On September 28, 2002, the French Creek Valley Ducks Unlimited Chapter held their annual banquet at the Riverside Golf Club in Cambridge Springs. Area Chairman, Bob Grinarmal presented a special Greenwing with his sponsorship and print that he earned with his own money.

Keith Hamilton, son of Walt and Diane is perhaps one of the youngest sponsors who truly earned the title by saving his own money to make a commitment to the Ducks. Keith, whose parents are also supporters of Ducks Unlimited, saved his money by mowing lawns and working on the family farm. He has been a Greenwing since October of 1999 and now his dedication has led him to become a Senior Legacy Greenwing. We congratulate him on his hard work and dedication to Ducks Unlimited!!

Greenwings are our future!! We thank Keith for his commitment to this organization

 November of 2003, Brian Noll and some of the other committee members gathered to inform the Local Boy Scouts of Ducks Unlimited and the need for Nesting Structure Projects like the one we were currently involved in. Also included in this gathering, troop members teamed up to final fabricate the pre-fabricated Wood Duck Boxes.

The location, also happens to be the facility donated to pre-fabricate the boxes, and the adjoining landowner has placed a large portion of the land adjoining the Chickies Creek in the Ducks Unlimited Funded C.R.E.P. program. Within this C.R.E.P. area, along the stream banks, is where we will be placing the Wood Duck Boxes.

This serves us two fold:

• The Boy Scout Troop finishes their Conservation Merit Badge 
• We will have publicity from local newspapers who will be covering the event. 

Regards,
Brian S. Noll
DU Committee Member
Lancaster County Chapter

Scout Pack Takes Flight

Local Cub Scout Pack and Ducks Unlimited Chapter Team to Assemble and Hang Wood Duck Nesting Structures

The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) strives to prepare young people to make ethical and moral choices over their lifetimes by instilling in them the values of the Scout Oath and Law. The BSA offers young people responsible fun and adventure, instills in young people lifetime values and develop in them ethical character, trains young people in citizenship, service and leadership and serve America's communities and families with its quality, value based programs.

Ducks Unlimited (DU) is the world's largest private, non-profit, waterfowl and wetland conservation organization. Since its inception in 1937, DU has conserved more than 9.4 million acres of waterfowl habitat throughout North America. DU supporters have raised nearly $1.6 billion for conservation since 1937. Currently with posted numbers for Pennsylvania as of 12/31/2002, Ducks Unlimited has completed 2,222 projects, restored over 22,000 acres with almost $6 million dollars spent. Primary waterfowl species that benefit from DU's efforts include: Wood Duck, Black Duck, Mallard, Scaup, Ring-Necked Duck, Goldeneye, Ruddy Duck, Canada and Snow Geese.

Recently in Lancaster the two organizations teamed and the Lancaster DU Chapter offered assistance and expertise to aid in the achievement of a Conservation Merit Badge for each scout in a local Cub Scout Pack. Through the collaboration of Lancaster DU Chapter Chairman, Paul Lopez, and Lancaster Cub Scout Pack #184 Den Mother, Diane Winters, seven DU approved Wood Duck Nesting Structures were hung along the Chickes Creek in Lancaster, PA. The Wood Duck Nesting Structures aid in the already current undertaking of a DU initiated C.R.E.P. program on over 50 acres of low land bordering the Chickes Creek.

In October, Lancaster DU Committee members, with leadership from committee members Brian Noll and Phil Myers, pre-fabricated Wood Duck Nesting Structures using DU approved plans. In mid November the DU Committee and Boy Scout Pack met for an informative session on what Ducks Unlimited is about, their conservation efforts and how, with help from the Cub Scouts, the nesting structures will help in the restoration of nesting possibilities for the local Wood Duck breeding population. With conclusion in January, the Boy Scout Troop, parents and volunteer DU committee members met and hung the Wood Duck Nesting Structures in select locations in hopes to have a few new Wood Duck broods come late Spring.

Our hopes for these scouts is to have a better understanding for the environmental and conservation efforts Ducks Unlimited speaks so boldly about. We feel as though, through our efforts these young people may just have a better understanding of Ducks Unlimited and the impact they can make on the future of waterfowl, wetlands, and related habitats.

Also the Lancaster, PA Ducks Unlimited Chapter #033 would like to welcome an extended invitation to attend their 25th Annual Dinner Banquet, which will be located at the Lancaster Host Resort on March 13, 2004 @ 5:30pm. For information contact Paul Lopez at 717-569-7262, Dave Eller at 717-285-2824 or Brian Noll at 717-681-9185


Boy Scouts of America:
For information on volunteering time to your local Boy Scouts troop, please click here. 

Ducks Unlimited:
For information on volunteering on a local committee in your area, please to to the County pages to find a chapter near you.

 Letter from Diane Winters

Hi,

  My name is Diane Winters, Webelos II den leader from Manheim Township Pack184, Den 5. I would like to share a story about a great experience my scouts have shared with the members of Ducks Unlimited.

  I have been the den leader for a group of scouts for the past 4 1/2 years as they continued on a journey working through each rank (Tiger, Wolf, Bear, Webelos I and Webelos II) to finally earn their Arrow of Light and cross over to Boy Scouts. As a Webelos Scout, one of the awards the scouts could work towards is the Cub Scout World Conservation Award. This is a special international award. You can only earn it once while you are in Cub Scouting. To receive this award each scout has to earn the Forester, Naturalist, and Outdoorsman activity badges and also participate in a den conservation project. 

  Last year, the scouts started to work on the activity badges. Now all I had to do was find a conservation project to have them participate in. Our den doesn't meet over the summer, so as September rolled around, I had to start my planning for the upcoming year. As I was sitting at my sons football practices every night, I thought I would put this time to good use and plan my scout activities.

  Being a new parent to the football team, I had the opportunity to meet a
lot of other parents. My introduction to Paul Lopez has turned out to be an advantage for myself as much as for him. Paul and I started talking about what I needed to do for scouts and a conservation project came into the conversation. He ran an idea of constructing duck boxes with Ducks Unlimited past me. It was a great idea. He took the idea back to his committee members to see what they thought, they loved it.

  Ducks Unlimited took care of ordering the wood needed to construct the boxes. The scouts from Den 5 and the members from Ducks Unlimited than scheduled a Sunday afternoon (Nov 23, 2003) to meet at St. Thomas Episcopal Church to construct the boxes. Ducks Unlimited shared valuable information with my Webelos II, explaining and educating them about why they are working on this conservation project.

  This was a project the scouts enjoyed very much and it couldn't have been done without the help of Ducks Unlimited. Now with the duck boxes constructed and finished, the scouts wanted to see where they would be placed. Another meeting was scheduled for the scouts to meet with members of Ducks Unlimited to place the boxes in their designated locations.

  On Sunday, January 25, 2004, we went out and placed the boxes. The scouts had a lot of good questions for the members of Ducks Unlimited. The members of Ducks Unlimited made this project a very enjoyable project with a great learning experience.

  Thanks to Ducks Unlimited, my scouts will receive their World Conservation Award at our Blue & Gold Banquet on Feb. 28, 2004 when they cross over to Boy Scouts. 

Diane Winters - Den 5 Leader-Pack 184
437 Coach House LN
Lititz, PA 17543 email