Leave No Trace Boy Scout Award

This Award is meant for Scouts BSA.

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This award has been superceded by the Outdoor Ethics award.

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Leave No Trace is a plan that helps people to be more concerned about their environment and to help them protect it for future generations. Leave No Trace applies in a backyard or local park (frontcountry) as much as it does in the wilderness (backcountry).

Leave No Trace is an awareness and an attitude rather than a set of rules. We should practice Leave No Trace in our attitude and actions wherever we go.

Leave No Trace Backcountry Guidelines

1. Plan Ahead and Prepare
2. Travel and Camp on Durable Surfaces
3. Dispose of Waste Properly
4. Leave What You Find
5. Minimize Campfire Impacts
6. Respect Wildlife
7. Be Considerate of Other Visitors

Scout Award Requirements:

1. Recite and explain in your own words the principles of Leave No Trace, and discuss how an ethical guideline differs from a rule.
2. On three separate camping trips with your troop or team, demonstrate and practice the Leave No Trace skills appropriate to the trip.
3. Earn the Camping and Environmental Science merit badges.
4. Participate in a Leave No Trace-related service project that reduces or rehabilitates recreational impacts. Discuss with your troop or team which recreational impacts were involved with the project.
5. Give a 10-minute presentation on a Leave No Trace topic approved by your unit leader to a Scouting unit or other interested group.
6. Teach a Leave No Trace-related skill to a Scouting unit or other interested group.

Adult Award Requirements:

1. Recite and explain in your own words the principles of Leave No Trace, and discuss how an ethical guideline differs from a rule.
2. On each of the three camping trips in Scout requirement 2, discuss with your troop or team the impact problems encountered and the methods the unit used to eliminate or at least minimize those impacts.
3. Read chapters 7 through 10 (Leaving No Trace), chapter 27 (Understanding Nature), and chapter 34 (Being Good Stewards of Our Resources) in the BSA Fieldbook. Share with another adult leader what you learned.
4. Actively assist (train, advise, and supervise) a Scout in planning, organizing, and leading a Leave No Trace service project that reduces or rehabilitates recreational impacts.
5. Assist at least three Scouts in earning the Leave No Trace Achievement Award.
6. Teach a Leave No Trace-related skill to a Scouting unit or other interested group.

The award patch is a 'temporary' patch and should be displayed centered on the right pocket, either sewn or hanging from the pocket button.

Award Application Form