant conservation projects.

• The Silver Medal award is the highest possible attainment in conservation for a Boy Scout
• The Gold Medal is the highest possible attainment in conservation for a Scouter. The gold medal may be considered when a qualified Scouter is recommended by his or her council, by an established conservation organization, or by any recognized conservationist. The nominee must have demonstrated leadership and a commitment to the education of youth on a national or international level, reflecting the natural resource conservation/environmental awareness mission of the Boy Scouts of America. Nominations must be approved by the BSA's national conservation committee.
• A Unit Certificate can be awared to a den, patrol, or group of five or more Scouts for a unique, substantial, conservational project, but the square knot is reserved for those earning one of the medals.

These are the merit badges used for the Hornaday awards:

Energy	Fishing	Nature
Environmental Science	Fly-Fishing	Nuclear Science
Fish and Wildlife Management	Gardening	Oceanography
Forestry	Geology	Plant Science
Public Health	Insect Study	Pulp and Paper
Soil and Water Conservation	Landscape Architecture	Reptile and Amphibian Study
Bird Study	Mammal Study	Weather

The categories for conservation projects are:

• Energy conservation
• Soil and water conservation
• Fish and wildlife management
• Forestry and range management
• Air and water pollution control
• Resource recovery (recycling)
• Hazardous material disposal and management
• Invasive species control

Hornaday Awards:

• Hornaday Badge - Scout earns three of the bold merit badges, plus two others. Complete a project in natural resource conservation, from one of the project categories listed.
• Hornaday Bronze Medal - Scout earns the Environmental Science merit badge and at least three other bold merit badges, plus two others. Complete three projects from three separate categories listed.
• Hornaday Silver Medal - Scout earns all bold merit badges, plus any three others. Completes four projects, one each from four of the eight project categories listed.

Knot Description: Green/blue/white on green/blue/white knot on tan background with tan border.

Award Requirements: Download application and nomination forms from BSA Hornaday Forms page.