BICO MEETING MINUTES:

On June 15, 2006, we had our BICO general meeting at Bob Burchard's home. The reason for this out-of-rhythm meeting was that Gwen Bergen was able to schedule BICO for a professional "Leave No Trace" training opportunity. Thank you, Gwen. Below are the relatively short minutes from this meeting.

Thank you to all who attended, and to Bob Burchard for hosting the meeting.

NEXT BICO MEETING -

Monday, August 7, 2006 at Bob Burchard's home at 7:30 pm

We hope to see everyone there.

Sincerely,

Bob Iacovazzi, Vice Chair

 

Leave No Trace Training:

At this meeting, volunteers had the opportunity to obtain "Leave No Trace" lessons from traveling trainers working from the Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics (http://www.lnt.org/). Our trainers, North and Ella, were very enthusiastic and offered some novel ways to share "Leave No Trace" principles with youngsters.

We started the evening by sharing our names and our "most memorable" outdoor experiences. Most of us could not share just one. After the icebreaker, we watched a short movie about the seven principles of "Leave No Trace":

  1. plan ahead
  2. camp on durable surfaces
  3. dispose of waste properly
  4. leave what you find
  5. minimize campfire impacts
  6. be considerate of others and
  7. respect wildlife

After the movie, we played three games to reinforce these principles. These are below:

Game 1) We were broken up into four groups and each group was given a puzzle. The puzzles were relatively simple, but all of the puzzles were missing pieces. For the puzzle solvers, this reinforced the "leave what you find" principle.

Game 2) "Leave No Trace" Family Feud - We were broken up into two groups. North, the game moderator, would ask a "Leave No Trace" related question to a volunteer from each group. The person that got the right answer first secured a chance for their group to be asked a second question. The more questions that a given group got correct, the more points they got. This game stimulated a great deal of discussion between the two groups.

Game 3) "Leave No Trace" Race - Four volunteers entered the "Leave No Trace Race", which was lead by Ella. Each contestant was given a "Leave No Trace" related question. If they got it correct, they got to take three steps forward. Since all of the contestants of this particular race answered their questions correctly, there was a tie for first place.

In addition to these games, we were also given a knot-tying lesson. This lesson reinforced the need for us to give the kids as much hands-on learning as we can, and to be patient.

The training was great fun for all who attended.