CHEYENNE - The chief executive of the Boy Scouts said he's well aware that today's technologically immersed youngsters are less active and less interested in the outdoors.

But Scouting offers a different set of values - one that cultivates young leaders while keeping them active and outside, Robert Mazzuca said this week in a telephone interview from Jackson.

Neither Scouts nor outdoor activity is in short supply in the Jackson area this week. More than 1,000 members of the Boy Scouts' honor society, the Order of the Arrow, have been hard at work on projects in Bridger-Teton National Forest.

"These kids, I guarantee you, know what it's like to be physically active," Mazzuca said.

Some of the Scouts are removing a 10-foot fence topped with barbed wire that has interfered with wildlife migration in the Gros Ventre area. Others are building or refurbishing 11 miles of trails near the top of Teton Pass.

Several miles of the Teton Pass trails will be reserved for mountain bikes - keeping bikers out of the way of hikers and horse riders, and vice versa.

The Scouts - who range in age from 14 to 20 - have been doing similar work in national forests in California, Missouri, Utah and Virginia this summer. The Bridger-Teton project is the last and biggest project of all.

All together, the projects are the Scouts' most ambitious endeavor since World War II.

Scouts are elected to the Order of the Arrow by their fellow Scouts. Many from back East were taken aback upon seeing the mighty Teton Range, said Sam Fife, 17, the group's deputy youth incident commander.

"It's really a neat thing for a lot of these guys. I know a lot of them have never been out here before," Fife said.

Fife, though, is from just over the hill: Idaho Falls, Idaho. He's already a student at Brigham Young University-Idaho, in Rexburg.

Membership in the Scouts has been down in recent years. Last year, including the Cub Scouts and older Venturers, it was about 2.9 million - down 16 percent since 1999.

Mazzuca, though, said membership this year is up for the first time in five years. He said the Scouts have become more sophisticated in reaching out to youngsters. That includes being more technologically savvy.

"There are some things we're learning to do better," he said.