Nature resources

The Sonoran Arthropod Studies Institute has a day of workshops, hikes, and a pot luck lunch the 4th Saturday of every month. Some great topics regarding insects and other invertebrates here in the desert are covered every time. Have some fun, more info at:

http://www.sasionline.org/

They also help out with the Weedwhackers the 3rd Saturday of every month, removing fountain grass and other species that threaten native plants. If you need an ecology- or conservation-related service project they are happy to hook you up!

Speaking of museums...

There are several museums in Tucson that are free this weekend! Go to the Smithsonian Magazine website, choose your museum and print out the free ticket for Saturday.  The following museums are included:

• Arizona History Museum
• Arizona State Museum
• Fort Lowell Museum
• International Wildlife Museum
• Jewish History Museum

Enjoy!

Month 1 : Webelos 1

Webelos 1 are slated to take a trip to a "Natural history museum, nature center, or zoo". We all know about the Tucson Zoo, right? Don't forget about the behind-the-scenes programs available to scouts on the 3rd Saturday of the month, check with the council office for cost and availability.

For nature centers there are a variety of choices. There's the Desert Museum (also a natural history museum), the Botanical Gardens, or Tohono Chul for starters. They all have some great outreach programs, so call ahead and ask what's available. If you have a small group, offer to combine with an existing group to help them out. The Audobon Society's Mason Center offers guided tours on Fridays for a $25 fee for the group if you want something a little more out of the way. They also offer free field trips from time to time, so check to see if it fits your schedule. Sweetwater Wetlands are open for self-guided tours, be sure to request a field guide.

If you want to go a little further afield, the Boyce Thompson Arboretum is a great resource. They have a Junior Ranger program for all kids 6-12, and they have several Girl Scout Badge programs. If you happen to have a Girl Scout and a Cub (I can't be the only one out there with a Brownie and a Webelos, can I?), your Cub can be included in the girl scouting activities for an additional fee.

The International Wildlife Museum counts as a Natural History museum, but you may not want to wear this one out yet. It will be the location for the Cub Scout Expo in November and you will get a chance to visit then!

Have a great time!

Service opportunity

This may be a little late for this year, but it is a good idea for next year. United Way's Days of Caring takes place every September. Usually a Saturday and a Wednesday. Volunteer registration is closed for this year, but it usually opens in early August next year.

If you register early enough, you can get free "live united" T-shirts. There are projects all over Tucson for all size groups and all ages. Keep this in mind as you are finishing up your summer activities by 2011!

Happy September

So here we are in September. I've decided I'm going to try to post a little about the outings for the cubbies in the order they appear in the new Den Meeting guide for the different ranks. Some things will combine--there's only so much you can write about a police station visit, whether it's Bears or Tigers.

So let's start with the Tigers for Month 1 - Library, Historical society, Museum, old farm, historical building. You can combine Library, Museum, historical building and (sorta) old farm by going to Colossal Cave. They have a library and museum onsite, and their historical helpers are more than happy to answer any questions. They have buildings made by the CCC and some La Posta Quemada ranch buildings (a ranch is close enough to a farm in these parts, don't you think?)

Bears also have a "historical place of interest" for Month 1. If you have a small pack you may be able to combine these trips.
They often offer an admission discount to scouts so be sure to call ahead.  Depending on how much time you have you may be able to squeeze in a short hike, or even a litter pick-up/conservation project as well. Have a great visit!

Upcoming stuff

OK, so I know I'm 99.9% talking to myself out here. But here it is.

*REI is having a couple good classes coming up--especially for webelos and up. The younger ones might get a little bored trying to learn about Ironwood Nat'l Monument, but the older ones could get some info for their Naturalist or Forester badges. They are also doing mountain bike maintenance, good for those Handyman badges and the Bear requirements for biking.
* Sign up for the Rincon Institute newsletters to look for volunteer opportunities and some fun activities during the farmer's market.
* Don't forget Bat Night 2010. Giant sandbox, 40000 bats, what more could a young scout want?

National Park Stuff

http://www.publiclandsday.org/http://www.nps.gov/findapark/feefreeparksbystate.htmThis weekend is the 3rd weekend this summer that is fee-free for National Parks. This covers many parks in Arizona, including Saguaro.
So, go on out and have fun! My real subject, though, is that next month is National Public Lands day. The volunteer site is up and running. There is one project listed in Safford and one listed for the BLM office in Tucson, but that office covers a lot of area so make sure it is someplace you can get to. One of the project areas is Indian Kitchen, which is pretty close to Sahuarita.  This is a great weekend to schedule a conservation project. The Rincon Institute is a good source to contact about possible projects, as is the Friends of Saguaro.
Don't forget, county lands are also public lands, and Tucson Clean and Beautiful is always looking for groups to help with conservation projects in the county parks. They do need a copule weeks lead time, especially for areas like Cienega Creek that have parking restrictions. 
Enjoy the parks, and let's get out there!

More summer programming

Night Walk on Friday at Saguaro National Park East. It's a 2 hour walk, but fairly easy. Call to sign up, (520) 733-5153.

Sonoran Desert Kids Club

Cub and Brownie leaders--Need some good outdoor programming? Don't forget about the Sonoran Desert Kids Club activities at Agua Caliente park. It's 9:30 AM to noon on the second Saturday of the month, which means the next one will be August 14, plenty of time to pre-register!

Also, the prickly pear harvest is coming up in August. Again at Agua Caliente they are having an activity. You can also do harvesting in your neighborhood, be sure to wear leather gloves. The dark purple native prickly pear fruit isn't quite as tasty as the lighter-colored version. You can remove the spines by burning or cutting them off (not for cubbies!) you can eat it or juice it. Prickly pear lemonade is especially popular.

This is a good opportunity to combine cooking lessons with native plant lessons!

Fall recruiting coming soon

For those of us in Vail School District, it's already here. At the pack level, the packs often sponsor activities--rent a bouncy castle, or free roller skating or the like--to invite interested families to join.  I'm trying to think of new ideas here--anyone else have one?

Agaves are trees, right?

Around here I'd say they serve much of the same function. So if your Webelos are looking to finish that Forester badge and plant 100 seedlings, this weekend is your chance!
Coronado National Memorial is planting 1500 agaves on Saturday. These are critical to the bats who live in the area. Many agaves were removed or displaced during the border fence construction, so now is the time to get things back a little closer to what they were.  This is a great opportunity to learn more about our local environment and give back at the same time.
They are having a birding walk at 7AM with the Audobon society. Registration starts at 8:00AM, followed by orientation and planting starts at 9AM. They are planning to be finished by 12:30 PM, at which time you can join in a plant identification walk.
To make a reservation or for additional information, contact the Coronado National Memorial visitor center at 366-5515, Ext. 0.

Summer Scouting

It's midsummer for some of our school districts, but back-to-school for others. I'd say about 20% of our scouting district is in a modified year-round school. Is that a high enough number to modify the scouting schedule to at least include some of those?  We try to accomodate religious differences (ie, not having all scouting activities on Saturdays), wouldn't school schedule differences fall into the same kind of category?

For instance, the Pimaree last year was right after school started for the year-round districts. How difficult would it have been to move it back a week to accomodate those schedules?

Especially when, looking at the district from a monetary angle, many of those units are your top FoS units and top popcorn selling units. Not to mention all of the kids who are in church-based units (vs. geographically-based units) who go to school there.

Just a REmInder...

REI has some fun classes for Girl Scouts and other kids of scouting age this summer. You'll need to sign up on their website.
The next class is on the 21st of June, it is about camping and called "What to To When You Get There".
REI also has their Family Adventure Program, which is continually adding activities in AZ. It's also a nice reference for trips elsewhere to easily find a family-friendly outdoor activity. You can even win a $50 gift card in their outdoor photo contest!
Don't forget, of course, that Summit Hut is still here in town and they do still offer a scout discount (membership card required--still got that?) They offer in-store events as well, some of them kid-friendly but most of them general. Is it coincidence that they now offer free ship-to-store, just like REI and  Wal-Mart, I wonder? In any case, they also have a nice community page with links to a lot of local organizations and information.
Enjoy!

Summertime and Scouting

For Boy Scouts and older Girl Scouts, summertime usually means scout camp. All the work and fundraising and learning they've done goes into a week-long (or longer!) adventure, somewhere out in nature. Tucson has in-council camps, but remember there are also some great Grand Canyon Council camps--not to mention, all the great places in AZ to get out there and have a great time!

For Cub Scouts, Daisies and Brownies, summer means a break from pack and troop meetings, and usually some more casual summertime activities. In Tucson that often means some indoor activities. Here are some fun ideas:

• Bowling (don't pay full price, there are too many coupons out there to count!)
• Roller Skating
• Gymnastics (check with the gym--many are swamp-cooled and are a better choice for early summer when it's dry)
• See a play at Gaslight Theatre or Live Theater Workshop
• Indoor Rock Climbing (yes, this is OK per G2SS)
• The Mineral Museum at the U of A
• Flandrau Observatory is also open this summer
• Biosphere II
• Bookman's and the local libraries have some fun programs

Keep an eye on Tucson Kids and Tucson on the Cheap for some good deals on all sorts of activities. Many of these are appropriate for a den or a small troop, even if you can't take a large group of kids.

More later on outdoor stuff! Enjoy the summer!

Trashy Kids!

Today we participated in the Catalina Council Get In The Game Cache In Trash Out. We had about 20-ish folks show up to help clean Escalante Park and learn about geocaching.

Honestly, when Cub Scouts say "conservation project," it often means picking up trash. It's something that most kids can do that they don't have to be trained to do, and it's difficult to do it wrong.

I do get kind of tired of trash pickup, but today's experience was pretty nice. Got to meet some new people and do a little teaching about geocaching. There was a cache right there in the park that had been placed by a couple of cub scouts, so it was a great teaching moment.

We were hoping to have the Council's GITG kit before the CITO, so we could get some travel bugs started and the Pillars of Scouting geocoins. Unfortunately it didn't show up yet, so we had a couple of substitute activities. We showed the PWD car that will get the Race to 2010 travel bug, and passed out some CITO containers--small plastic containers stuffed with plastic bags that can be placed in a cache, to allow other cachers to "trash out" as they leave the cache area.

We've been trying to work with the council for a couple months to get this set up, it's amazingly slow to get something running. And, we have a relatively small council! How do people get anything done at this pace, requiring this level of bugging people?

Maybe I'm just too used to the corporate world, but I'm just saying it is a good thing that "promptness" isn't a scout value. 

Get out! even if you don't want to go far

Want to get out and hike but don't want to drive too far to get started? Been to Sabino Canyon a million times already?
Pima County has a fairly extensive system of trailheads, starting from various points around the city.  It makes a lovely arc from Explorer Trailhead, providing access to Tucson Mountain, on the southwest; up to points north such as Honeybee Canyon in the north, all the way down to Davidson Trailhead in the southeast. You will need a little more information for your full hike, many of these are detailed on Local Hikes or Trails.com. I'll try to log some of the ones we do. One hike that I've taken my kids on since they were small is the Freeman Homestead Trail in Saguaro Nat'l Park east. It is a short loop, about a mile, and we've hiked it in all seasons. It goes through a sandy wash and hugs a cliff face where there are usually owls roosting for the day. If you want a trail guide you will probably have to ask at the visitor's center, they do not stock the box at the trailhead. You will have to pay an entrance fee to the park to reach this trail.

More Earth Day!

h Our pack is going camping this weekend. But..if we weren't, we might look at going to GreenFest. It's sponsored by Tucson Botanical Gardens, the Girl Scouts, and Bookman's. Lots of good info on fun on greener living (all part of the front-country Leave No Trace, right?) Can help with the gardening requirements and ecology requirements for cub badges.

We're moving our campout to Roper Lake because Mt. Lemmon is just going to be too darned cold--briefly thought about moving it to Catalina State Park. If we did we could drop in on the Solar Potluck by Tucson Citizens for Solar!

Science, ecology, and nachos baked by the sun. What could be better?

Well..we're hoping that fishing, dissecting owl pellets, and marshmallows will come close!

Earth Day

Took the scouts to Earth Day at Reid Park today. They had a good time. Did a little networking with Habitat for Humanity and the wastewater people--may have a hook-up there for a couple of activities. Just for future reference, this is the shortest parade ever, during a community event--so it makes a quick add for the kids' Citizenship Pin requirements, #8 and #10. It is very easy to also accomplish #9 (list ways you can recycle various materials and conserve and protect the environment.)

Just watch out for the guys who want to argue with the PETA people.

Roper Lake Pack Campout

Last spring our pack went to Roper Lake for our pack campout. We stayed in the Gila group area. It worked well for our pack, plenty of room for the tents and pop-up trailers. We did have to work with the staff to make sure all the vehicles got tagged.
Some of the kids spent a lot of time fishing. Some didn't fish much at all. We were able to set up a small archery range down a back road with permision, it was several minutes walk from the campsite so a lot of people drove.
There is water available and the restrooms have flush toilets and showers. There are signs in the showers warning that they will be turned off if water is wasted. There are also a couple of outdoor sinks, I am guessing these are intended for kitchen duties.
The cabins surround the group area, so we tried to be considerate with our campfire noise and not go too late. Unfortunately for us there was a concert going on down the road that went on until about 11:30 PM anyway, so I didn't get to sleep until the encore was over (it was Honky Tonk Woman, by the way!)
After the 'official' campout was over we took a couple of the Webelos over to the nature trail. We hiked the loop, it is pretty short. There are labels on it but there were no guides that day, so we had to guess what we were intended to look at. The rock hot-tub there is a very nice way to end the campout--but it only holds a few people so it wouldn't be practical for a large group of scouts.
We didn't make it over to the day use area, it looks like there is quite a bit to do there. We spent most of our time working on whittlin' chips, cub obstacle course and treasure hunts. And fishin'.
Overall a nice camp spot, but not much shade so you may want to avoid this in hot weather. May be closed due to budget cuts this summer anyway, unfortunately!
And make sure you stop to see The Thing? on the way home. Or at least stop for ice cream.

Year of Celebration awards

Our pack has several kids and some adults working on the Year of Celebration awards. In January we tried to pick up our first round from the scout shop, using the form generated by the website that the Boy Scouts of America told us to use.
We were told that it had to be on an advancement report. Now, advancement reports are used for awards that have to be earned, like rank awards and merit badges for boy scouts. The awards can be earned by alumni and leaders as well, who wouldn't normally even show up on the report.
So I called the scout shop to verify, before we go out there again. They said that you either have to do the online form OR the advancement report. They said "only one pack has done it correctly all year." I'd really like to know what pack that is so we can get this right with *one* trip to the scout shop. Driving 15 miles each way is kind of a pain. I can imagine it is even more painful for the packs / troops who are further out and have to add an hour to that drive to get to the service center.
Wish us luck!

Pack Camping - Whitetail Campground, Mt. Lemmon

http://www.astronomycamp.org/pages/bigelow.htmlOne of the things I'm planning on posting about is the places available for camping with cubs in the Tucson area. The Guide to Safe Scouting (hereafter known as G2SS) allows pack overnighters, which our pack usually does on the weekends a couple times a year.

Since it's a weekend thing, we usually don't want to go too far away. About 2 hours of driving seems to be a reasonable limit, so most of the areas I'm interested in covering will be within that radius from southeast Tucson.

We are planning a trip up to Whitetail Campground on Mt. Lemmon. There are 5 group sites, they require a reservation in advance. It is a fairly new site and nice, with paved parking and concrete walkways. They have a large firepit, and a ramada with several picnic tables. There are also bear boxes and bear-safe trash cans, and a few large charcoal grills. There are a couple pit toilets for each campsite and water available with a spigot at the ramada. I'd recommend bringing a large jug unless you want soggy kids every time they go to wash something or get a drink, the spigots are not easy to control! There is also no water at the restroom, so you may want to set up a hand-washing jug there as well.

The campground is on one side of a large ravine. Up the hill on the other side is a fairly large fall of trees, the kids like to use these to make forts and shelters (supervised of course). The site in the back is the largest, there are several pads for tents but you can't drive your car up to the tent site--you have to do some hauling.
There is power but only at the ramada, so to inflate your air mattresses you'll have to haul them around too.

There is some room with a sort-of flat area for games and activities, but I wouldn't really count on playing kickball or football here. The campground is across from the trailhead that leads up to the (lower) observatory, which makes a nice hike but be careful crossing the highway.

The campground hosts are very careful about their campground and will enforce the rules about parking, not using chalk on the ground, fire building, and noise. Which, overall, makes it nicer for everyone.

I've camped here with other groups as well, and it seems that a lot of cub packs use this campground. Last time I think I saw the cubs from St. Cyril's!

Another note: you don't have to buy a Mt. Lemmon pass if you are only going to Whitetail. If you are going to stop somewhere else on the way up or down you should have one, but whitetail-only doesn't require one.

Outdoor Webelos Leader Skills training

Last weekend I took the Intro. to Outdoor Skills for Webelos Leaders class. I'd registered after some mis-communication with the council office and the course leader, so I was honestly a little skeptical. I know that less-than-stellar registration and pre-information doesn't always mean the event itself is not well planned, but it just doesn't give you a good confident feeling going in.

As far as the actual outdoor skills, I don't think I learned much I didn't already know. I re-learned how to tie a bowline knot. Being left-handed, by the way, makes it a little tricky for righties to show you how to tie.

I did learn quite a bit, though, about presentation of the outdoor concepts to scouts. Yeah, we all know, that telling the kids how to do something is the least likely method to get them to remember. But it is also the most accessible, right? Tell them to turn to page 142 in their handbooks and read it.

So, I got some good ideas on how to work on outdoor concepts with the boys. Making animal and plant identification into a game? So much better than flash cards. I think we should have included scorpions, though.