Boy Scout Merit Badge Requirements

[BADGE] FORESTRY

  1. Prepare a field notebook, make a collection, and identify 15 species of trees or wild shrubs in a local forested area. Include a written description of:
    1. Identifying characteristics of leaf, twig, and fruit samples
    2. The habitat in which these trees or shrubs are found
    3. Chief ways each tree or shrub is used by human or wildlife
    4. The forest's successional stage, what its history has been, and what its future is
  2. Do ONE of the following:
    1. Collect and identify wood samples of 10 species of trees. List several ways each species of wood can be used.
    2. Find and examine several stumps or logs that show variations in growth rate in their ring patterns. Prepare a field notebook describing their location and discuss possible reasons for the variations.
  3. Be able to do the following:
    1. Describe contributions forests make to
      Our economy in the form of products
      Our social well-being
      Soil protection and increased fertility
      Clean water
      Clean air
      Wildlife
      Recreation
    2. Tell which watershed or other source your community relies on for its water supply.
  4. Be able to describe what forest management means, including:
    1. Multiple-use management
    2. Even-aged and uneven-aged management and silvicultural systems associated with each type
    3. Intermediate cuttings
    4. How prescribed burning and related forest management practices are used
  5. Do ONE of the following:
    1. Visit a managed public or private forest area with its manager or someone familiar with it. Write a brief report describing:
      The type of forest
      The management objectives
      The forestry techniques used to achieve the objectives
    2. Take a trip to a logging operation or wood-using industrial plant and write a brief report describing:
      The species and size of trees being harvested or used
      Where the trees are going to or coming from
      What products are made from the trees or at the plant
      How the products are made
      How the products are used
      How waste materials from the logging operation or plant are disposed of or utilized
  6. Be able to do the following:
    1. Describe the damages to forests that result from:
      Wildfire
      Insects
      Tree disease
      Overgrazing
      Improper harvest
    2. Tell what can be done to reduce these damages.
    3. Tell what you should do if you discover a forest fire and how to control it.
  7. Do ONE of the following:
    1. Assist in carrying out a project that meets one or more of these objectives: timber stand improvement, watershed improvement, wildlife habitat improvement, recreation area improvement, or range improvement.
    2. Take part in a forest fire prevention campaign in cooperation with your local fire warden, forester, or counselor.
    3. Visit with one of more local foresters and write a brief report including education, qualifications, career opportunities, and objectives relating to forestry.

BSA Advancement ID#: 54
Source: Boy Scout Requirements, #33215D, revised 2001

DEDICATED WEB SITES
Pending
  

TOPICAL LINKS
American Forest & Paper Association: Forest Products Resources
ForestWorld
Plant-It 2000
A forest tour in Willamette timberlands
Forest Puzzles
Environmental Effects of Whole-Tree Timber Harvesting
TAPPI Paper University
WWW Virtual Library: Forestry
  

CONSERVATION MERIT BADGE GROUP
Environmental Science Fish and Wildlife Management
Forestry Soil and Water Conservation
  

MERIT BADGE HELPERS
No Notes Instruction Outline
Learning Worksheet No Examination

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Graphical - Index to Merit Badge Requirements - Textual

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Last modified on Monday, August 20, 2001
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