Scouts work to improve habitat through project

Members of Boy Scout Troop 6, Lake Huron Area Council of Rogers City, are working toward their wildlife management merit badges, and hope to accomplish that by participating in a coordinated Wildlife Habitat Council, Lafarge Corporation, and Boy Scout nest-building project. The Wildlife Habitat Council is a non-profit, non-lobbying group of corporations, conservation organizations, and individuals dedicated to protecting and enhancing wildlife habitat.

The organization was created in 1988 to help owners of large areas of land, particularly corporations, to manage their unused lands in an ecologically sensitive manner for the benefit of wildlife. ?We as a company (Lafarge) applied for a Wildlife Habitat Council certification in March and had the site visited in April.They did an inventory after looking at bird, flora and fauna conditions,? said Ivan Wirgau. ?From that they gave a recommendation.?

?We want to have the Boy Scouts involved and to work on a project that?s worthwhile. Industry, wildlife, and the organization can all benefit,? Wirgau added. The scouts decided to build 25 nesting boxes which were placed at sites at Stoneport.

?It may be a little ambitious, we?ll have to wait and see once we begin to monitor them. The nesting project is providing sites for all different species of birds, ducks, and owls,? Wirgau said as he further explained the ongoing project. Lafarge owns 5,000 acres of property at the Stoneport location and in the future, there will be other projects such as field plantings for deer with clover, alfalfa, and grasses. ?Every two years it must be recertified ? so it?s an ongo

ing process. They don?t just go in and set up a bird house and forget it. They must continue to monitor them and do inventory on egg laying and which species are using them and if predators are getting at them,? Wirgau continued.

ONCE A FINAL report is issued, there also will be a list of recommendations to tell the corporation what they think can be done with their property. Three weeks ago the Scouts began putting together the first of the 25 bird nesting boxes, with much parental supervision and help. The Scouts used donated lumber from Jerry Fleming but Lafarge supplied anything else needed for the project.

Wirgau said it took about three days of Scout work to make the boxes. They were installed last week.