Eagle Scouts always ready to lend a hand

Perry State Park now has a butterfly station where migrating monarchs can feed and rest. Hillsdale State Park soon will get a complete disc golf course built by its beach.

Closer to Wichita, a sizable patch of restored prairie grass at Eisenhower High School in Goddard is getting a longer trail, better signs and a variety of specialized bird houses.

All of the above, plus hundreds of other outdoor projects completed annually in Kansas, are courtesy of a group of teen-aged boys – Eagle Scouts.

According to the Boy Scouts of America website, last year Kansas produced 647 Eagle Scouts. Nationally that number was 54,366. Factoring in state populations, Kansas ranks eighth in the nation for Eagle Scouts.

To qualify for the highest rank in scouting, each had to perform an Eagle Scout project. Not just any little chore will do.

“Anything we consider routine service doesn’t count. It can’t be just mowing your neighbor’s grass, and it can’t benefit the scout or scouting,” said Bill Quincy, advancement committee chairman, White Buffalo district, Quivira Council. Quincy said the Quivira Council covers much of central and eastern Kansas and has six districts.

No matter the zip code, the Eagle Scout projects are designed to be more than just a public service.

“It is all about the leadership from start to stop,” said Dustin Farris, National Eagle Scout Association director. “This is one time they can’t count on the scout leader or mom and dad. This is one time when everybody else relies on them.”

Caden Janzen, a local Eagle Scout, agreed.

“We have to do everything. We have to come up with plans, and get them approved, (by scout leaders, the hosting location and, sometimes, government agencies),” said Janzen, while helping another Eagle Scout, Kyle Stutzman on his project at the prairie near Eisenhower. “It’s up to us to find a way to get all of the materials, then we need get the materials to the project and organize the manpower to get the project completed.”

Janzen and his brother, Caleb, did separate projects to improve the wild area just south of the high school. That included lengthening and improving the trail and making and installing houses for butterflies, owls, blue birds and bats.

They also installed 17 stations where hikers can use a cellphone application to learn about the vegetation and animals in that area. Their projects are two of seven Eagle Scout projects dedicated to improving the natural area that’s used by high school classes and the public.

“We’ll be naming this the Eagle Trail, to honor all of the work the Eagle Scouts have done out here,” said Denise Scribner, a science teacher at Eisenhower. “I’m not sure how we’d have gotten the funding and labor otherwise.”

All Eagle Scout projects are time and labor intensive. But some take more effort than others.

At Lake Scott State Park in western Kansas, Christopher Hall’s Eagle Scout project was to replace more than 100 feet of foot bridges that cross a stream that flows from a natural spring. An insect on the federal endangered species list, the Scott Riffle Beetle, lives in the riffles below the spring, complicating his project. The riffle, and surrounding beetle habitat, had to remain covered and mostly untouched during the project.

Hall arranged for utility companies to donate large utility poles. A local farmer funded the project and allowed the use of a big tractor to maneuver the huge poles.

“I was out here, most of both days, for 11 straight weekends and I usually had four or five other scouts out here helping me,” Hall said. “I don’t remember exactly how many man hours, but it was way up in the hundreds when everything was included.”

Alan Stark, Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism state park regional supervisor, said probably every state park in Kansas has benefited from sizable Eagle Scout projects. Many parks near larger cities have multiple projects, with more in the planning stages. With the state perpetually strapped for funds, many of the park improvements would not have happened had it not been for the Eagle Scouts, he said.

Not all Eagle Scout projects involve the outdoors. One local scout gathered used crayons, according to Quinn, which he will send off to be made into new crayons for needy children.

Some of the nation’s top projects are completed in the depths of some of America’s largest cities. In California last year, a scout used more than a dozen fund-raising techniques to raise $40,000 for playground equipment for an elementary school in a low-income area.

“Then he had to come up with the man power to remove the old playground equipment, which was dangerous to the kids, and bring in the new fancy equipment and get it set up,” Farris said. “There’s probably no way that community would have been able to raise the funds to do something like that.”

Farris said the Eagle Scout program is designed to teach leadership skills the scouts can use throughout their lives. Many remain active in scouting. It also sets a good example for others.

“I really think by other kids going by, this shows everybody in high school what they could be doing,” said Caleb Janzen.

Scribner thinks knowing the work was done by their classmates gives the entire school pride in the prairie area. Janzen is hoping such pride can be passed on for many years.

“Someday I’ll be able to bring my kids here and show them what I did,” he said. “That will be neat for all of us.”

This story was originally published September 18, 2016 at 9:35 AM with the headline "Eagle Scouts always ready to lend a hand."