Whether your favorite pastime is hiking in the backcountry or camping in a state park, you are encouraged to take the time to learn the outdoor ethics of your activity. Stewardship is about taking care of the great lands that belong to all of us, and keeping them healthy for future generations.

• Environmental Stewardship is a concept of responsible caretaking for our land and associated resources.
• Environmental Stewardship is an ethical responsibility for mankind to protect and manage plants, animals, and all the parts of our environment and should be guided by the principle of causing the least amount of harm possible. This includes protecting the environment by limiting pollution, through recycling and conservation, and by responsible management of our natural resources.
• Environmental Stewardship is our responsibility to leave behind healthy environments for future generations.
• Environmental Stewardship is putting aside selfishness and greed and doing what is right for our natural environment.

The Boy Scouts of America has taken Environmental Stewardship seriously since our inception back in 1910. Leave No Trace principles are incorporated into our program of rank advancement and are practiced by us whenever we take to the great outdoors. Our Environmental Stewardship responsibilities are summed up in the words we learn when we first join the Boy Scouts and recite the Outdoor Code:

As an American, I will do my best to –

• Be clean in my outdoor manners. Be careful with fire Be considerate in the outdoors. Be conservation-minded.