Return to the Wood Badge Menu Page.

Baden-Powell and James E. West at Schiff Scout Reservation. B-P was attempting to sell Wood Badge in the USA on August 15-16, 1935.  Schiff Scout Reservation was located in Mendam New Jersey, and comprised 470 acres, compared to Gilwell Park's 57 acres, which was where the first Wood Badge Course was held in the USA on May 12-20, 1936.

A World War interrupted the progression of Wood Badge in the United States until early 1948 then Chief Scout Executive Fretwell appointed a small committee to get Wood Badge Training underway.  Then from July 31-August 8, 1948 the first course was held at Schiff with Bill Hilcourt as the Scoutmaster.
This information is provided now for historical purposes, none of the information should be construed in any way to be applied to the new Wood Badge for the Twenty-First Century Courses.
Boy Scout Leader Wood Badge:
this course is now discontinued
This course was offered until the current Wood Badge for the 21st Century became the mandatory curriculum beginning January 1, 2002.  
      •  Boy Scout Leader Wood Badge.
Advanced Training for Boy Scout Leaders, Main Page.
  •  The Objectives of Wood Badge?
Description of the five specific objectives of Wood Badge.
  •  Leadership Skills presented at Wood Badge.
What leadership skills are presented?
  •  What is a Ticket?
What is this ticket thing I keep hearing about?
  •  How should the Wood Badge regalia be presented?
Ceremonies for presentation of the Wood Badge regalia.

Cub Scout Trainers Wood Badge:
this course is now discontinued
  • Cub Scout Trainers Wood Badge was discontinued in December 1999, and was be replaced by the new 21st Century Wood Badge.
  • What is Cub Scout Trainer Wood Badge?
Description of the purpose and objectives of Cub Scout Trainer
Wood Badge, as well as a comparison with Boy Scout Wood Badge.
  • Who Can Participate?
List of the entrance requirements for Cub Scout Trainer Wood Badge.
  • What Does it Take?
What you must accomplish to earn the Wood Badge regalia.
  • What is a Ticket?
The heart of the Cub Scout Trainer Wood Badge commitment.
Varsity Scout Wood Badge:
this course is now discontinued
  • This is a program that has been used a great deal in recent years primarily in the Western Region and is now an official syllabus published November 1997.  It looks basically the same as Boy Scout Wood Badge except for the terminology for positions and an emphasis on High Adventure.
  • The first Varsity Course was held in 1981 at Beaver High Adventure Base in Southern Utah. Varsity Wood Badge basically follows the Scout Wood Badge syllabus while putting an emphasis on the Varsity Scout Activity Booklets released by National BSA. So things like rappelling, Cope Course, Black Powder rifle shooting, Sports, Bicycles, soccer, baseball could be addressed depending on the camp and resources available. The main thrust is still the training of Leadership skills but with a distinctive Varsity Flavor.
- Thanks to Kelly Roe, Course Director WV2-589-2-93
Explorer Wood Badge:
 this course is now discontinued
  • Explorer Wood Badge was offered in the United States in the 1950's.  It was limited to 2 or 3 national courses per year and there may have been as many as 30 courses in all. The participant neckerchief was the opposite colors from the Boy Scout Wood Badge neckerchief in that it was brown with a green axe and log on it. The course was discontinued in 1958 or 1959 when Exploring became a less outdoor oriented program.

Information provided by Michael Brown

The course ran from 1951 thru 1957, and was only available at Schiff or Philmont. With the changes in the Exploring program in 1959, the course ended. Only a little over 30 courses were run. The course was more oriented to the Explorer program of the 50s, with the participants being organized into an Explorer Post. 4 Crews were used, named after Jim Bridger, Daniel Boone, Kit Carson, and William Clark rather then the birds & beasts of WB.  At this time, WB was aimed at program trainers, not unit-level scouters.

 
Return to the Wood Badge Menu Page.
Views expressed on these pages may not necessarily represent those of the Boy Scouts of America. While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of this information, nothing here should be interpreted as official policy.
Copyright © 1996-2002, Mike Barnard. All rights reserved. This material is for personal use only. Republication and redissemination, including posting to news groups, is expressly prohibited without prior written consent.  Last Modified: 11:20 on May 07, 2005.