Long term friends Donald Gale, Ray Cook and Bill Wagner wanted to help younger generations learn to enjoy outdoor recreation while protecting our natural resources.  They  identified the Boy Scouts of America as the largest organized user group (approximately 15,000,000 user days each year) of our countries outdoor resources.  They determined the BSA provided the most logical organization to test and implement a strategy to reduce recreational impact without restrictive regulations. 

It was felt all recreational users could enjoy their activity of choice just by making better choices while outdoors – in a phrase – responsible recreation.  It was determined the initial focus on nature awareness would be through the seven principles of Leave No Trace with other programs, such as Tread Lightly!, Project WET, Project WILD and Project Learning Tree, added as time and resources allowed.

The nature awareness message reached 417,296 people, predominantly youth,  over the last ten years through the volunteer efforts of Ray Cook, Bill Wagner, Don Gale and the organization of ROAR.

Programs are only mentioned in the year they were implemented by Ray, Bill and Don although they continue to provide training opportunities each year.  Programs listed for more than one year are special programs whose long term viability depends on resources becoming available.