I stumbled on the Hug a Tree Program today and since I am about to be a dad to a little boy, I was keenly interested in the program. So I downloaded some pages for the information and they keep refering to a presentation and handouts you can get. I have searched high and low, for as much info as I could get, then I found the national headquarters homepage.

I clicked on the link, and it is dead. I have tried to find any information I can on this program and most of what I have found is the same nine steps for survival. I am curious if this program is still up and running so I can order the program, or has it gone the way of the dodo and is being carried on through several websites.

Just curious to see if anyone knows anything,

Garrett

Garret,

I might have those downloaded... somewhere on one of these drives... which ones are you looking for?

Tom

I'm interested also. My boy is 1.5yrs so I be hanging a whistle round his neck (on a break-away lanyard of course) and teaching him to hug trees pretty soon too (can't wait). <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Garrett & Brian,

Hmmm. The National website is down, as you wrote, and the Blue Ridge guys no longer offer the program, which makes me suspect the program is withering away.

I found my file (brute force search for "hug*.*") - although I swear, I had the handouts at one time, so perhaps I still do. Anyway, the one file I found was an MHT file of an archived article from Scouts Canada in the November 1997 issue of "The Leader" magazine. The Scouts Canada website is massively upgraded now (1997 archives not visible at the moment) and the article links no longer work... and in any event, they were pretty much aimed at the RCMP Hug-a-Tree site, which you will hit up high on a Google search. Only DL there is the bi-lingual coloring book. I remember more than that and if you folks strike out, I'll try rooting around a bit more on my drives...

I swear, this sort of thing is almost enough to make me google my hard drives - I even have all my ancient C= 64 files on one of these drives, if you can believe that... (yeah, I *know* where those are...)

Anyway, skinny article, plain text, and the current RCMP site pretty much covers what was in that article. Did you sift thru FEMA and ARC sites? IIRC, they have some good related/similar material as well as a lot of good suggestions.

You can Google as well as I can, so I'll confine any further searching to my local drives. Let me know if you want me to keep searching - I am pretty sure there was more than just the one coloring book.

Tom

Edit: I've got 4 related files - you can get the coloring book from the RCMP site (I don't see it on my drives) - I don't have exactly what you were looking for, but it's OK stuff. In the neighborhood of 700kB altogether; all are MHT browser archive files. Range from 6 - 391kB each. Email me if you want me to send them to you.

Never too soon to start. I started woods-proofing my kids before they could talk in complete sentences. We simply kept doing what we did BK, but with the kids - and made fun out of learning things. Heck, our oldest actually REMEMBERS my first tent; we didn't own/use tents until the 2nd or 3rd kid came along... Younger = shorter lessons, disguised as play until they think they're too old to "play" (early teens). Then you call it some sort of tough-guy-adventure stuff name - but it's still fun. We moved a lot slower those early days (heck, now I think *I* move slower), but it was great fun for us parents, as well. Great memories... I'm almost ready for Grandkids to recycle through those times. We left puzzling evidence for future archeologists all over North America...

Haven't heard anything on it in a while, but as I remember, the gist was to teach kids to stay put if they find themselves separated/lost in the woods, and to wait for help instead of wandering off, making a bigger search area and possibly getting themselves into a bigger problem than being lost.

The concept is great for small children, but I can't help but wonder...how did they get that far away from dear old Mom and Dad if they were doing their job in the first place? I can't imagine a scenerio where my daughter could have ever been "left behind" when she was that young (or now, for that matter). But then again, my wife and I HAVE been accused of being a little over-protective once or twice... Oh well.

Troy

Garrett,

I'm currently a Cub Scout Den Leader. I created a little HAT&S PowerPoint slide set based upon what I could find on-line. I couldn't find a SAR team in my area that did the presentation.

If you'd like a copy, post an e-mail address.

What I did was buy little cheap fanny packs from Orientaltrading.com for each boy and then they filled them with:

>> Whistles on a stretchable wrist lanyard, also from OrientalTrading.com. For my own kids I replaced the cheap whistles with Wind Storm whistles.

>> Orange trash bags from Spectrumtrashbags.com, with a demo of how to tear a face hole. I would suggest the parents pre-slice a face opening.

>> Princeton Tech white LED lights added to the wrist lanyard, on a great sale from Campmor.com. They're not on sale anymore. This isn't mentioned by the Hug a Tree people, but I figured many kids are naturally afraid of the dark and this might help.

The boys (and my kids) are expected to have this kit with them on all outdoor activities.

There is a book that covers the basic same principles of Hug-A-Tree. Hug-A-Tree stresses more that a Tree is a living thing and It will keep you company. The book gives easy things to remember for younger children and cool science type experiments to help them remember principles. My kids used to ask for this book at reading time.

Lost in the Woods
by Colleen Politano

Book Description
After a personal tragedy, the author, a kindergarten teacher, decided she should do something to help her students and students everywhere to be prepared when lost. Beginning with a story to capture the children's attention, Lost in the Woods acts as a model of what a well-informed, resourceful child should do when faced with a frightening situation. The book offers several activities illustrating the safety protocols outlined in the story allowing the child to personally assess the procedures' value. The third section contains information designed to assist parents and teachers in preparing children in the event they find themselves lost.

Here is the review posted at Amazon:
As a veteren member of a Search and Rescue team, I found this book to right on target for anyone going into the woods for a picnic, a day hike or an extended outing. The basic premises of Be Prepared and Stay Put once lost will help any person young or old who is confused about where they are and how to get back. The book is designed as a teaching tool for children with "science project" ideas which help young children learn key principles about staying alive and getting found. If more people read and used the ideas in this book, Search and Rescue teams would spend more time at home and less time looking for lost people. My children love the story and don't even realize they are learning valuable life skills.

Thanks for the tip! The book should be on its way as I write this.

Ken K.

Thank you all for your posts. From what I gathered, seeing the homepage down and the other SAR sites not giving the course anymore, I assumed it was broken down now. I appreciate all the offers for powerpoint and other files, but since I downloaded all of the webpages I could find (around 5 really good ones) as MHT files, I think I am covered.

I agree with you guys about starting them early. I plan to do just that. Plus I will ensure that they have what they need when we go to the great outdoors.

I was a little troubled at one website I found. It said that you should have a whistle and trashbag, but it also said to have flexible, reflective "mirror" for lack of a better term. I was very concerned about this, as I am almost 31 years old, and I have a hard time using a signal mirror. I cant imagine a scared child, alone on the woods, trying to signal a passing plane, helo, or other hiker.

Just my two cents, but that you all so much for your help. I am so excited about being a dad and finally having a reason to go camping, again!!

Garrett

Thanks for the info. I found a couple (there's not many) on Amazon.com for $2-$3 and bought one. My wife will be so impressed with me when she sees me reading to him before bed (she's an english teacher), and ya know you can never score too many points with the wife. <img src="/images/graemlins/smirk.gif" alt="" />

I was wondering if any of you have ever taught this type "course" to elementary school aged children. We go over a lot of survival related things with the Boy Scouts, but, unfortunately, there are many too many children in our schools who are never exposed to even the most basic concepts of survival. Still, they do go out in the woods, and every year we hear about some of them being lost.

I briefly explored the idea of doing something like the "Hug A Tree" program mentioned here with some folks at our local elementary school. They were receptive, so I thought I'd see if any of you have experience with actually teaching an intro to survival for young folks?

There's a great "Kid's Wilderness Survival Primer" on the ETS site that would be a good start for a basic course. I'd be interested hearing what things people have tried to get across the basic concepts to children.

The SAR team that I am apart of in VA teachs what sounds like a similar course called Lost But Found Safe and Sound. I think you can get the tape through the NASAR web site. A google search should find it for you.

Brian

Brian, I was able to locate that video, and there's a Powerpoint presentation on CD also, thanks!

How big a group do you typically try to teach? Classroom size, or a larger group? It seems like this might stimulate some questions that would be fielded better for discussion in a small group.

Yes, I have taught numerous elementary grade Girl Scouts "Hug A Tree" type programs. Scouting and other outdoor programs are more receptive and conducive to this type of lesson.

I would think that unless you have an excellent working relationship with your local school, especially ones located in small towns, that it will be difficult to have a system wide program, most school systems are “stuck” on fairly rigid and approved forms of instruction.

Pete

NASAR has recently reached an agreement to take over the Hug-A-Tree progrm which was falling apart and plans to expand it considerably. I expect to hear more on this at the NASAR conference in a few weeks.

For a few minutes I was wondering why NASCAR (National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing) was sponsoring the Hug-A-Tree program.

I finally figured it out. Duh!