Boy Scouts of America

Quick Concept for Travel and Camp on Durable Surfaces

Quick Concept for Travel and Camp on Durable Surfaces

Grabbing Your Group’s Attention (10 minutes)

Gather participants outside a home or in a park. Ask them why we construct sidewalks. Focus the resulting discussion on the need to provide durable surfaces for travel by many people. Explain that concentrating activity on one durable surface can help protect the surrounding land. Define the concept of durability for the group (see the Background on the Principles of Leave No Trace).

The Activity

Break the group into pairs and give each pair the following assignment: Imagine you are looking for durable surfaces to travel over or set up camp. Find five different surfaces in the immediate area and rate them from one to five for durability, one being the most durable surface and five being the least durable surface. Give the group approximately 5 to 10 minutes to explore the area.

The Discussion

Ask the group to name all the durable surfaces they can identify. Be sure they include rock, gravel, sand, bare soil, firm snow, most grasses, and existing trails and campsites. Then ask them to identify non-durable surfaces. Make sure they include tundra, riparian areas, aquatic environments, fragile plants, muddy areas, spring melt, and cryptobiotic crust (the blackish crust with living microorganisms that is frequently found in desert areas).

Bray Barnes

Director, Global Security Innovative
Strategies

Bray Barnes is a recipient of the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award, Silver
Beaver, Silver Antelope, Silver Buffalo, and Learning for Life Distinguished
Service Award. He received the Messengers of Peace Hero award from
the royal family of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and he’s a life member of
the 101st Airborne Association and Vietnam Veterans Association. Barnes
serves as a senior fellow for the Global Federation of Competitiveness
Councils, a nonpartisan network of corporate CEOs, university presidents, and
national laboratory directors. He has also served as a senior executive for the
U.S. Department of Homeland Security, leading the first-responder program
and has two U.S. presidential appointments

David Alexander

Managing Member Calje

David Alexander is a Baden-Powell Fellow, Summit Bechtel Reserve philanthropist, and recipient of the Silver Buffalo and Distinguished Eagle Scout Award. He is the founder of Caljet, one of the largest independent motor fuels terminals in the U.S. He has served the Arizona Petroleum Marketers Association, Teen Lifeline, and American Heart Association. A triathlete who has completed hundreds of races, Alexander has also mentored the women’s triathlon team at Arizona State University.

Glenn Adams

President, CEO & Managing Director
Stonetex Oil Corp.

Glenn Adams is a recipient of the Silver Beaver, Silver Antelope, Silver Buffalo, and Distinguished Eagle Scout Award. He is the former president of the National Eagle Scout Association and established the Glenn A. and Melinda W. Adams National Eagle Scout Service Project of the Year Award. He has more than 40 years of experience in the oil, gas, and energy fields, including serving as a president, owner, and CEO. Adams has also received multiple service awards from the Texas Alliance of Energy Producers.