Boy Scouts of America

Leave What You Find

Allow others a sense of discovery by leaving rocks, plants, archaeological artifacts, and any other objects as you found them. Leave what you find involves many aspects of outdoor use. The following information addresses a variety of ways to respect natural settings.

Minimize Site Alterations

Leave areas as you found them. Do not dig trenches for tents or construct lean-tos, tables, chairs, or other rudimentary improvements. If you clear an area of surface rocks, twigs, or pine cones, replace these materials before leaving. On high-impact sites, it is appropriate to clean up the site and dismantle inappropriate user-built facilities, such as multiple fire rings and constructed seats or tables. Consider the idea that good campsites are found and not made.

In many locations, properly located and legally constructed facilities, such as a single fire ring, should be left. Dismantling them will cause additional impact because they will be rebuilt with new rocks and thus distress a new area. Learn to evaluate all situations you encounter.

Avoid Damaging Live Trees and Plants

Never hammer nails into trees for hanging things, hack at them with hatchets or saws, or cut or trample tree saplings or seedlings. Carving initials into trees is unacceptable. The cutting of boughs for use as a sleeping pad creates minimal benefit and maximum impact. Inexpensive, lightweight sleeping pads are readily available at camp supply stores.

Picking a few flowers does not seem like it would have any great impact and, if only a few flowers were picked, it wouldn’t. However, if every visitor thought, “I’ll just take a couple,” a much more significant impact might result. Take a picture or sketch the flower instead of picking it. Knowledgeable campers may enjoy an occasional edible plant but are careful not to deplete the surrounding vegetation or disturb plants—especially those that are rare or are slow to reproduce.

Leave Natural Objects and Cultural Artifacts

Natural objects of beauty or interest—such as antlers, petrified wood, or colored rocks—add to the mood of the backcountry and should be left so others can experience a sense of discovery. In national parks and some other protected areas it is illegal to remove natural objects.

The same ethic applies to cultural artifacts found on public lands. Cultural artifacts are protected by the Archaeological Resources Protection Act. It is illegal to remove or disturb archaeological sites, historic sites, or artifacts—such as pot shards, arrowheads, structures, and even antique bottles—found on public lands. If you discover a significant archaeological resource that may not be known to others, pinpoint its location on a topographic map and report your finding to a land manager.

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.