Forestry Merit Badge
Eight requirements drawn so the field notebook from requirement 1 is visibly a prerequisite of two of requirement 2's routes, and so the appointments buried in requirement 5 are visible from the start.
9 steps (36 parts inside them). 15 parts depend on questions you have not answered yet. · Version 1, published 13 August 2026 · About Forestry Merit Badge
No questions answered
This is the whole plan: everything that could apply to anybody. Answering the 3 questions at the address above takes out the parts that are not for you.
Which of this applies to you
You have not answered anything yet, so this is the whole plan: everything that could apply to anybody. Answering 3 short questions will take out the parts that are not for you.
The steps
Stage 1 of 9
1 step
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1. Prepare a field notebook, and identify fifteen species Often forgotten Requirement
A field notebook, a collection, and 15 species of trees, wild shrubs or vines identified in a local forested area, with a written description covering all three parts below. The notebook is a physical thing that two of requirement 2's three routes then write into.
THE FIELD NOTEBOOK IS AN OBJECT, NOT A FORMALITY, AND TWO OF REQUIREMENT 2'S THREE ROUTES WRITE INTO IT. Both 2(b) and 2(c) open with the same words: "In the field notebook you prepared for requirement 1". That means the notebook has to exist and be with you in the field before either can be started. Only 2(a), the wood samples route, is free of it. If you intend to do 2(b) or 2(c), finish requirement 1 properly first rather than treating the notebook as something to write up later.
Stage 2 of 9
1 step
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2. Choose one: wood samples, growth rings, or damage Requirement
Three routes. Two of them write into the requirement 1 field notebook and need it with you in the field; the wood samples route does not mention it.
3 parts
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2(b). Three stumps, logs or cores showing different growth rates Optional May not apply Often forgotten Usually comes after 1. Prepare a field notebook, and identify fifteen species. FOUR READINGS THAT CANNOT BE TAKEN AFTERWARDS. As well as describing each example, this asks for its location or origin INCLUDING elevation, aspect, slope, and the position on the slope. Those are recorded where you are standing. A photograph of a stump will not tell you any of them later, and the requirement asks for a photograph or sketch as well as, not instead of, the description.
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2(c). Two types of animal, insect or disease damage to trees Optional May not apply Usually comes after 1. Prepare a field notebook, and identify fifteen species.
Stage 3 of 9
1 step
Stage 4 of 9
1 step
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4. Forest management: five ideas, explained Requirement
Describe what forest management means, covering all five below. This is the requirement the pamphlet and your counselor exist for.
Stage 5 of 9
1 step
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5. Choose one visit, with parent and counselor approval first Often forgotten Requirement
Three routes and all of them need another person and an arrangement. The preamble requires both your parent or guardian's approval and your counselor's before you go. Each ends in a brief written report.
ALL THREE ROUTES NEED SOMEBODY ELSE, AND TWO APPROVALS BEFORE YOU GO. The preamble requires your parent or guardian's AND your counselor's approval, and it applies to whichever route you choose. Then 5(a) needs a forest manager or a forester familiar with the site, 5(b) needs a knowledgeable individual plus a logging operation or mill willing to host you, and 5(c) needs a fire prevention campaign that is actually running plus your fire warden, state wildfire agency, forester or counselor. Nothing here can be arranged on the day, so raise requirement 5 at an early meeting rather than when you reach it.
10 parts
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5(b). Visit a logging operation or a wood-using plant Optional May not apply Often forgotten READ ALL SEVEN PARTS BEFORE THE VISIT AND TAKE THE LIST WITH YOU. Species and sizes, the origin of the stand, its successional stage and future, land ownership or destination mill, the products, how they are made and used, and how waste is handled. Most of that has to come from the person showing you round, and a mill tour is not easy to arrange twice. The waste question is the one most often forgotten on the day and the hardest to answer from home.
Stage 6 of 9
1 step
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6. Hazardous trees: inventory them, or review a professional report Requirement
In your camp, local recreation area or neighbourhood. Two routes, and one of them depends on a document that may not exist for your area.
2 parts
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6(a). Inventory hazardous trees yourself, then hand the list over Optional May not apply Often forgotten
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6(b). Review a professional hazardous tree report, then visit the trees Optional May not apply CHECK THAT THIS REPORT EXISTS BEFORE YOU CHOOSE THIS ROUTE. It asks you to review "a hazardous tree report done by a professional for this area" and then visit the trees and the results of the prescription. Many camps, parks and neighbourhoods have never had such a survey done, and nothing you do can make one appear. Where it exists this is much the quicker of requirement 6's two routes; where it does not, 6(a) is your only way through. Ask the camp ranger, the park authority or your local council before deciding.
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Stage 7 of 9
1 step
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7. What harms forests, what helps, and what to do about a fire Requirement
All three parts, and the second one is written against the first.
3 parts
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7(b). Explain what can be done to reduce those same consequences Usually comes after 7(a). Consequences to forests from FIVE of ten named elements.
Stage 8 of 9
1 step
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8. A local forester, or the occupation Requirement
Either visit one or more local foresters and write a brief report about them, or write about a forester's occupation including education, qualifications, career opportunities and duties. Only the first needs somebody to agree to meet you.
Stage 9 of 9
1 step
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Counselor signs it off Milestone
The completion date is the date you met the requirements, not the date of the signature.
Usually comes after 8. A local forester, or the occupation.
Merit badge requirements are republished annually. A Scout beginning work uses the requirements as they stand then; a Scout already working may finish under the ones they started with. Guide to Advancement 7.0.4.3 governs which applies. This page records the date its copy was read. Check it against the official page before relying on it.
This plan is a planning aid: the current Boy Scouts of America publication is always the authority, and the sources used here are listed in full. Each step names its own.