Patch Trading Central

Two years ago, our pack started actively providing opportunities to earn the NPS Resource Stewardship Scout Ranger patch. In the process, we've discovered a number of Junior Ranger programs that can be done outside a national park on topics that I thought others might find useful to have a list for as well. We do have a national historical park nearby, but we want to provide more variety of experience and learning for the cubs than doing the entire ten hours just in that one park, and probably few packs have easy access to several NPS parks in the first place, so perhaps some of these will come in handy for others pursuing the Scout Ranger patch as well. Junior Cave Scientist - limestone/karst cave geology and ecology, conservation in karst landscapes. This was a perfect companion for a pack summer limestone cave visit to Cave Without A Name in Texas, and I imagine it would work well in almost any show limestone cave. If you happen to be near Cave Without A Name, you can email them ahead to time to request certain topics on the tour and had I done that, they would have just walked through the Junior Ranger booklet for us. Passing that on for someone else to plan a smoother outing. Getting the badge in the mail requires sending in the completed booklet, so you will need one printed booklet per cub. Some show cave tours may be too fast to allow for the booklet to be worked through, though - Natural Bridge Caverns might not work well here for example. Even without trying to do the booklet, the cubs didn't have time to ask all their questions and linger as long as they wanted. Wildland Fire Junior Ranger - what it sounds like. Pages 3, 8, and 9 connect to Into The Woods re: fire-adapted and fire-aversive ecosystems. Page 16 and 17 relate to wildfire emergency preparedness, potentially useful for the My Safety Be Prepared For Natural Events activity. There is a patch as well as a badge for this, although since I got my cub's patch at a national park I don't know if one can get them in the mail. I don't see any instructions for that in the booklet, but there is an email to email for the badge through the mail. Because you don't have to send in the completed booklet, you could work out of one or a small number of booklets for the group for this one if you wanted.  Junior Ranger Night Explorer - connects to Sky is the Limit, the Let's Camp Tiger Flashlight Tiger Hunt activity (importance of red light instead of white), and Leave No Trace for Kids point 6 (Respect Wildlife) in terms of light pollution. Junior Ranger Let's Go Fishing! - all the fishing adventures, of course. There is a list of all of the themed junior ranger programs that aren't focused on a particular park that you can find a few more in - my cub did a few more based on personal interest, and while they didn't do them all, these were the ones out of the ones they did that make sense to do as a den/patrol and/or pack because of the program tie-ins. Happy Junior Ranger training!      

Six years ago, Karen Briegs, a longtime scout leader, and co-Troop Leader Kathy Kafka, started Troop 60561 in Hillsborough, which provides a Girl Scout experience for young women with significant disabilities. "We call this an 'adaptive' troop, and we modify the Girl Scout curriculum in ways that make it accessible to our girls who have a mixture of disabilities − physical, cognitive, intellectual," said Briegs. "I want the parents of girls who have disabilities who they believe make their daughters not eligible for Girl Scouts understand that there is a way. We want them to thrive and find opportunities to leadership in their own community." "Everything we do requires quite a lot of assistance, but these girls would have never done that otherwise," Briegs said. "Girl Scouts is always about trying something new. Let's do something that you might not otherwise get the experience of doing − whatever you want to try, let's go try it." ... Two of the girls are fairly non-verbal, two have wheelchair needs, and two have autism to a fairly significant degree. "These are girls who really would not be successful in a troop of their chronological age level," Briegs said. "One size does not fit all, and that size did not fit these girls."   ... "The Somerville Elks reached out to us and asked if there was anything we needed," Briegs said. "We made a 'wish list' and instead of granting us one wish, they granted all our wishes with a major donation."   More at source including photos, good story: Scout salute! https://www.mycentraljersey.com/story/news/local/2025/07/28/nj-girl-scout-troop-for-kids-with-disabilities/84531919007/  

Asthmatic scout rushes to retrieve AED while nurse administers CPR.   

I'm 6'1'' and prefer tall sizes to help prevent my backside from showing (or my shirt coming untucked). I sympathize with the folks who are taller than me and dealing with ill-fitting clothing. Old Navy has a great selection of tall sizes without a markup, but no Scout Shirts.   

I will blame the Heat and Humidity and lock this topic for awhile.  Some good information given in a scout-like way (thank you) and then ... Let's find a cool spot, a cool beverage, and chill back to Courteous. Thanks @Eagle1993