debris shelter

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Introduction

The debris hut has been used for survival since our ancestors were hunter-gatherers. Thisshelter is constructed very much in the same way a forest animal constructs its home or nest,and allows you to stay warm and safe even without a fire or proper clothing.

Instructions

Step One

Choose a good location for your shelter. Your location should be on a fringe area, not too openwhere it will be exposed to wind and sun, and not too dense where animals make their homesand feed. Your location should also be at least 50 yards from water, as bodies of water dampenthe air and increase the chill. Be sure your location is close to debris, but away from danger.

Step Two

Picture your shelter before you begin to build it. You'll need a large rock, tree stump or similar object to build your shelter against.

Step Three

Find a straight and sturdy branch to act as your ridgepole. This branch should be a few feet taller than you. It will serve a purpose similar to that of the top horizontal pole in a tent.

Step Four Brace your ridgepole firmly against your rock or tree stump and use other branches or rocks tostabilize it. This is the spine of your hut, so make sure it's braced firmly. The braced end of thepole should not be much higher than your crotch. The other end of your ridgepole goes on theground, held in place by a couple of heavy rocks.

Step Five

Use stout sticks leaned against your ridgepole every few inches as ribs. Line them all the waydown, leaving only a small opening on the high end to act as a doorway. Go inside beneath your stout sticks to make sure there is enough room for you inside. It should be comfortable, but nottoo roomy. Smaller stays warmer.

Step Six

Pile all manner of fine brush and twigs over the ribs of your structure.

Step Seven

Gather as much debris as you can from the ground and pile it over the twigs on your structure.Use whatever the surrounding area offers: leaves, pine needles, dried ferns, grasses, mosses or anything you can gather. Dry materials insulate better, but use what you have available.



Step Eight

Lean more stout sticks over your debris to hold it in place against the wind.

Tips & Warnings

• Face your door away from the wind.• More debris equals more warmth, so pile it high.

• Make sure to cover your debris hut entirely, except for the doorway.

• Enter your debris hut feet first, and slide on down inside.

• Use debris on the floor of your hut to create a sleeping pad.

• Mark your debris hut so you can find it from the outside easily. The nature of the debrishut is that it blends in perfectly with the surroundings. If someone is trying to find you they willhave a hard time seeing your hut.

• Never build a fire inside your debris hut. Make sure your fire is well away from your hut.

Versatile Debris Shelter The design is functional anywhere it can be built,

and a few have literally served as home toadventurers for months at a time

By Len McDougall



Quick to build in most environments, but strong enough to resist anyweather short of a meteor shower, knowing how to construct a Debris

Shelter is a fundamental skill for practitioners of the survival arts.

Shelter-building has been an essential part of human existence

for as long as our species has been here, and the instinct canstill be seen in toddlers who crawl inside cardboard boxes, or the fun a group of children can have building a "fort."

We are probably born with an urge to be sheltered, but fewpeople have needed to actually build one to survive in awilderness for many generations, and the basic mechanics of shelter construction have not been a component of normal life in

a very long time.

Nothing is more fundamental to human survival than shelter from the elements; among mammals, only our species is in perilfrom simple naked exposure to the elements. At 40 degrees,Fahrenheit, with a wind of 25 miles per hour, the cooling effectis the same as it would be at an ambient temperature of only 10degrees. Throw in a soaking rain that can lower felt temps by 20degrees in a windless environment, and the result can kill anunderdressed human.



Building the walls; sleeping pallet and doorway (right) are already inplace.

Lower the temperature of the strongest man's internal organs by just 5 degrees, and he will be incapacitated, probablyunconscious. Any air temperature below the normal 98.6degrees F. human body temperature is robbing warmth fromuncovered skin, and the rate of heat loss, without wind or rain,can be life threatening in temperatures as warm as 50 degreesFahrenheit.

The "debris" shelter is a usually compact long- or short-termemergency den that is constructed from whatever thesurrounding terrain provides. The name alludes to a specifictype of shelter, but no two debris shelters are exactly alike, andconstruction materials can vary broadly, from high-desertsagebrush to alpine evergreens, and mossy northern swampvegetation.

The beauty of a debris shelter is that, once you have a grasp of its basics, it can be constructed from vegetation in virtually anyterrain—even snowbound forest—so a creative eye is beneficial

when scouting for building materials.



Although constructed entirely of dead wood, the debris shelter isamazingly strong, able to resist the heaviest snow.

In winter, when foliage may be unavailable, wall frames can be sealedwith packed snow to form an igloo of sorts.



Main Support

The most important component for all debris-type shelters is amain support, a stout pole eight to 10 feet long, three or more

inches in diameter at the base. Suitable candidates can often befound standing upright, but dead, because some trees do notlive to maturity. Ideal choices will stand more than a dozen feettall, dry enough to snap off when you push hard against them,but solid and un-rotted throughout.

Bridge the thinnest end of the pole across a solid object, andheel-stomp or chop it to length; a suitably long main supportshould be at least two inches in diameter at its narrow end.

Elevate the thick end of the main support by wedging it into the

limb crotch of a standing tree, into a rock crack, or onto an X-frame of two lashed-together and crossed saplings—whatever solid support will hold it at least three feet above the ground. Itis important that the narrow end of the pole be the one againstthe earth, because if it should give under weight of snow, for example, only a few inches at the low end are likely to break,and the entire shelter will not come crashing down.

Despite having withstood more than two-hundred inches of snow over

the previous winter, this debris shelter is ready for occupancy.

At this point, install the sleeping pallet on the ground directlybelow and parallel to the main support. This critical part of anyemergency shelter serves to keep a sleeper's body from makingdirect contact with the earth, which will absorb body heat faster than it can be generated, even in summer. In woodlands, theusual configuration is a platform formed by placing relatively



straight, body-length, dead saplings and limbs on the ground,alongside one another, until a rough bed, about two feet wide,takes shape. Minimal diameter of each pallet member should betwo inches to insure adequate insulation.

The shelter's triangular walls are constructed by leaning lengthsof branches at an angle between main support and ground fromeither side. The amount of floor space is determined by how far apart the wall supports are set, but smaller interior space retainsbody heat better. Place a few "framing" sticks against the mainsupport to set the shelter's internal dimensions, then add ontothat skeleton with more layers of dead sticks.

Set the triangle-shaped door at the high end on the shelter'sleeward side, faced away from prevailing winds (some prefer to

set it at the open, highest end, but this forces feet-first entry).

Although held in place only by friction and weight, every wallstick added increases overall strength. Note that shorter stickscan be used at the lower, foot end of the shelter, and it doesn'tmatter if a wall stick extends beyond the main support. In fact,having wall sticks cross in an "X" above the main supportprovides a place to hang wet clothing and frequently neededgear. Add branches to the wall, including the head-end, untilonly the inverted-v doorway is left uncovered, and gaps of lessthan two inches exist between the sticks.

Sealing The Frame

The next step is to seal the frame to keep air inside the shelter as motionless as possible, impervious to howling winds outside,and able to shrug off rainstorms of less than biblical proportions.

In many places, bracken ferns are an ideal roof covering untilwinter snows bury them, but so are layers of wet, compressedleaves peeled from the forest floor, or clumps of sphagnummoss pulled from the ground in a cedar swamp.



Bracken ferns are an ideal roof covering, but different environments

will provide different materials.

The objective is to seal the shelter frame sufficiently to block outdaylight—and rain, and almost any material that will cover anarea of the frame is suitable. Remember to shingle the roof,beginning at the bottom with a row of overlapping cover material, with each ascending row overlapping the one below, toinsure that rain runs off.

Alternately, a quicker, slightly more skeletal, frame can beerected, and simply draped with a tarp, or a plastic painter's

drop cloth. In winter, the frame can be sealed with packed snowto form a solid shell that retains body heat more efficiently thana double-wall tent.

Whatever roofing material you use, add another layer of spaced-apart poles over it to hold everything in place, should awind come up.

When no daylight penetrates the roof, add a thick layer of dryfoliage—dead leaves, ferns, grass—to the sleeping palletinside, to soften protuberances, and add insulation. Dry foliage

can also serve as a blanket, trapping radiated body heat withsurprising effectiveness. In a pinch, green foliage will sufficebetter than no padding, but the moisture in green vegetationmeans that it is constantly cooling as it dries, and some, likepine boughs, exude glue-like sap for days after being cut.

The goal is to create an effective shield between your body andthe cooling effects of earth and air. Whatever material you use



to accomplish that, a good rule of thumb is to use more thanyou think you'll need.

As mentioned, doorway placement should always be away from

prevailing winds. Preferably, the shelter site will itself be isolatedfrom wind. The doorway can be closed to minimize heat-stealing air flow by pulling a layer of dead branches over it fromthe inside, with a ground sheet, with slabs of wood pulled fromthe outer shells of rotting stumps, or with sheets of birch barkstripped from fallen trees.

Or you might opt to leave the doorway uncovered, with a smallfire outside, about five feet in front of the opening, far enough toavoid burning the combustible (never forget that) shelter, butclose enough to radiate warmth to its interior. A "reflector" wall

of dead wood, snow, or anything else that can be stackeddensely to a height of at least two feet, helps to bounce radiatedheat back toward the shelter opening, and blocks ground winds.

In most environments, a single-occupant debris hut can be builtsolo, and with no tools, in well under three hours.

Despite its ease of construction some debris shelters havewithstood heavy winter snows for more than 10 years. Thedesign is functional anywhere it can be built, and a few haveliterally served as home to adventurers for months at a time.

Subzero windchills and driven precipitation have no effect insideits walls, and solid construction promotes a greater sense of security than collapsible fabric shelters. If you had to, you could

live in, and build onto, this shelter for years.

Contents copyright (c) 2007 Modern Survival Magazine

Survival Skills

Grade Level: Middle and High School

Purpose: This lesson covers a few of the basic skills necessary to prepare yourself for a survival

situation. This information helps empower students with the knowledge of where, why, and howto build both a survival shelter and survival fire. This activity fosters teamwork, cooperation and

creativity amongst the students.

Objective: Students will be able to construct two different kinds of shelters. Student will learn

the three base fuels for a fire (tinder, kindling, fuel) and be able to make a fire. They will

recognize and use the proper safety precautions.



Nevada State Standards:

Computer and Technology Standards 1.0: Students will utilize problem-solving processes through

the use of resources to reach a desired outcome.

Content Standard 5.0: Environment and Society-Students understand the effects of interactions

between human and physical systems and the changes in use, distribution, and importance of resources.

Materials: Fire

• oxygen, tinder (birch bark, leaves, grasses, etc.), kindling, fuel, and wood.

• Buckets of water; possibly a fire extinguisher

• shovel

• old eyeglasses

• bow and drill

• steel wool

• matches

•magnifying glass

• flint and magnesium.

Shelter

• debris (fallen trees, branches, twigs, leaves, grass)

• “Keys to Survival” sheet

• Survival Kit to show class

Anticipatory Set: Approximately, the first half of this activity should be spent working on

shelters and the other half of the period should be spent on preparing and lighting fires. If the

weather is bad and/or if there is time remaining, or if you just want to cover these facts, you can

go through the “Keys to Survival” sheet below.

Shelters

The first ten minutes should be spent by having a discussion with the students aboutwhere, when, and why a shelter is needed. According to the experts, construction of a survivalshelter is the most important task to be completed in a true survival situation. Exposure to the

elements main wind and wet is the main threat to be concerned about. First, let’s look at the

differences between a windbreak, a weather break, and a shelter.

-A windbreak is just that- a shelter that blocks only the wind. Wind can be dangerous in any

season. Wind chill can quickly lead to hypothermia or frostbite in cold weather. Strong breezes

contribute to dehydration in hot weather. Examples of windbreaks include lean-to, the side of a

hill, a depression in the ground, etc.

-A weather break is a roofed shelter that protects against wind, rain, snow, etc. Examples include

a cave, fallen trees, brush piles, etc. These shelters are for short term use only until there is a lullin the weather and a proper survival shelter can be constructed.

-Compared to the breaks above, a shelter is more reliable, sturdy, and intended for longer-term

use. There are many types of shelters, igloo, quinzhee hut, snow cave, lean-to, wickiup, even a

log cabin can be considered a shelter. Natural shelters also count, including trees, caves, hollow

logs, and river banks. Each of these has pros and cons associated with them. The debris hut is

both a shelter and a sleeping bag—it is simple to make and sturdy. Bird nests are good examplesof debris huts and emphasize on strong weaving and insulation.



Developing the Lesson: Shelter Before beginning construction, the proper site has to be selected. Site considerations that need to

be reviewed before building a shelter include the following:

1. Protection from the elements- wind, rain, snow, sun, etc.2. Protections from flash floods, rock falls, mud slides, high tides, etc.

3. Freedom from harmful plants, insects/pests, etc4. Fairly level ground with good drainage

5. A large supply of wood

6. A distance no closer than 50 yards to water (dampness)

7. A site in the transition zone/ edge between a thick forest and an open field

Have some students construct a debris shelter (assembled with leaves, sticks, branches, and other

debris found on the ground) and some to build a windbreak. Instruct students not to tear down or

break live trees or branches unless they had to and were in a true survival situation.

Building the Debris Shelter

A skeleton for a shelter is constructed using a flexible yet sturdy 8ft pole and various other sized

branches. One end of the 8ft pole is placed on a stump of in the fork of a tree about 3ft high. Theother end can be wedged into the ground. Other parts of the skeleton are woven into place.

The next step involves gathering debris—leaves, brush, ferns, (avoiding poisonous plants), etc.

To help gather you may want to fashion a rake out of some branches. Pile the debris all over theskeleton. Remember to leave an opening for the entrance. The ceiling/walls should be at least 2 to

4 feet thick with debris. Continue to gather debris, but place this inside the shelter—the floor

should have 2 to 4 feet thickness of debris. There should be just enough room for a person to

squeeze in and that’s all.

The final step is to lay a few branches over the debris to keep the debris in place in the event of

high winds Be careful not to compact the debris. One last note—be sure to mark/identify your

shelter so you can find it so any rescuers can find it as well.

NOW ON TO FIRES

Anticipatory Set: Fire (work on only after going through the whole lesson on shelters above)Switch gears for the fire building session. In a survival situation, a fire is a high priority (the 3 rd

priority behind water and shelter). A good fire has many uses: signaling, warmth, purifying water,

cooking food, providing a sense of security, a source of light, etc. Therefore, knowledge and skill

or how to build and maintain a fire is important.

As far as burning materials is concerned, there are 4 different kinds of sources, in the order inwhich you need them:

-tinder: dry materials that ignites with little heat -starts with a spark. Ex: small bundles of dry

grass, dry leaves, wispy twigs, hair (human or otherwise), birch bark, wood shavings.

-kindling: readily combustible material that you add to the tinder. It increases the temperature of

the fire so you may be able to add less combustible material. Ex: thin

twigs, thin sticks, dry pine cones, old cotton clothing.



-fuel: Thicker, stockier materials that will burn longer. Ex: animal fat, split green wood, dense dry

grass, standing dead wood, dried animal dung, heavy branches.

When gathering materials for a fire—think DRY. The best source of dry materials is standing

dead trees. Gather your tinder, kindling, etc. from standing dead trees only. A log lying on theground will most likely be damp no matter how dry it may appear to be ( in a true survival

situation, you may want some wet and/or green wood on hand in case you need to send up asmoke signal). Explain that each group is going to have the opportunity to start their own fires.

Have the group work in pairs in collecting materials for their fires.

Developing the Lesson: FiresEmphasize that constructing a fire needs to be done safely. Considerations BEFORE building a

fire includes:

1. Monitor wind direction and amount.

2. clear debris away from the fire pit area—you don’t want a brush fire to start.

3. Consider duff below the fire pit. Duff is basically tinder that is below the ground.

You need to make sure the area below and around the fire pit is not dry and

combustible.

4. Check your chimney. Make sure the fire and smoke has a clear chimney, and avoid building a fire in a cave, under overhanging trees, etc. because you do not want to

heat up over head objects and cause them to fall on you and /or the fire.

5. Be careful when using rocks to line a fire pit due to water trapped inside the rocks

will expand and cause rocks to explode.6. Is there enough firewood in the immediate area to meet your needs?

7. How will you extinguish the campfire?

Next talk about the necessities –oxygen, tinder, kindling, logs, and spark or source of flame. Talk

about some possible sources of spark to start a fire—matches, (strike anywhere), magnifying

glass, bow and drill, etc. Discuss the pros and cons. Emphasize and demonstrate the importance

of having a structure for your fire (frame, teepee, etc. in order to get the kindling started and later

the fuel to burn.Explain and demonstrate how to use the flint and magnesium bar. The magnesium burns

to over 5000 degrees Fahrenheit. It is the best method known for no matches. Simply use the

attached piece of metal to scrape off small slivers of magnesium into a pile on to or beside some

collected tinder. Then scrape the attached piece of metal along the flint side of the bar. This will

create a shower of sparks that will ignite the magnesium splinters.

Have each pair spread out around the circumference of the fire pit and lay out their

materials for a fire. Use a bucket and fetch some water from a local source. Let each student or

pair attempt to light up a fire using whichever method desired. Make sure each fire is properly

extinguished.



Closure:

Shelter: The final 15 minutes should be spent on a group walk to view each shelter and discuss

the location, construction, etc. of each. Make sure each student crawls into their shelter when

finished. Leave a bit of time at the end to have each pair dismantle their shelter. The reason of

this is to emphasize low impact camping.

Fire: Have the group discuss what kind of fire they built and what different kinds are best used

for.

Extension:

Shelter : If students will not be returning to the area for further use of the shelters, have the group

disassemble their windbreak and their debris hut. Emphasize the importance of low impact

camping.

Fire: If students will not be returning to make fires in the same location, have students dishevel

their fire pit in such a way that someone walking by would never know there was a fire there.

Evaluation:

Shelters: Give students grades based on the durability of their shelter. How much light can you

see when inside? More light means more rain, more wind, more snow, a lower grade.

Fires: Have students set up two small forked twigs or branches on either end of their fire, withthe on end stuck in the ground and the forks sticking up into the air. Place a branch or twig on top

so it is hanging over the fire and grade them based on how quickly it burns.

Vocabulary:Windbreak: a shelter that blocks only the wind

Weather break: a roofed shelter that protects against wind, rain, snow, etc

Tinder: dry materials that ignites with little heat -starts with a spark

Kindling: readily combustible material that you add to the tinder



Fuel: Thicker, stockier materials that will burn longer

Shelter: more reliable, sturdy, and intended for longer-term use



Keys to Wilderness Survival

In addition to shelter and fire building, keep in mind the following skills and preparation.

Water: Water is the MOST IMPORTANT asset in any survival situation. But where do

you get it? A clear running stream is best, because even though in any unfiltered water nowadays you can get diseases like giardia (although the risks of infection are

exaggerated), they won’t kill you. Not having water, however, will. Here are some ways

to treat water:1. Boiling: Boiling water is the safest and purest way to treat fresh water. Boiling

times vary from state to state, depending on altitude. Generally 5 minutes of

rapid boiling is enough.

2. Filter: If you have a water filter, you can use it in virtually any kind of water supply, but to prolong the life of the filter you will want to use it on clear, fast

moving water.

3. Iodine: Again, you will want to fill your water bottles with the clearest water

as possible from a fast moving stream then you put in your iodine. Althoughthere are no known side negative side effects to iodine consumption, excess

use is not recommended. Iodine comes in tablets or drops. The ratio of iodinetablets or drops to water will depend on the strength of the iodine. The iodine

bottle will tell you how much to use depending on your amount of water.

Iodine does not kill bacteria on contact, again the bottle will tell you when to

shake your iodine treated water bottles and how long to let the iodine sit before drinking.

If you are in a desert and can’t seem to find a fresh water source, here are some ways to

get and find drinking water:1. Solar Sill: this is a way to use evaporation to get fresh water in a desert or

even in a location where all you can get is salt water. A solar sill in the desert

can be built by digging a deep and wide hole then putting a cup, water bottle,a pot, bucket, or another way to catch water, on the ground of the hole. Put a

tarp, clear plastic sheet, rain jacket, anything plastic basically over the hole,

then come back the next day. The sun will have evaporated the water in your hole, the plastic stops the evaporation from rising past the hole, and the bucket

catches the water that then drips from the plastic.

2. Know how to look for water. Try to get to the top of the safest but highest

point and look for water from there. Look for fresh, green vegetation as that isthe surest indicator of a water source. Even if there is not a visible stream, the

plants are getting the water from somewhere so start digging.

3. Early morning dew on leaves can be absorbed on a bandana and wrung into acontainer.

Body Temperature: Maintaining a constant body temperature (98.6 degrees F) is your initial primary concern. Food, water, shelter, and proper clothing allow you to keep that

temperature.

The proper clothing is something that often you can prepare for before heading

out into the wilderness. The three clothing considerations to be aware of are:



1. Insulation: this comes from dead air space between your body and clothes.

When you layer clothing close to the body but not skin tight, you allow this

small space for heat to stay trapped into. Cotton (great when dry, deadly whenwet) and wool both have insulation (dead air space) within the cells of the

cloth, allowing a heat barrier between you and elements.

2. Ventilation: this is when you can allow air to move and flow through your clothing. Ideally, when you allow air to escape you are also allowing air in. If

not (like when you are wearing a waterproof rain jacket) it will build up

moisture from inside out, which leads to hypothermia. Pay attention to the“Chill Factor.” When checking the temperature before you leave, make sure

you look at the wind chill. You lose 1 degree of heat for 1 mph of wind.

3. Protection: your clothing needs to protect you from the elements, abrasions,

bites. The level of protection does depend on length and type of activity you’ll be doing outside, but remember to always be prepared for a survival situation.

Signaling: Always tell someone where you are going before you head out on your

adventure. Give your itinerary to a responsible adult. That way, if you are missing, youare sure to have people looking for you. When signaling for help, know that generally

repeated signs are safely assumed to be distress calls. For example, if you blow a whistlein repeated bursts, someone listening will pay attention and probably head towards you.

Also, all major distress signals are in units of three. Even though numerous whistle

blows will probably attract attention, three gun blasts, three whistle blows, three smoke

puffs, three fires, three car honks universally indicate distress. Here are some methods of signaling:

1. Sound: by using the voice, whistles, horns, or guns, you may attract the

attention of someone within ear shot of you.2. Sight: when a message is seen, you can cover a larger distance than by sound.

Blazes (marks on a tree or other vegetation), hand signals when boating, flags,

a message written in the snow or sand (LARGE letters), rocks, a pointingarrow, smoke signals are all potential signals.

3. Light: fires, a mirror or tin can lid reflecting the sun to a target like an airplane

or house, and flares are great ways to get attention.4. Radio transmission: using GPS, citizen band, or amateur radio transmission

you may be able to actually communicate back and forth with someone about

your situation.

Essential Survival Kit: Here is one method of putting together a survival kit.

1. Coffee Can: this can be your survival kit container but also serves a holder for

water, foraged food, or anything else you’d need to carry to your shelter.2. Space Blanket: used for retaining heat, wrap yourself in it.\

3. 25 feet of nylon rope

4. 2 large lawn bags: for solar sill, rain protection, shelter 5. small mirror

6. compass (make sure you know how to use it)

7. fire starter

8. plumbers candles



9. 15-20 waterproof matches: cover the tips with melted wax then scrap off wax

when you need the match.

10. large bandanna11. 2 large ziplock bags

12. whistle

13. pocket knife

debris shelter

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