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Hornaday

Hornaday/Eagle Project: Stopping the Invasive Plant Invasion

October 20, 2020 by Eli Edwards

As a young Cub Scout, I became interested in invasive plant removal while volunteering to remove garlic mustard with Ms. Holtz and English ivy with Reston Association. My Pack 1530 earned the Hornaday Unit Award. Over the years, I learned more about the BSA Hornaday Award and became interested in one day managing my own project.

As soon as I graduated to BSA and joined Troop 987 in George Mason District, I started working on the required Hornaday merit badges and learned even more about conservation. When I talked to Ms. Sara Holtz about a project in April 2019, she suggested a site in Fairfax County Park Authority Difficult Run Stream Valley Park. I surveyed the site together with Ms. Holtz and Ms. Gloria Medina from the Fairfax County Invasive Management Area (IMA) Program. The area was almost entirely covered in pachysandra and vinca vine intermixed with many other invasive plants (e.g., Japanese stiltgrass, leatherleaf mahonia, Japanese maple, garlic mustard). This area slopes down to a stream, and I noted the overturned trees and eroded stream banks. However, small clusters of native plants peeked through this dense covering. I set a goal of removing the entire area of invasive plants to stop the plants from spreading, to prevent seeds from entering the watershed, to minimize erosion, and to grant native plants space to grow and spread. Native plants increase biodiversity by providing habitat and food to a variety of wildlife, insects and birds that the surrounding community can enjoy viewing.

The first step was to assess the site. I used the iNaturalist app to draw boundaries and started photographing plants that I didn’t recognize. I invited a personal acquaintance, Ms. Leah Oliver, a senior research botanist with NatureServe to help me identify native plants and a strategy for removing the invasive plants. In the Fall of 2019, volunteers spent three afternoons pulling invasive plants. I met with the local native plant nursery Earth Sangha to identify native plants that would flourish on the site, and volunteers planted native plants provided by IMA on two weekends at the end of October 2019. In addition, I went door to door distributing flyers to local residents alerting them to my project and asking them to refrain from planting invasive plants. I also posted signage at the site as well as shared information at BSA troop meetings, on social media, with neighborhood associations, and published a blog article with Fairfax County Park Authority.

The COVID pandemic forced me to cancel my Spring 2020 pulls. By July I was able to resume and had a small group of volunteers pull invasive plants that had sprung up since the previous fall. I organized another pull in September 2020 and had enough volunteers that we were able to expand the original site. At this point, I asked Ms. Medina to help me identify the remaining invasive plants on the original site and used spray paint to mark them. I had a final pull on October 3, 2020 to remove these larger shrubs and trees. On October 17, 2020 I concluded by project by replanting the site with native trees and plants.

Over the 18 months, I had 164 volunteers remove 124 bags of invasive plants and 170 native plants were planted. My best estimate is 417.5 hours were spent on this project. Over 4000 citizens were educated about the importance of removing invasive plants and using native plants through my outreach efforts which included talking to volunteers on site, canvassing the neighborhood, speaking at BSA troop meetings, posting on social media and Nextdoor, writing a blog for Scouter’s digest, and publishing a blog article with Fairfax County Park Authority and an article in Vienna Connections newspaper.

Note: Effective immediately, the Boy Scouts of America is transitioning conservation recognition to the new BSA Distinguished Conservation Service Award. Read here for more information.

Filed Under: Scouting Programs Tagged With: Hornaday

NCAC Earth Day Keynote Speaker

April 20, 2020 by NCAC

“Eagles as the Messenger: How we use Sea Eagles to Monitor the Health of the Planet”

Join us at 7:00 PM on April 22, 2020 as we celebrate the 50th anniversary of Earth Day with this presentation from Dr. William W. Bowerman! This presentation will be delivered live via ZOOM; please sign-up here (free event) to receive the link: https://scoutingevent.com/082-earthday.

Biography:
Dr. William W. Bowerman has been awarded the Hornaday Gold Award, one of the rarest awards in Scouting, and is awarded for distinguished and unusual service to natural resource conservation and environmental improvement over a sustained period (at least 20 years). Dr. Bowerman has over 35 years of work on conservation of bald eagles and other birds of prey on five continents. He served for 18 years on the International Joint Commission, Great Lakes Science Advisory Board, including 3 years as United States Co-Chair. Bowerman’s Scouting achievements include Eagle Scout, Vigil Honor, NESA Outstanding Eagle Scout Award, and Silver Beaver Award. He has served as an adult leader in Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts, including service at the District and Council levels, currently NCAC’s Vice President of Outdoor Adventure. He is a National Fellow of The Explorers Club. Dr. William W. Bowerman, is a Professor and Department Chair of Environmental Science & Technology, University of Maryland.

To learn more about #NCACEarthWeek visit https://scoutingevent.com/082-earthday.

Filed Under: Leaders Tagged With: Awards, earth day, Hornaday, leader, scouting at home

Troop 159 Earned the Hornaday Unit Award

December 10, 2019 by The Scouter Digest Staff

Written by Scouts Corbett and Kendall

Troop 159 of Herndon, Virginia earned the prestigious Hornaday Unit Award by supporting a combined Hornaday Badge/Eagle project called START, led by a Scout in our Troop. We helped pull an invasive plant known as the Japanese stiltgrass from Frying Pan Farm Park, a local park in Herndon, near the place where our Troop meets.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is troop-hornaday-2.jpg

After 10 sessions of removal events that spanned 14 months, we replanted native species to help restore the park land. We also helped educate the public about the invasive stiltgrass, as well as the proper ways to remove and dispose of it.

Hornaday Awards are prestigious conservation awards named in honor of William T. Hornaday, a taxidermist at the Smithsonian who is credited with saving the American bison from extinction. The Hornaday Unit award requires 60% of the registered youth scouts of a unit to participate in a single, sustainable conservation project that addresses and remedies a well-defined environmental problem. Our participation was in support of John Foong’s project at Frying Pan Farm Park. The project was a combination of teaching the public about non-native, invasive plants and how to remove them from our community, as well as actively working to remove the plant, Japanese stiltgrass, from an area in the Park. This project was conducted in partnership with Fairfax County Park Authority’s Invasive Management Area (FCPA IMA) program.

For more information about Hornaday awards, https://www.ncacbsa.org/advancement/awards-and-recognition/hornaday/

The Hornaday Unit Award Badge

Filed Under: Adventure, Leaders Tagged With: Hornaday, Scouts BSA

Hornaday Project Earns Eagle Scout the County’s Most Prestigious Environmental Award

November 27, 2019 by Sara Holtz

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is Hornaday-1.jpg

Scout John Foong of Troop 159 in Powhatan District received the prestigious Sally Ormsby Environmental Stewardship Award from Fairfax County Park Authority (FCPA) for his outstanding environmental leadership while working toward his Hornaday Badge/Eagle project. He single-handedly orchestrated 9 work days over a two-year period during which approximately 310 volunteers worked more than 540 hours to pull about 250 bags of invasive plant Japanese stiltgrass from Frying Pan Farm Park. He also planted over 100 native plants in their place.

His volunteers came from 10 Fairfax County Public Schools, BSA, Girl Scouts, and Fairfax and Loudoun counties, and ranged in age from 5 to 80. He also educated the public at 13 public events including the park’s annual Farm Day, the county’s annual SpringFest, farmers markets, and his town’s monthly art events. These efforts earned him a BSA Hornaday Badge. Hornaday Awards were created to recognize those that have made significant contributions to conservation.

US Congressman Gerry Connolly presented the award to John at a ceremony attended by several Fairfax County Supervisors, members of the FCPA Board, members of the Fairfax County Park Foundation board, FCPA staff, local conservationists and environmentalists, and FCPA volunteers.

John’s project by the numbers:
13 education events
9 work days
~250 bags of stiltgrass
~310 volunteers
~540 service hours

John partnered with Fairfax County Park Authority’s Invasive Management Area (IMA) program, a community-based project designed to reduce invasive plants on our parklands. This program gives volunteers an opportunity to connect with like-minded people while taking care of natural resources.

The Sally Ormsby Environmental Stewardship Award was established by the Park Authority Board on November 14, 2007, in recognition of Sally B. Ormsby’s many years of service as a citizen steward. Her actions promoted the responsible and sustainable management of natural resources. These precious assets are entrusted to the Park Authority’s care by the residents of this community. Through stewardship we protect these treasures now and for generations to come. This award recognizes individuals and organizations whose actions embody the spirit and values of stewardship and result in tangible environmental benefits. The Sally Ormsby Environmental Stewardship Award is open to individuals and groups whose actions embody the spirit of environmental stewardship and provide tangible environmental benefits to Fairfax County parks.

Congratulations to John for this incredible achievement!

Photographer- Sara Holtz

Filed Under: Leaders, Scouting Programs Tagged With: Conservation, Hornaday, Leadership, scouting

Hornaday Badge Project “Evicting the Invaders”

November 12, 2019 by Sara Holtz

Approximately 5000 sq ft of invasive plant on the Gerry Connolly Cross County Trail.

Every Saturday and Sunday in October, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, college students, and neighborhood homeowners pulled invasive plants, primarily, pachysandra, from a section of the Gerry Connolly Cross County Trail off Miller Heights Road in Oakton. Eli Edwards, a Scout in BSA Troop 987 led the project with support from Hornaday advisor Sara Holtz and sponsor Fairfax County Park Authority’s Invasive Management Area (IMA) program. Invasive plants are non-native, aggressive plants that cause ecological or economic harm and degrade our natural ecosystem.

99 volunteers worked 210 hours to remove 85 bags of invasive plants from the park land. The goal was to replace the pachysandra with native plants and trees. Volunteers planted white wood aster, hairy bush clover, American alumroot, trailing bush clover, dwarf cinquefoil, pussytoes, arrowleaf violet, common wood rush, Pennsylvania sedge, bluestem,

Replace invasive plant with 110 native plants and trees.

goldenrod, arrowwood viburnum, witch hazel, hazelnut trees, ironwood trees, and redbud trees. Eli created the plan for this project in order to earn the BSA Hornaday Badge. This award was created by Dr. William T. Hornaday who was a conservationist and is a prestigious award that requires a Scout to lead a conservation project, complete several merit badges, and meet rank requirements. By successfully completing this project he is one step closer to earning the Boy Scout Hornaday Badge. Eli encourages homeowners to remove any invasive plants in your yard and replace with native plants (see list above).

– Eli Edwards

Filed Under: Leaders Tagged With: Conservation, Hornaday, Leadership, Scouts BSA

Scouts for Conservation

June 26, 2019 by Sara Holtz

Scouts displayed their conservation projects as part of the Sustainable Garden Tour hosted the weekend of June 9 by the Northern Virginia Soil and Water Conservation District. The annual garden tour features homes, churches, schools, and libraries with native plant landscaping, rain barrels, wildlife habitat, composting, rain gardens, and grass-free front yards.

One Eagle Scout presented his Hornaday Badge project and Eagle project to remove invasive plants at South Run Rec Center in Springfield, Virginia. He led an effort to mobilize volunteers to remove invasive vines and plants. Invasive plants are plants that are non-native and spread so quickly and aggressively that they prevent native plants from growing. The Fairfax County Park Authority’s Invasive Management Area (IMA) program coordinates site leaders at over 60 sites throughout Fairfax County.

Another other Eagle Scout discussed his project to remove highly-invasive Japanese stiltgrass at Frying Pan Farm Park in Herndon, Virginia. He orchestrated several work days for Scouts and the public. During the second phase of his project, he led volunteers to plant common milkweed and other native plants in the area where the stiltgrass had been removed. This project also collaborated with the IMA program and helped the Scout earn the a Hornaday Award in addition to his Eagle Scout Award.

This garden tour provided an excellent opportunity for Scouts to educate the public, advocate for environmental action, and showcase some of the amazing conservation service projects led by Scouts.

Filed Under: Scouting Programs Tagged With: Conservation, Eagle Scout, Hornaday, outdoor ethics, Scouts BSA

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