Jays

I was a scout over 25 years ago and quit because they wanted me to join the LDS church and all our scout meetings were at the church and we said Mormon opening and closing prayers. I found this offensive and insulting as a 10 year old. I think the scouts do awesome things and are often great for some young men. Im saddened by the number of deaths scouts have in Nature. I've worked in the outdoor industry for almost ten years. I've led outdoor trips in New Hampshire, Maine, Utah, Colorado, California, and Mexico (the country) for 5 different companies. By far, the number one abuser group of any backcountry etiquette is the scouts. I have picked up more trash left by scouts than i know what to do with. I have personally intervened in over 5 incidents where I was worried about the safety of the scout group or scout master. I have stopped one scout group from trundling boulders in a into a pristine, alpine mountain lake and was promptly ignored by the two scout leaders when I approached them to have a conversation about backcountry etiquette. I was appalled to learn that only in 2002 did the scout officially adopt the Leave No Trace ethic. I was disturbed to learn that scouts don't need special use permits to travel on National Forest Service land. They by-pass this because scout masters are volunteers, often good hearted dads who want to support kids getting into the out-of-doors or just want to show young kids how to camp. The bulk of scout groups I have come across (maybe a total of twenty, 20 out of 20 have been unprepared by NOLS/Outward Bound and Wilderness Medicine standards. One example I often see in the Uintah Mountains in Utah (see news reports from this summer and last) is a scout group hiking in the rain split up over a half mile to a mile, with one group leader often no where to be seen. The kids are all wearing cotton in the form of jeans, t-shirts and cotton socks. Many have no ankle support and are wearing tennis shoes or sneakers. Most kids have an external frame backpack with the sleeping bag (also often made of cotton) rolled up on the outside of the pack with no protection from the rain. If lightning happens to be present, the scouts keep walking, whereas other educated groups go into what is called "lightning drill." In my opinion the scout masters, although very well intentioned, are indeed at fault. But the larger culprit is the leadership of the scouting organization. Still a larger entity that is at fault is the National Forest Service. I searched your website for any safety protocol for backpacking and found none. I found no minimum qualifications a helpful dad scout master must have before leading a group of scouts into the backcountry. Most organized groups from Outward Bound, to high school and college groups, and commercial guiding companies have very strict guidelines for their trip leaders. Its time for the Scouts to adopt some stringent guidelines for their trip leaders. Am I missing something? Jay