Scoutmaster Musings

One of the Leave No Trace principles to minimize impact is Travel and Camp on Durable Surfaces. One of the ways to interpret this is to stay on trails when hiking.

As you can see, that is a good idea not only to minimize impact but also to keep safe. I found his little friend of mine along the trail this morning while doing my daily hike. With the three cute little leafs, all shiny and green, he looks harmless enough. No prickly needles or scratchy thorns, but he can cause plenty of trouble if you touch him.

It's the urushiol in the poison ivy that causes skin irritation, more on some people than on others. By staying on the trail, keeping your eyes open, and paying attention to your surroundings, avoiding poison ivy isn't too difficult. When you go off trail, chances of running into it go way up. Actually, just off the trail is one of the best places for poison ivy to grow since it likes wood edges just like the side of a trail, road, or meadow.

It takes only a few minutes after contact with poison ivy for the urushiol to absorb into the skin, but it may take many hours for the itching, rash, and blisters to develop. Immediately washing off the contact area with soap and water is your best bet. Clothes that have contacted poison ivy should also be washed.

Poison Oak and Poison Sumac are also urushiol-producers and cause similar problems as poison ivy.
Burning poison ivy is especially dangerous because inhaling the smoke can effect your lungs.

Scout On Safely

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There's a troop here that advertises itself as "The Oldest Troop In Eden Prairie". Well, as of June, Troop 911 can call itself "The NEWEST Troop In Eden Prairie" since our charter was just (finally) signed, accepted, authorized, officially endorsed, and all that.

We have 5 scouts and 5 adults registered and will have a kick-off gathering this coming Sunday. It has taken much longer than I anticipated, but we're now ready to start Scouting!

We have an awesome facility provided by our charter organization which is Grace church - a huge place with classrooms, gym, and lots of property outside on which the scouts can play, explore, and learn. It is in the exact part of town that is not closely served by the other 5 troops. The staff have been very welcoming. There are close neighborhoods that should provide plenty of future scouts. It's an exciting time!

A few people have asked why I'm helping with a new troop. I was scoutmaster of a troop for 7 years. During that time, it grew from about 30 to over 79 scouts, due to what I feel was a program that followed the BSA recommendations, guidelines, rules, training, and structure. If I didn't know how something should be done, I would find out how rather than making something up. Just because it was done a certain way in the past, I checked to be sure that was the appropriate way to do it according to the BSA. A very caring, involved, and trained scoutmaster staff kept the program on track and supported the scouts in developing and running their troop.

As we approached 70 scouts, I made it clear that I felt a troop of that size was too large. The committee agreed that cloning off a second troop would be a good idea, and that meant I could not be one of the scoutmasters or no one would want to split. Two new scoutmasters were found and I stepped down, becoming a unit commissioner and offering a hand to other troops in the district. At the same time, the decision to divide the troop was changed so the troop remained large (don't ask me about that).

Well, unit commissioning did not fulfill my need for scouting. When my friend whom I worked with in the troop earlier let me know he wanted his son to be in a small troop, we looked into the requirements. We found this great charter organization, got a few of his son's buddies and another couple boys and started paperwork. He'll start off as scoutmaster and my role will be the troop committee chair, until someone else can be convinced that s/he would be much better at it than myself. It doesn't match my skill and interest set, but is critical to get the troop moving forward. I'll also provide training and outdoor skills as needed.

Since the scouts are all 6th graders that have never been in any pack or troop, our goal is to help them reach First Class by next March. Management of the parents should be easy since there is no Cub Scout parent mentality in place - we should be able to teach them the Boy Scouting way directly.

We chose Troop 911 because our hope is to have an emphasis on the safety aspects of Boy Scouts, and have that become part of our reputation. There are merit badges and awards dealing with safety, survival, and first aid. Over time, I think it would be great if the scouts would start a Safety Day for Cub Scouts to learn first aid and safety skills. It could expand to include any youth in the community. The troop may even help out with Community Emergengy Response Team (CERT) drills, man first aid stations at community events, and provide other helpful service to the community once their reputation spreads. There is an amazing Scouting group in Texas called NBOSTT that does massive amounts of training for the scouting community there.

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