The goals of our project, Venturing Crew 202, are to: provide young men and women with a unique exposure to natural resources; provide environmental leadership opportunities; educate the public about important environmental issues, including environmental protection; and make a material contribution to environmental restoration. Boy Scout Venturing Crew 202 was formed about 7½ years ago. It is a co-ed unit chartered by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, and provides students age 14 and older with unique opportunities for hands-on leadership and learning experiences in the field of natural resources. Crew officers are elected annually; these officers schedule activities, enlist/assign youth leaders, and provide oversight with the counsel of adult leadership. For each activity, one youth member of the crew assumes responsibility for all aspects of leading and planning, assisted by other youth members as requested and needed. The youth coordinator is mentored by an adult in the crew, and the crew president and adult advisor track overall progress. For each activity, the responsible youth coordinator interacts with appropriate resource professionals as needed, helps secure resources, determines scheduling, and is primarily responsible for volunteer recruitment and training needs.

With help from partners too numerous to list, crew accomplishments to date include:

• Planting more than 8,000 trees spanning some 40 acres of streamside habitat;
• Maintaining trees from buffer plantings several times per year;
• Conducting environmental education activities in concert with tree plantings, tree maintenance days, and other activities for more than 700 non-crew members;
• Participation in numerous other environmental restoration activities, including invasive water chestnut removal, nutria management, tidal wetland restoration projects, non-tidal wetland restoration projects for Federally Threatened bog turtles, and stream and roadside cleanups;
• Establishment of environmentally benign campsites, trails, and a walking bridge for visitors at an environmental learning center,  work in an organic Heritage garden and experimental American chestnut grove, and design/construction/ maintenance of a native coldwater fishes educational display;
• Co-sponsoring "Fish Day" at an elementary school. This activity involved an entire school (400 students) for an entire school day. Crew staff ran stations for fishing, fly tying, undersea art murals, fish-print t-shirts, fish stories, and story telling, and also provided logistical support;
• Planning and conducting an annual environment-related Boy Scout Merit Badge Camp for hundreds of Boy Scouts;
• Participating as volunteers in numerous Department of Natural Resources monitoring programs;
• Completion of a set of 7 aquatic displays for use at state fairs and other venues;
• Providing environmental education demonstrations for 6,200 members of the public; and
• Establishment of a Crew Greening initiative. Recognizing the critical need for society to become more conservation-minded in everyday life, the crew is pursuing a step-by-step education/implementation of conservation practices.

Venturing Crew 202 is a living, breathing, continuing example of a small group of committed youth changing the world, by beginning in their backyards and by working in their local community.

Partner Statement

The Venturing Crew 202 is a co-ed unit of the Boy Scouts of America and is chartered by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. The youth play an active role in developing, planning, and carrying out environmental education and restoration projects along the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries. Their mission is to improve the environment to lead to a healthier Chesapeake Bay watershed. Using an educational outreach approach, the students work with community and government organizations and provide a "shining example" for other youth to make a difference in their community.

National Science Teachers Association, an organization that strongly supports and advocates informal science education, is proud to join SeaWorld and Busch Gardens in recognizing the Boy Scouts of America Venturing Crew 202 with an Environmental Excellence Award.