I was looking through my conservation project pictures today, and putting them into photo albums. It was nice to go back through my work and see all that I’ve done! I found some more really cool before and after pictures, and I’d like to post them here. Please see them to follow:
As you can see, there are lots of cool before, during, and after pictures of my work at Dunwoody Nature Center. These are just some of many photos that show my work.
For the past three months, I’ve been following up at my project site to observe the results of my work and complete any needed upkeep. I’ve been very happy with the results I’ve seen, and hope those results can be maintained or improved.
I’ve been visiting the Dunwoody Nature Center twice each month for the past three months. I’ve follow-up on and observed invasive plant regrowth by Chinese wisteria, Chinese privet, and English ivy. The main focus of my project has been to remove Chinese wisteria and privet, and I removed alot of English ivy after observing that it was beginning to grow into the areas where I removed the wisteria and privet.
On my occasions of visiting Dunwoody Nature Center to observe any invasive plant regrowth, there have been plants that grew back, but they’re much more manageable now. On my first follow-up visit, there were no plants that regrew. On my second follow-up visit, there were 30 plants that regrew. Because mom didn’t bring any RoundUp that day, she sprayed them the next time we went.
On my next follow-up visit, I observed that 80 more plants regrew. Mom sprayed those, and the I removed them on our next visit. On another follow-up visit, I observed no plants that regrew. But, on the next follow-up visit, there were 50 plants that regrew. Mom sprayed those, and I removed them.
During my follow-up visit to Dunwoody Nature Center last week, after removing the dead plants that had regrown, mom and I cut out more Chinese wisteria and Chinese privet, deeper back in the woods. We cut out another 100 invasive plants.
And, because all of the rain washed so much dirt away, wisteria runners up to 25 long were exposed on top of the ground, and we cut out as much as we could. We filled two large yard waste bags with the long wisteria runners and the 100 plants that we cut out from deeper into the woods.
For the past two weeks, the weather in Georgia has been extremely hot and humid. Last Friday at Dunwoody Nature Center, the temperature was 95 degrees Fahrenheit and the humidity was 100%. It was like a sauna! By the time mom and I were finished working, we were drenched in sweat. I drank almost 3 bottles of water that afternoon! It was too hot!
I’ve also followed up on the additional activities that I completed at Dunwoody Nature Center as part of my project. I’ve observed and it was reported to me by staff that the bird feeders were being refilled at least once per month. Staff is expecting to refill them more often between Fall and Spring now that Summer Camp season is done.
The bird baths, however, were not being cleaned or refilled. I refilled the bird feeders and bird baths when I came to do my follow-up observations and maintenance during these past three months.
During my follow-up visits, I removed branches that had fallen from trees, that were in the areas where I planted ferns. I observed that some of the ferns have doubled in size, and others have remained about the same size. All of the ferns are alive; none have died.
I also cleaned out the bird houses so they could be used by other birds to nest in the future. Unfortunately, I saw that most of the mulch that was used to mulch the two trails on my troop workday was washed away by the rain. There’s mostly bare ground showing now, and very little mulch remains on those trails.
I’ve created fliers to recruit volunteers to regularly manage invasive plants and refill the bird feeders at Dunwoody Nature Center. The fliers were posted last week. I’ve asked for anyone interested to contact me or Mrs. Loveland at the Dunwoody Nature Center for training. In the past, groups of volunteers – like from UPS – and individuals, come and volunteer at Dunwoody Nature Center. Mrs. Loveland let me know she’ll make it a priority to have volunteers manage the invasive plant growth.
There are just a couple of weeks left before I finish up my project. I plan to return to Dunwoody Nature Center in the future for more community service – like volunteering at Summer Camp again – and to follow-up and do maintenance on my project work.
This has been a really huge project for me, and has influenced me in a positive way. I’m even more interested in science, nature, and conservation now; and I’d like to be a biologist. It has been great to work with everyone at Dunwoody Nature Center, and to get the support of so many people who’ve helped me along the way!
From July 19-28, 2017, I attended and participated in the 2017 National Jamboree for Boy Scouts and Venturers at the Summit Bechtel Reserve in West Virginia. It was a great experience, but with alot of walking, and I did many activities.
There were alot of activities already planned for my Troop 3127 with the Northeast Georgia Council before we got there, so that didn’t leave very much time to do things I wanted to do. But, I still did things that I liked.
Conservation-related activities I completed at the 2017 National Jamboree were going to the Hornaday Exhibit Tent and talking with scout staff. I went there twice, and talked to two people. Both times I went there, I talked with men who were very encouraging. The second time, I talked to the Central Region Angling Chairman, who asked me many questions about my Hornaday project. He also talked to me about preparing my final report and following up on the progress I’ve made with my project.
I also went to the Sustainability Tree House three times. The first two times, I didn’t have much chance to look through it because I had to get back to my camp and it was at the end of the day. The third time I went there, I looked through all of it except the top floor because of the risk of lightning that day. It was really cool!
At the National Eagle Scout Association Tent, I saw Regis, the bald eagle. Regis is the Association’s mascot. He is a beautiful eagle, and a wonderful representative of the Association. It’s disappointing that he is an eagle in captivity, but it looks like he is being well taken care of.
At Jamboree, I gave out some of my custom-made Hornaday patches to scout leaders. Unfortunately, my fellow scouts at Jamboree weren’t very interested in them, and didn’t want to trade any of their patches for them. But, working on my project is still very important to me, and I know I’ve made a positive impact on the environment.
It’s nice to go back, now, and look at all the work I’ve completed at Dunwoody Nature Center for my Hornaday Project. My individual hours of work currently total over 230 hours, with the total hours for everyone involved currently being over 600 hours.
I’ve made a really big difference in the environment at Dunwoody Nature Center, helping native plants, shrubs, and trees not be overtaken by Chinese wisteria and privet. I’ve also removed lots of English ivy, which wasn’t even part of my original plan.
I’ve also supported the environment and ecosystem there in other ways, by mulching trails and planting ferns to prevent erosion, and helping birds by building bird houses, and regularly filling bird feeders and bird baths.
Even though the focus of my Hornaday Project was removing and managing invasive plant species at Dunwoody Nature Center, my favorite part of the project was supporting the birds. I like animals, and I’m glad I could help birds as part of my project.
In the follow-up phase of my Hornaday Project at the Dunwoody Nature Center, I’m photographing and documenting the improvements I’ve made, focusing on removal of the invasive species Chinese wisteria and Chinese privet. There was also some English ivy that I removed.
I’m not yet done and am working to maintain the progress and improvements that I’ve made during the past year. I’ve learned, already, that though I’ve dug up and removed 100s of wisteria and privet, some of them are growing back because I wasn’t able to completely remove the some of their entire roots.
The plants that are re-growing, and 100s of other wisteria and privet that I didn’t get to dig up, mom sprayed with RoundUp. After one week, it didn’t look like the RoundUp killed many of the plants, but after two weeks, all of the sprayed plants were dying, and we removed them.
Currently, I’ve now removed approximately 600 wisteria and privet plants from Dunwoody Nature Center. The wisteria has ranged in height from a few inches tall to 20 foot vines wrapped around tall trees. I’ve also removed approximately 400 English ivy plants, including dozens that traveled up tall trees.
Removing English ivy wasn’t part of my initial plan, but it was another opportunity to learn about invasive plants. Plus, it was a break from digging up all the Chinese wisteria and privet! I’m actually glad that I did remove some of the English ivy because I can see how quickly it grows and spreads. Someone’s next project at the Dunwoody Nature Center should be removing the English ivy because it now has more space to grow due to my removal of the wisteria and privet.
MY BOY SCOUT HORNADAY CONSERVATION PROJECT 