The Grand Teton Council puts on this wonderful scout leadership program in June every year. It’s at a beautiful location, the people are very nice, and they put a huge amount of effort into the program. This is scouting the way you want it to be, at least it looked that way when I was [...]

     
Leave No Trace is not simply a program for visiting the backcountry, it is an attitude and a way of life.
I plan to expand this area considerably, I have lots of material to share on this topic.
Here’s one that is pretty good - an extensive powerpoint done on the entire program:
Leave No Trace Powerpoint (large [...]

One of the most interesting and meaningful awards is one of the most overlooked. Not only could a scout learn about an environmental issue, he could take action, solve a problem, and just do the right thing. Furthermore, this is one of the few awards that I think could be mentioned on a college entrance application.
I’ve [...]

If you are not a boy scout (maybe a girl scout or member of a high school outing club?) and you want to improve your outdoor skills over the summer, this may suit you: http://www.registeredmaineguide.com/juniorprogramsInfo.html
Put on by the Maine Youth Camping Association and the Maine Inland Fisheries & Wildlife Department, this looks like it provides [...]

A decent course if you’ve gone through all the training as an adult and want to be a better leader for the kids (as they say, every scout deserves a well trained leader).
Start at: http://www.powderhorn-bsa.org/
Quick synopsis: Some people call it high adventure training, but it really is an introduction to the Venture Program. In two [...]

 
The patrol method is the only way to run a troop. It is difficult if a troop does not have this ingrained in their collective psyche and SOP already. Older scouts often drop the ball, then younger scouts never learn. Maybe this sheet will help when the scoutmaster talks to the new patrol leaders and discusses expectations. I’ve also [...]