yknot

I think owning and managing a site would be difficult today for most units. There are a couple former scout "huts" in my area that are either nonfunctional or in other hands with some continued scout access. We had a lot of luck working with private land trusts or municipalities to gain camping sites and access. We were also to develop relationships to use several private camps for local off season camping. We camped several times midweek when our school districts had random days off for professional development, parent conferences, etc.

Just so you know, I interviewed Garfield and he was only in scouting for the lasagna.

I'm glad to see this because he's largely been a cipher after more than 6 months in the role. He said more changes are coming and if so that's good and I'll take him at his word.

I'm not sure BSA did that directly but since University of Colorado Boulder is one of the leading universities concerned with NA issues it's an appropriate place to hold NOAC but an unlikely place to host AIA type events. UCB's NA center basically led the fight with the NFL to change team names.

Anyone know what that means? Was that anticipated when the trust was established?

Scouting is only a bargain when other people volunteer.

Costs and relative value for any youth activity are pretty dependent on where you are, what kind of council and unit you are in, and how involved your scout and family want to be in it. You can spend thousands on a couple seasons of a travel sport; you can spend thousands on a HA trip or jambo type events. One of the initial sticker shock problems with scouting is that there is no gradual on ramp; you pretty much pay the same to try it out as a cub scout as you do to rejoin as a seasoned troop level scout. That's not the case with most other youth activities geared for the elementary level age groups and it is a deterrent.

You're welcome. Migration is often thought of as a daytime event, which it is for many species, especially the very visible raptors, or because of what is seen during local fallouts and daytime feeder visits. Songbird migration, though, at least on the wing, is largely a nighttime phenomenon. Hopefully things like Birdcast will help build an appreciation for what is overhead on many nights in the spring and fall. The recent full moons in the northeast have been great for showing this to kids.

If we're talking biggest impact on migratory songbird species overall, it's habitat loss, degradation, and human intrusion up and down their flyways, migration routes, and at breeding and wintering sites. Migration as a species survival mechanism is struggling to navigate the modern world. All these things play into that. Don't get me started on turbines...

Thank you. Nice piece. Lots of stuff gets blown around this time of year. Glad to hear of some things making it back on course. This article noted nocturnal migration. For anyone who isn't aware of Birdcast, this is a second/third generation radar mapping resource run by Cornell and Colorado. It tracks noctural songbird migration and weather begining about three hours after sunset during peak periods, like now, and is a great visual to use for kids--kind of like Norad's Santa tracker for the little guys except it's real. If the forecast is good and there is a bit of a moon, have them aim their binoculars up to see dozens, hundreds, if not thousands of birds flying overhead in the night skies. https://birdcast.info/migration-tools/live-migration-maps/ The article also talks about a few hundred million birds. Sounds like a lot, but many of these species have had population declines of 50%-70%. At one time, a few hundred million of something would be a large flock or two. Not helping is that nocturnal migration has increasingly become a bird obstacle course, with hazards from illuminated skycrapers and proliferating light pollution to increased human intrusion into the night skies with everything from drones to fireworks to laser pointers.

Many of our oaks apparently didn't cross pollinate this year due to weather conditions earilier in the year. Sterile acorn husks started dropping over the summer and we're getting' next to nuttin' now...

I believe it's fairly amorphous right now. My understanding is that it is part of the settlement, but no real description was given or any kind of timeline. It could start to materialize in one year or ten from what I read. Would be interested to know if anyone else has more complete information. if it's limited to convictions, it will be pretty useless.

Are you sure about that? I know the Narragansett tribe once did.

At least the land will not fall to development and should still have public access.

It's seems like its been pretty standard in most places for a long time. Edit: In fact I would say in general a lot of security measures have been very robust in schools and other youth settings, such as security cameras, the presence of LEOs, adults and staff also having to wear photo ID badges, anonymous threat reporting systems, etc.

Things don't always show up on background checks. Parental searches have turned up convictions, charges, and headlines that have resulted in people being removed from kid facing roles despite having passed recent checks. I don't know what to make of that except maybe one of the youth protection guidelines should be for parents to also do searches. People who repeatedly slide out of accusations reported in headlines without charges or convictions should be a red flag but not sure if they are picked up on these checks.

I've volunteered in several youth organizations and the only thing I've had to pay for was $12 for fingerprinting to be a coach and then an overnight chaperone. In return, I've gotten discount fees for my kids, free food, and had things like identifying shirts provided free or at a discount. I'm not aware of anything BSA does. Some units, if they have the money, pay for their key adult registrations but that is not something that the national BSA has a provision for.

Presenting a driver's license in order to gain access to areas that kids are in, for example a school, has been SOP in a lot of places for a long time. As an adult overnight chaperone, I have had to wear a photo ID lanyard and present a DL whenever accessing areas where kids were present. I imagine for someone like Johnson, coming from mainstream law enforcement, that would have seemed like an eggs and toast issue.

Most kids today have plenty of opportunities to speak to and interact with unrelated adults. It's no longer a scenario or a role that is that unique to scouting. In the school setting and beyond, they are taught to self advocate from early ages. It might not matter that much if the associated costs wind up shifting it to being more of an in-unit role. Many units already do this with the Eagle required badges. I'm not sure, in today's liability environment, whether trying to maintain an unregulated extra-BSA corps of MBCs is worth the risk anyway.

What you have described is why BSA is culpable.

I think your view also depends on whether you believe BSA shares some of the responsibility for the abuse with the perpetrators. I and many others do. Because of several lawsuits and settlements, BSA has told us, under protest, a little bit about how they have historically handled this issue. That's how the Ineligible Volunteer Files were made public. But there has been almost zero transparency since then or apart from that. At the time the BSA declared bankruptcy, I believe some 1200 credible lawsuits were pending nationwide in communities large and small. Who knows what evidence would have been presented and what more would have become known had those cases worked their way through local legal systems -- dozens in each state. I don't understand anger or resentment toward victims or the lawyers who represent them. If an organization that is supposed to represent the very best in moral leadership couldn't collectively figure out what the right thing to do was no matter what the times, then I don't think it should have been marketing or presenting itself as such to America's families. Parents weren't trusting their sons to Men Who Camp in the Woods With Boys, they were trusting Boy Scouts of America, and all that they believed that implied: Honor. Duty. Morally Straight, etc., etc.

All 4th graders in your pack are eligible for a Kids Outdoors National Parks pass for the year. They and up to three people (family members?) with them have free access to National Parks, certain features, and a long list of other federal properties such as historic sites and preserves. So, not only can your Webelos get in free but so can their siblings in other ranks. You may have already known about this but just in case not...

Yes.

I am always skeptical of any studies or survey results cited by BSA. They often select or guide results to skew towards supporting a preconceived course that BSA leadership wants to follow. It's more likely that BSA thought it could get more money and increase membership rolls by pushing the starting age lower. There are plenty of studies that could support an opposite approach, more along the lines of how UK scouting does it, or even limiting it longer to a more introductory approach like 4-H does with its Cloverbud program K-3. It's worth noting 4-H has six million youth members. There may be some truth to elite youth picking a sport or other skill like music at 4, 5 or 6 and sticking with it through adulthood, but in most cases, very young children sample and are more concerned with sampling with friends than they are with actual specific activities. For example, if everyone from kindergarten class is doing soccer in the fall and basketball in the winter and t-ball in the spring, that's where they'll go. Most kids actually drop out of serious sports by about 12 or 13, right when scouts should be offering a good option, but AOL does seem to terrify or bore a lot of them away.

Most of the boys Sandusky abused he met through the organization he supported, called the Second Mile. He used it as a cover to reach boys. The circumstances were more similar to scouting than most youth sports. Things vary widely across the nation and by individual experience, but from what I've seen as a coach myself in a couple sports and having kids involved in multiple sports from rec to elite travel, random adults do not have the same access to athletes as they do in scouts. Most parents understand sports -- how it is coached, played, and scored -- unlike scouting, and they are avid participants and active observers. The problem with youth sports is that sometimes parents are too involved, shouting from the sidelines and microscopically analyzing everything the coaching team does with their kid. The same does not happen in scouting. In fact, in many units it is considered helicopter parenting and is actively discouraged.