We Own Adventure

Scouting News for the DC Metro Area

The Scouter Digest Staff

Sea Scout Support for Pack 1144 Fishing Derby

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National Capital Area Council (NCAC) Sea Scouts had the opportunity to engage in outreach and community service through a collaborative effort with Cub Scout Pack 1144. Pack 1144 held its First Annual Fishing Derby at Fountainhead park on Sunday, June 5th, 2022, with great success! The event provided an immense opportunity to bridge the gap between Sea Scouts and Cub Scouts in an interactive-learning environment. Sea Scouts supported Cub Scouts and parents in acquiring basic fishing skills, safety, and conservation mindfulness.

Able Sea Scout Quinn Laffey, Ship 1942 was on-site to bring awareness to his Conservation Quartermaster Project ,“Reel-n-Recycle.” According to Laffey “because of the GREAT EXPOSURE, 10 of the Cub Scouts recycled their fishing line and scanned the QR code on the recycling tube, to enter the lottery and possibly win one of the two fishing rod and reel packages that were donated by West Marine ($350.00 per package.)” Fifty-two Cub Scouts and Parents from Pack 1144 registered for the fun-filled event. Pack 1144 Committee Chair Brandon Budman said, “the event just took off!” The weather was beautiful and many of the Cub Scouts had great success with the “catch-and-release event.”

Sea Scouts registered for this event through a sign-up genius disseminated through the Sea Scout Committee Wardroom Meeting. This initiative fostered the opportunity for Sea Scouts to earn volunteer service hours toward rank advancement, increase Sea Scout visual presence, as well as support Cub Scouting and conservation. This Sea Scout outreach and support initiative was made possible through the collaborated efforts of the NCAC Sea Scout Committee, Pack 1144, and the newly selected National Service Territory 12 (NST12) Boatswain, William Kennedy. Boatswain William is transitioning from NCAC Boatswain’s Mate for Program to his new Territory leadership role.

Sea Scouts provide an excellent opportunity for adventure focused on youth ages 14-21 who are interested in white water rafting, canoeing, kayaking, sailing, powerboating, and SCUBA diving. To find a Sea Scout Ship near you, log-on to www.beascout.org. The opportunity is also available to start new Ships within NCAC and National Service Territory 12 (NST12). For those interested in learning more about Able Scout Quinn Laffey’s Quartermaster and Conservation Project, a hyper-link to a Dropbox is provided for Reel-n-Recycle.

Please reach out to Sea Scout Ship 1942 if interested to learn more about the engagement!

 

 

 

 

Six Sea Scouts, Three Adventures, One Ship

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Six Sea Scouts, Three Adventures, One Ship = SEAL

“A rising tide lifts all boats,” isn’t just an aphorism in Ship 1942 SS Dragonlady. The legacy of Ship 1942 with Skipper Tom Ballew at the helm has a long-standing tradition of sending Sea Scouts to Sea Scout Advanced Leadership Training (SEAL). Sea Scouts across the country in a variety of Sea Scout Ships apply to attend the 9-day intensive leadership on-the-water training held in locations such as New York, Tampa, Colorado, Tennessee, Galveston, San Francisco, and Seattle to name a few. Sea Scouts can apply for this advanced leadership training in a variety of Sea Scout disciplines from white water, paddle craft, sailing to living aboard motorized vessels.

The unique opportunity to have six Sea Scouts attend came to fruition because SEAL applications were opened to Scouts BSA. Any Scout who has reached the rank of First Class and age 14, and any Sea Scout who has reached Ordinary, can apply to attend SEAL. Three Eagle Scouts from Ship 1942 who are dual registered in a Troop took advantage of this opportunity to join their fellow Sea Scouts from Ship 1942.

When the information that SEAL was open to Scouts BSA was released, the Ship 1942 training chair took advantage of this unique opportunity and broadcasted it widely across the National Capital Area Council (NCAC). This led to a total of seven youth to attend four different SEAL Courses. All of the scouts earned their SEAL Certificate and coveted SEAL Pin including the 6 scouts from Ship 1942 and Life Scout Austin Snip from Troop 447. Each SEAL course follows a national curriculum but focuses on different vessels based upon their demographic location.

Photo credit: Maura Maupin

Eagle Scouts Aiden Maupin, Colin Maupin, and Liam Maupin from Troop 413 and Ship 1942 all selected SEAL Colorado White Water Rafting as their first choice. They were joined by Ship 1942 Boatswain Sebastian Morales-Talero for this 9-day camping and white-water rafting experience. Where the three brothers were placed in different crews by design, Liam Maupin and Boatswain Sebastian had the opportunity to be in the same crew, as SEAL Colorado had three separate crews and the Ship had four participants.

Photo credit: Tom Laffey

Quartermaster Candidate and Eagle Scout Quinn Laffey did not receive his first choice which was Tampa, Florida. Quinn was placed in SEAL Tennessee, which is a paddle craft course, but Quinn embraced this opportunity like a champion and had an awesome experience! Quinn utilized his prior skills from Northern Tier and relied upon a more recent certification he received while obtaining his USPS Pilot “P” rating to prepare for SEAL Tennessee. Ship 1942 is a sailing ship, but Quinn’s diversified Scouting and Sea Scouting experiences more than prepared him for the challenges of the Tennessee rivers.

Photo credit: Charleen Kennedy

William Kennedy, the current National Service Territory 12 (NST12) Boatswain who is also an Eagle Scout and Able Sea Scout joined SEAL Seattle and had the experience he had dreamed of aboard the SSS Propeller located in Seattle, Washington. William thrived in the SEAL intensive environment and hopes to return for more adventures on the SSS Propeller, a 1952 65’ U.S. Army T-Boat. SEAL Seattle participants navigated the San Juan Islands throughout the 10-day course. SEAL Seattle participants had the option to join the SSS Propeller crew for an extended stay to support Seattle’s Seafair Weekend Festival. To prepare for SEAL Seattle, NST12 Boatswain obtained multiple certifications including NASBLA Boaters Safety Education Course, USPS Boat Handling, USPS Marine Navigation, Pilot “P” rating, and a 16-hour hands-on US Power Boating Certification.

Quinn, Aiden, Liam, Colin, and Sebastian all earned the 50-Miler Award for paddling over 50 miles during their adventure. The SEAL Colorado participants also earned the BSA White Water Award. To prepare for SEAL Colorado, the Maupins completed an NASBLA Boaters Safety Course, and Boatswain Sebastian attended an in-person Marine Navigation Course offered through Ship 1942 and had completed Northern Tier. These accomplished Sea Scouts have shared their enthusiasm for the course and look forward to applying the leadership skills gained.

Fall 2022 Leave No Trace & TREAD Lightly courses

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National Capital Area Council is fortunate to offer many outdoor ethics training courses thanks to the many Leave No Trace Master Educators and Tread Lightly! We are pleased to offer three courses this fall.

Please spread the word widely with your units, districts, committees, and parents and encourage them to register for these excellent courses!

**Leave No Trace Trainer courses**
MD course on 9/26/22 (virtual) and 10/1/22 (in person) https://scoutingevent.com/082-55113

VA course on 10/17/22 (virtual) and 10/22/22 (in person) https://scoutingevent.com/082-55114

Participants in the Trainer Course learn Leave No Trace skills and ethics as well as techniques for educating others about these low impact practices. Research has shown that this course significantly improves participant knowledge and understanding of how Leave No Trace protects the outdoor places we love. The goal of this course is to teach students taking the course how to introduce the concept of Outdoor Ethics in a fun and engaging way to a group with little experience in outdoor ethics. It should help youth and adults at all program levels understand the general principles behind Scouting’s outdoor ethics program. Graduates of a Trainer Course are prepared to lead Outdoor Ethics Orientation and BSA Leave No Trace 101 courses and to offer Leave No Trace Awareness Workshops to their community.
We recommend that youth complete this course before serving as in the troop Outdoor Ethics Guide position.

**Tread Lightly!**
Sunday 9/18/22 https://scoutingevent.com/082-57352
Learn about Tread Lightly! and how to share the concepts with Scouts and others. Tread Lightly Tread Trainer course is an 6 and a half hour course designed to provide a “crash course” on outdoor ethics focusing on motorized and mechanized recreation on both land and water. Participation in the course qualifies individuals to present the Tread Lightly! message to others in their state or region. Participants will work with a Master Tread Trainer on understanding the role outdoor ethics play in the recreation community, learn the Tread Lightly! principles of responsible recreation and be provided with the tools to conduct workshops and coordinate community outreach. This training is of interest to all Scouters involved with the BSA’s outdoor ethics program, including rank advancement, youth leadership positions, awareness awards, and action awards.
The Tread Trainer course is designed to help volunteers promote the message responsible recreation where lands and waters are protected. This course is centered on land based recreation focusing on the Tread Lightly! principles designed to minimize impacts on roads, trails and the wildlands they access.

Upcoming Events at Goshen Scout Reservation!

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Registration Goes LIVE – September 1, 2022

Registration for the Goshen 2023 Summer Season will go live on Thursday, September 1, 2022. Find out more about the Goshen camps and programs at www.gotogoshen.org

Labor Day Family Camp – September 2-5, 2022

Enjoy a weekend with family and friends at the Goshen Scout Reservation family for Labor Day Family Camp! Available program areas will include Aquatics (swimming and boating), COPE and Climbing (giant swing, rock climbing), Shooting Sports (rifles, archery), and Handicraft (arts and crafts).

Register for Family Camp: www.gotogoshen.org/family-camp

Goshen Staff and volunteers supply all the program. You just need to bring your own food and camping equipment!

New this fall and one time only – Merit Badge Make-ups! Scouts with partial merit badges from the summer can bring their records and finish up the last few requirements with some of our counselors from the summer.

Fall Alumni Work Weekend – October 7-9, 2022

Goshen Scout Reservation Staff Alumni are invited by the Goshen Staff Alumni Association (GSAA) for a fall work weekend! Open to staff alumni from any Goshen camp and any friends or family who want to help out, ages 18 and up. We’ll be fixing, painting, building, maintaining, and doing other such work on many projects around the Reservation. Meet other staff alumni new and old, spend some time at Goshen, and help us prepare for the next season of summer camp!

More information and registration can be found here: www.gotogoshen.org/gsaasw

Volunteer Work Weekend – October 28-30, 2022

Units and volunteers are invited for a fall work weekend to assist in camp beautification! Open to members of the scouting community, participants will assist in painting, brush clearing, and other beautification tasks.

Participants should bring their own food and tents. More information and registration link to follow.

National Exploring Volunteer of the Year

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On August 10, 2022, NCAC’s Commissioner for Exploring was recognized at the National Exploring LIVE Hour as the National Exploring Volunteer of the Year.

Jeff has been a Scouting Commissioner for over 25 years. In NCAC, he serves as a Unit Commissioner and Assistant District Commissioner in the Colonial District and as Assistant Council Commissioner for Exploring, STEM, Communications and Resources. Jeff is our council’s only Exploring volunteer who single-handedly manages our nearly 40 Exploring Clubs and Posts and STEM labs across our 19 districts.

One “small” example of his attention to detail is given by his institutional knowledge. We’ll be in conversation with a prospective new Medical Post, and Jeff will rattle off the name, unit number,  and insights from a similar Post from 5 years ago. Jeff keeps unparalleled offline records of units with every detail imaginable. This helps our Council analyze and direct our resources. He NEVER complains about shifting formats of the raw data (from scoutnet/my.scouting). This takes work on Jeff’s end, but he steadfastly compiles everything, ensuring our Council’s Exploring sector is always poised with data.

On the National level, Jeff is the Vice-Chair of Marketing & Recruitment, Learning for Life National Executive Board. In addition to this position, he has been designated at the Exploring focal point for any internet issue as well as the Exploring Homepage Webmaster. During his recognition, Colonel Craig Marti (National Vice Chair of Exploring & Support Services) extended a big thank-you to Jeff for his initiative to assist all Councils‘ through rechartering of posts/clubs in late 2021/early 2022. When IT challenges presented in the new online rechartering portal, Jeff immediately orchestrated the efforts of Technology Group on the National Commissioner Service Team and National BSA IT Department to solve these problems.

Jeff holds a bachelor’s degree in aeronautics and astronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and master’s degrees in systems technology and computer science from the Naval Postgraduate School. Finally, we thank him for his service to our Country as a retired United States Navy Lieutenant Commander.

Boo Berry Yay Fern: A project to save our native plants.

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INVASIVE SPECIES 101

Invasive species are animals or plants from another region of the world that don’t belong in their new environment. Invasive species can lead to the extinction of native plants and animals, destroy biodiversity, and permanently alter habitats.

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EXAMPLES OF INVASIVE SPECIES: MY PERSONAL FAVORITE – WINEBERRY

Wineberry is an Asian species of raspberry native to China, Japan, and Korea. The species was introduced to Europe and North America as an ornamental plant and for its potential in breeding hybrid raspberries. Now, it covers forest floors, stealing water and nutrients from native plants.

My Eagle project Boo Berry Yay Fern was called so for a reason! As a part of my Eagle and DCSA project, I enlisted volunteers and logged over 200 hours cleaning invasive Wineberry from Tattersall park in Oakton! Yay to Ferns, which are Virginia native plants, and Boo to Wineberry for hampering their growth.

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JAPANESE STILTGRASS

Japanese stiltgrass was originally brought to the US from Japan as packing material. The seeds were able to spread through this, and now it steals water and nutrients from native plants.

For those who don’t know its dangers, it looks pretty amazing. Walk through a woodland and you see all this lush green grass growing under the trees. The trouble is; that is all you will see. There is absolutely nothing else growing there but Japanese stiltgrass. It takes over everything and smothers out all the native plants that should be growing in the woodland. In fact, the unchecked growth of siltgrass has gotten too out-of-hand in some areas, forcing counties to declare this noxious weed as an “introduced” species, indicating that the problem is on too large of a scale to deal with.

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EMERALD ASH BORER

Brought from China, most likely inside various forms of packing material. Burrow into Ash trees and eat away the inner bark, causing the tree to die when the bark is gone.

These pests have been causing mass die-offs of ash and other trees all across the US. These die-offs remove the forest leaf canopy, causing more sunlight to reach the forest floor. Due to this increased sunlight, invasive plants can spread much more easily. Nonetheless, Emerald ash borers form a lethal combo with any other invasive plant species.

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JAPANENSE HONEYSUCKLE

Also brought from Japan as an ornamental houseplant, and was released into the wild. However, it can grow to incredible sizes and choke out native wildlife.

Japanese honeysuckle directly benefits from the increased light on forest floors that is caused by the emerald ash borers. While it may look good as an ornamental plant, after a point, it will start growing at unparalleled speeds, at which a single plant is able to reach sizes of up to 30 feet long!

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A COLD HARD FACT

4300: Number of unique invasive species in the USA, as estimated by the Department of Fish & Wildlife management.

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INVASIVE SPECIES MANAGEMENT 101

DETECTION
Certain apps -like that provided by the Fairfax County IMA program- can use your phone’s camera to identify invasive species. If the plant is new to the area, report it to the respective agency.

PREVENTION
Most invasive species have their seeds spread by your clothes. Always wipe yourself and brush your shoes at the designated station before leaving a park.

CORRECTION

To help stop these damaging invasive species from spreading and destroying our native plants and animals, we must remove them. When these are removed, ensure that you are removing them from their roots (some may have deep roots), to have a lasting effect!

Sign up for cleanups and conservation efforts, and if you see invasive species, get rid of them. Every little bit will help in our fight against invasive species.

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RESULT: YAY FERN!!!

Putting a stop on invasive species will help the native environment to thrive, not just native plants, but native animals and the entire ecosystem! This is an example of a section in Tattersall Park, Oakton, which now shouts out “ YAY Fern!”

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AS A SCOUT

Join cleanups & projects that are removing invasive plants and planting new native species in their place.

Spread the word! Promote understanding of native plants by educational outreach. This can be just emails, blogs (such as this one), presentations, public fairs booths, farmers market booths etc. You can certainly get creative!

For more information, you can visit the IMA site at https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/parks/invasive-management-area

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CITATIONS

Fairfax County Invasive Management area: https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/parks/invasive-management-area
US Fish and Wildlife Service: https://www.fws.gov/
Picture Credits: Google images (Licensed for usage)