Scouts BSA Outdoor Ethics Award

Outdoor Ethics Awareness Award

Scouts and Scouters can learn about leaving no trace and treading lightly to improve their outdoor skills, and then receive recognition for their efforts. Scouts and adults first earn the Outdoor Ethics Awareness Award and can then proceed on to the Outdoor Ethics Action Award with further effort.
We should practice Leave No Trace in our attitude and actions wherever we go. Understanding nature strengthens our respect toward the environment and helps us enjoy it more while better preserving it for others.

Leave No Trace Principles

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

When scouts and leaders complete the requirements they may submit an application form and purchase an Outdoor Ethics Emblem temporary patch (No. 618280). The patch should be displayed centered on the right pocket of the uniform.

Awareness Award Requirements:

1. Recite from memory and explain the meaning of the Outdoor Code.
2. Watch the National Park Service Leave No Trace video (10 min).
3. Complete the Leave No Trace online course and print the certificate.
4. Complete the Tread Lightly! online course certificate and print it.
5. Participate in an outdoor ethics course, workshop, or training activity facilitated by a person who has completed the BSA outdoor ethics orientation course or is a BSA outdoor ethics trainer or master.

Outdoor Ethics Action Award

The Outdoor Ethics Action Award encourages Scouts and adult leaders to put their skills of minimizing impact into practice.

Scout Action Award Requirements:

1. Do the following:
   1. Earn the Outdoor Ethics Awareness Award.
   2. Complete the BSA outdoor ethics orientation course.
   3. Explain how each of the four points of the Outdoor Code guide your actions when outdoors.
2. Do the following:
   1. Read the chapter on Outdoor Ethics in the Scouts Handbook.
   2. Teach a skill related to the Outdoor Code or Leave No Trace to another Scout in your troop or another Scouting unit.
3. Complete one of the following:
   1. Successfully complete a term as your troop Outdoor Ethics Guide
   2. Participate in an outing that emphasizes the complete set of Leave No Trace or relevant Tread Lightly! principles. All members of the troop participating in the outing should use the outdoor ethics and the specific skills needed to minimize impacts from their use of the outdoors.
4. Follow the Outdoor Code, Leave No Trace, and Tread Lightly! principles on three outings. Write a paragraph on each outing explaining how you followed the Outdoor Code, Leave No Trace, and Tread Lightly! Share it with your unit leader or an individual who has completed the BSA outdoor ethics orientation course.
5. On a troop outing, help your troop on a service activity that addresses recreational impacts related to the type of outing. The project should be approved in advance by the landowner or land manager and lead to permanent or long-term improvements.
6. Participate in a report at a court of honor or similar family event on the service activity conducted to complete Requirement 5.

Scouter Action Award Requirements

1. Do the following:
   1. Earn the Outdoor Ethics Awareness Award.
   2. Complete the BSA outdoor ethics orientation course.
   3. Discuss with your troop how each of the four points of the Outdoor Code guide your actions when outdoors.
2. Read the North American Skills & Ethics booklet to learn about the principles of Leave No Trace. Review the principles of Tread Lightly! Review the Scouts Handbook and Fieldbook chapters about Leave No Trace, using stoves and campfires, hygiene and waste disposal, and traveling and camping in special environments.
3. Facilitate your troop's leadership in planning and leading an outing that emphasizes the complete set of Leave No Trace or Tread Lightly! principles. All members of the troop participating in the outing should use outdoor ethics and the specific skills to minimize impacts from their use of the outdoors.
4. Help plan and participate in at least three outings where your troop can follow the Outdoor Code and practice the principles of Leave No Trace and Tread Lightly! Facilitate a discussion at the end of the outings.
5. Assist your unit in arranging for a service project emphasizing outdoor ethics with a local landowner or land manager. The project must be approved by the landowner or land manager in advance. Participate in that project. The project should lead to permanent or long-term improvements.
6. Make, or facilitate youth in making, a presentation at a roundtable or similar gathering about what your troop did for Requirement 4.
7. Help at least three Scouts earn the youth Outdoor Ethics Action Award.

Award Info and Application Form