Niagara Frontier Section

On Earth Day 2004, President Bush, Senator Schumer, Congressman Reynolds and EPA honored the Scouts of  Dodge Elementary Scouts for their Wetland Habitat Enhancement Project.  The Scouts were represented by Cub Scouts (Pack 279), Boy Scouts (Troop 279) and Girl Scouts (Dodge Service Unit) of East Amherst, New York.  

The Scouts  went to Washington DC to accept the award on behalf of the 100 Scouts that have been involved with this project. Visits where made to the Whitehouse, Capital Building, EPA Headquarters as well as several monuments. 

The Scouts are now in their third year of a wetland enhancement project. The first phase of the project, which began in 2002, involved planting 400 tree seedlings around a 1-acre pond at the Lou Gehrig Baseball Fields. Bird boxes were also placed around the pond.

The second phase of the project occurred in 2003 with the planting of over 800 trees along the ponds at the Town of Amherst's compost facility. Prior to the tree planting, the Scouts made bat boxes and tree swallow boxes that were placed around the site and put up several dozen additional boxes donated by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The third phase of the project occurred this April at Dann Lake with over 300 trees being planted and more bird and bat boxes being put up and garbage being collected.  This years project also had Girl and Cub Scouts from St. Mary's join them.

The project has been made possible by a $500 grant awarded for each of the last 3 years by the Air and Waste Management Associations-Niagara Frontier Section. Additional assistance was obtained from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Town of Amherst.

Contact Dave Copeland at 716-206-0202 for more information.

A video of President Bush meeting the scouts can be found at http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/04/20040422-7.v.html