willysjeep 10 Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 Hi everyone, There has been a rumor floating around that I would like to confirm or dispell. I just got back in to my troop after graduating from college. There are rumors going around that the Paul Bunyan woodsman award has been dropped. The rumor goes that felling trees is now prohibited for youth, making the award impossible to get. Any truth to this? Is this going around elsewhere? Link to post Share on other sites
GernBlansten 10 Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 I'm not familiar with the Paul Bunyan award, but if felling trees is a requirement for it, it would seem to be in direct violation of Leave No Trace. Link to post Share on other sites
ustbeeowl 11 Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 It has not been dropped, since there is NO requirment to fell a tree., the requirment is to cut up a felled (already down) tree. Check out the requirments here: http://www.meritbadge.com/awd/paulbunyon.htm Link to post Share on other sites
moxieman 11 Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 Pick-up a Requirements Book (or whatever they call it now). I know I need to get an up-to-date one, but cutting down trees was dropped as a requirement some ten years back. The requirements I have (and are probably far out of date as this is from ten years back when it was last changed) are: 1. Earn Toten Chip 2. Help a scout or patrol earn Toten Chip. Show him/them the proper use of wood tools on a troop camping trip. (again help them earn Toten Chip) 3. Do one of the following (with approval and supervision): A. Clear trails or fire lanes for 2 hours B. Trim a DOWNED tree, cut into 4 foot lengths and stack, make a brush pile with branches C. Build a natural retaining wall or irrigation way to aid in a planned conservation effort. No where in there do you need to cut down a tree anymore. I assume 3B is in reference to a tree that has fallen on its own (and probably blocking your hiking trail). Looking on http://www.usscouts.org (who are very good at updating requirements as they change and showing the last set of changes), the requirements above are the requirements they currently have posted. Cutting down a tree was dropped as an optional requirement to #3 in 1996. Sounds like whoever has been saying this is using a requirements book that is even more out-of-date then mine (chuckle). Link to post Share on other sites
moxieman 11 Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 I must be a SLOW typer, (chuckle), 'cause ustbeeowl's response was not there when I started, but was when I finished. Link to post Share on other sites
Fuzzy Bear 12 Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 I find great sorrow knowing that the Punyan award has been dropped without making so much as a sound. fb Link to post Share on other sites
Mr.Mal 10 Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 (quote)I find great sorrow knowing that the Punyan award has been dropped without making so much as a sound(/quote) I too find that it has not even been dropped, but never even existed Link to post Share on other sites
local1400 10 Posted February 1, 2007 Share Posted February 1, 2007 Moxieman, the requirements are still the same in the 2006 Boy Scout Requirements Book. They are found on page 220message.((This message has been edited by local1400) Link to post Share on other sites
willysjeep 10 Posted February 1, 2007 Author Share Posted February 1, 2007 Sorry about the typos guys, I'm on really slow dialup so it has to be a pretty big mistake for me to go back and edit it. I guess it is all right there in black and white. I think my troop had a stack of really old PB cards laying around with the old requirements on them still. This could have led to a lot of confusion. Glad to hear the award is still around. Thanks for all of the responses. Link to post Share on other sites
theysawyoucomin' 10 Posted February 2, 2007 Share Posted February 2, 2007 A case of environmentalism gone amok. If a land owner wanted a tree felled because it should be culled due to wierd growth, overcrowding,partial death, what ever... Why would it be a violation of any Scout principle? I'll bet the insurance man is the one who put and end to the felling part. Leave no trace is for camping. And if we're all going to carry leave no trace into our living rooms then we are in for a very rough ride. I have to go lower my thermostat to OFF. Calling a contractor to level my house and I'll restore the 2 acres of farm field that I raped and decimated 14 years ago. After that I'll go supervise the demolition of the Council office. On to the LNT HQ to tear up their parking lot and shut down their furnance. Leave no trace should never be carried WAY TOO FAR. Link to post Share on other sites
FScouter 24 Posted February 2, 2007 Share Posted February 2, 2007 The Paul Bunyon award has nothing to do with Leave No Trace. LNT has nothing to do with living rooms or parking lots. But its a free country anybody can hate LNT principles if they want to. Link to post Share on other sites
SR540Beaver 116 Posted February 2, 2007 Share Posted February 2, 2007 LNT is like the "Pirate's Code" from Pirates of the Carribean. There more like, um......guidelines. Link to post Share on other sites
SSScout 1615 Posted February 2, 2007 Share Posted February 2, 2007 Aye... Guidelines, is it? arrgh.... "...downed tree..." Doesn't mention how the tree came down, probably with good reason. My dad was a timber cruiser in WVA long before he met me(!). I learned alot from him as to safe felling and trimming and gained much experience in same after I obtained my majority. I would presume the PB Counselor (if that is the right term), would guide the Scout thru obtaining proper permission as to which tree to cut (Park Rangers, property owner, etc.), the safe technigues of trimming and cutting. If a tree needs to be felled, the same applies as to permission and safe technigue. The PB award is, after all, a recognition of the learning and demonstration of knowledge, skill and safe technigue, just like the TChip. The earning of the First Aid MBV does not qualify the Scout as a Paramedic. After the TC and PB, if he perseveres, he might someday become a high topper. Get the Scout a pair of climbing spikes for Christmas (just kidding). YiS. Link to post Share on other sites
Ms. Eagle 515 10 Posted February 3, 2007 Share Posted February 3, 2007 I know how to earn the Paul Bunyan award without upsetting Leave No Trace. Visit any Council campsite along the Mississippi and Louisiana Gulf Coast. We're still dealing with downed trees 17 months after our two-fer Hurricane punch. I'm sure up in the northern areas or those areas prone to heavy snow that you too encounter downed trees which can used to help complete the requirements, and as a Leave No Trace trainer, I can say we won't mind a bit just as long as you dispose of it properly. That's another topic and another training though. Happy cutting. Down and Out for now! Link to post Share on other sites
Fuzzy Bear 12 Posted February 3, 2007 Share Posted February 3, 2007 Doug and I, two Eagle Scouts both with their Paul Punyan awards (I suppose the Punyan award allows one to always be a Punyan; once a Punyan, always a Punyan) stood outside the Scout Hut one bright and gleaming Saturday morn. Both of us dressed in our red jackets with the Philmont cows tail over our shoulders and the Punyan above our pockets for cutting down and chopping up some unsuspecting trees in the forest (they really do make a sound). We carefully surveyed the big, old, long dead tree leaning precariously toward our beloved Hut. We knew the job that had to be done was in violation of the LNT, thus the meeting of the few but a job that needed doing, nonetheless. Doug had a small chain saw and I had my bow saw and Scout hand-axe. We figured that we needed to cut a big pie shaped piece from the opposing side of this thick tree so that we could reverse the lean and thus the fall. We cut away, wood chips and saw dust flying. As we reached the half-way mark, we knew that it was the moment of reckoning. Me being a little bigger than Doug, I stood between the Hut and the tree (no doubt, a place I have been able to repeatedly find over the years no matter where I have ventured) to give it a push and Doug to the outer side to give it a pull. This plan was thought to be reasonable but we had failed to take note of the one guiding principle of most all Great Oaks and that is most of their greatness is located in their weight, several hundred/thousand pounds and more. As you can imagine, the tree came down directly into the Scout Hut first and then to the ground with a resounding thud, crash and roar. I barley made it out of the way with my hand-axe flying and me stumbling and falling while Doug went sailing in the opposite direction both of us came up bruised and cut but alive and with bones in-tact. The next part was to cut it up into pieces, as indicated in the Punyan award. Being that it had few limbs, it was mostly trunk and our wood tools were not up to the job, see last paragraph. Both of us being creative decided to make it into a bench for conferences and such. We then called the CC to tell him to get somebody out to fix the roof due to the dead tree falling in the woods and inadvertently hitting the Hut. fb Link to post Share on other sites
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