Order of the Arrow

And now something completely different - Airport hawk trap Eagle Scout project (Long Beach, CA) "There have been incidents where hawks get sucked up into engines," Life Scout Jonathan Babati said. "I thought this would be a perfect project to prevent that and help (the airport) save a lot of money." Although wildlife-aircraft collisions are not exclusive to avians, a 2021 study by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln reveals hawks and owls are among the birds most frequently struck by aircraft. According to the Federal Aviation Administration, wildlife-aircraft collisions have resulted in $1.48 billion in damages from 1990 to 2023, killing hundreds of people. Babati says the idea is to place a rodent in one of the trap's layers to attract the hawks. The hawks will then land on a plank that folds and traps the bird inside the cage. Neither the hawk nor the rodents are harmed in the process, Babati said.... An environmental scientist will then take the hawk and relocate it to a better habitat, Babati said. More including photos at source: https://patch.com/california/longbeach-ca/how-cypress-life-scout-saving-hawks-long-beach-airport

My advice is to take your time, feel out the other Scouts and adults, before suggesting change. Get to know folks, their strengths and weaknesses, before you trying to change anything. And be polite and courteous when making suggestions. And most importantly, listen to their responses. As a Scout, and later as an ASM, I hated, emphasize HATED, when new adults just joined the troop and tried to change things. Worst case was a bunch of adults who transferred from Cub Scouts, and wanted a continuation of Cubs. No amount of explanations, discussions, meetings, or even training would change their minds. The COR had to intervene to fix the matter. But it was too late for one family that transferred out. Once you get to know them, if you can get the older Scouts behind your ideas, and a few other adults, you can try your ideas.  

I am sussing out that you're trying to figure out when to bring your knowledge to the table without burning a bridge. That's really tough to figure out; unfortunately we have a lot of bad leaders in scouting. I would recommend assessing the key 3 a bit, attend some leader meetings to see if they are just dictating or actually running the meetings properly. A key indicator to hold off and wait on making any recommendations is if the committee chair is not seeking input from all attendees at the committee meetings.

I'm 100% okay with this.  I'd celebrate getting the scouts outside their comfort zone and experiencing new things. My earlier response should probably not have been written during a work mtg.  

I just want to make it clear that I'm not looking to change patrol method or interfere in the details, just looking for ways to influence the broader mission of the troop without looking like the new guy who wants to come in and change everything.  My thoughts are that I can continually be hyping more wilderness-type adventures, but I don't know if there's anything more direct that people have had success with, such as altogether hosting it myself.  In my Troop when I was a Scout, we had at least one major trip or event each year that was chosen and arranged by my dad, who was SM.  Patrols would still handle meals and gear, but the itinerary was set for us.  I can imagine some strict Patrol Method adherents would not approve of this, but it got us out of our comfort zone and exposed us to things we otherwise would have missed, and thereby had a lesser overall experience for missing.