Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/Recreation/Wilderness Leadership

1. Have the following honors

 * a. Backpacking
 * b. Camping Skills I-IV
 * Camping Skills I
 * Camping Skills II
 * Camping Skills III
 * Camping Skills IV
 * c. Fire Building & Camp Cookery
 * d. First Aid
 * e. Hiking
 * f. Orienteering

2. Know and practice the principles of health, safety, and rules of conduct to be used when in the wilderness with a youth group.
The principles of health apply whether you are in the wilderness or not. A healthy diet should be maintained on any wilderness outing. Regular medications (if necessary) should be taken as prescribed. Personal hygiene should be practiced, including washing the hands frequently, and brushing the teeth regularly.

The danger of being in the wilderness is that it is remote. Ambulance service is not available in a forest, and transporting an injured person to a facility where professional medical care is available is likely be a time-consuming proposition. Furthermore, the more time that elapses between an injury and treatment, the less positive the outcome is likely to be.

Therefore, extra care should be taken, and the risks should be evaluated with the remoteness of the location in mind. Be conservative, and minimize risk wherever possible. This means you do not jump from high places. A sprained ankle can lead to disaster. Remember that if a person is injured badly enough to become immobile, someone will have to carry him out, along with his gear and their own gear, especially if that gear is critical to survival. If everyone is already fully laden, this can be a tremendous problem.

This is also the reason that "horsing around" should not be tolerated by a leader. Horseplay can lead to injury, and injury is to be avoided.

Fire safety should also be practiced, as should ax safety, and knife safety. Remember that an injury in the wilderness is always more serious than an equivalent injury at home.

The 7 Leave No Trace Principles:


 * Plan ahead and prepare.
 * Travel and camp on durable surfaces.
 * Dispose of waste properly.
 * Leave what you find.
 * Minimize campfire impacts (be careful with fire).
 * Respect wildlife.
 * Be considerate of other visitors.

3. Know and demonstrate the principles of signaling and rescue.
==4. Assist in planning and participate with a group in a mock demonstration of what to do if lost, stranded, or injured in the wilderness. Assist in planning and participate as a leader in a search and rescue operation involving a hidden "injured" person.==

Stranded
If you find yourself stranded in the wilderness, the first priority should be to find (or make) shelter. The cause of death for most stranding situations is exposure to the elements. Shelter is more important than water or food. A person can die of exposure overnight, whereas death by dehydration takes a day or more, and death by starvation may take several weeks. If possible, find or build a shelter well before nightfall.

If you have a cell phone with you, try calling the emergency service (911 in most places) and let them know of your predicament. Give them as accurate a description of your location as possible. If you cannot get voice service, try sending a text message instead - these are more reliable when the signal is weak.

After shelter has been secured, the next priority should be to build a fire. A fire serves many functions, the primary one being the provision of heat. This is especially important in winter conditions. A fire will also provide a visual indication of your whereabouts to any search party that has been dispatched to find you. Fire will also keep wild animals away and will provide a morale boost.

When day breaks, assess your situation. If the weather permits, venture out and see if you can figure out where you are or if there is anything you can do to improve your situation. Do not venture far from your shelter, or if you do, leave an indication of where you are headed. If you feel you need to leave your shelter, head for higher ground where cell phone reception may be better (again, use a text message instead of voice). It is far easier for a search party to find a person who stays put than it is to find one who is roaming about.

Try to make your location visible to aircraft. Keep the fire going even in the daytime. Make an S.O.S. in the snow or sand, or use rocks to spell out the letters. Drape brightly covered cloth over shrubbery. Do whatever you can to make your presence easily detectable. Then wait for rescue.

Injured
In a bleeding injury, your first priority is to stop the flow of blood. Do this by applying pressure to the wound and by binding it with bandages. Review your first aid procedures before setting out. If you are injured and stranded, stay where you are. This is the quickest path to rescue. Do not attempt to traverse treacherous territory if your are physically unable to do so. This could lead to further, more serious injury.

Search and Rescue Drill
Of course, for a mock search, you may opt out of using "all available resources," such as dogs and aircraft. For this requirement it will suffice to conduct a sweep of the area and if that fails, conduct a grid search.

5. Demonstrate some skills necessary for wilderness leadership in one of the following areas
Imagine yourself going into the wilderness with a group of people. Of all the people in the group, one seems to know nearly everything about staying comfortable and surviving in that environment. Whom do you think the group will follow?

Of course there is more to wilderness leadership than knowing how to thrive in the environment. A good leader will also know how to persuade people to follow. This is accomplished through competence and respect. But these qualities of a good leader are common to all of the areas listed below. Therefore, in the sections below we will focus on the skills necessary for comfort and survival but that are unique to the area being discussed.