The Boy Scout Roundtable Planning Guide suggests a Wildlife Management feature for March 2012. BSA provides the troop program feature guides as a resource for Boy Scout troops. A PLC can use these guides to plan a series of meetings and outings around a single theme. My post Troop Program Features for Meetings and Outings has more information about these guides.
The Wildlife Management troop program feature can be found in Volume 3 of Troop Program Features from BSA. The introduction to this program feature gives a good overview of some of the opportunities for troops using this theme:
A major concern in this country is vanishing wildlife and wildlife habitat. Some of this loss comes from a lack of knowledge about the creatures of nature.
This program feature will help Scouts in the troop to appreciate wildlife and how it lives, and to develop a sense of what Scouts can do to help protect and preserve the animals around them.
If you live in the city, this program feature will give you an opportunity to go to a rural location to observe nature, or to visit a zoo. If you live in a rural area, this feature may reactivate your awareness of wildlife around you and what you can do to protect it.
Younger Scouts can focus on some of the conservation related early rank requirements:
- Tenderfoot Requirement 11 – Identify local poisonous plants; tell how to treat for exposure to them.
- Second Class Requirement 2 – Discuss the principles of “Leave No Trace”
- Second Class Requirement 6 – Identify or show evidence of at least ten kinds of wild animals (birds, mammals, reptiles, fish, mollusks) found in your community.
- First Class Requirement 6 – Identify or show evidence of at least ten kinds of native plants found in your community.
- The Outdoor Code
Some of the wildlife and conservation related merit badges can be incorporated into this theme for more experienced Scouts:
You need to add Rifle Shooting and Shotgun Shooting merit badge for this theme for more experienced Scouters.