Eagles helping ducks on Lums Pond

There are two slogans that Boy Scouts live by: “be prepared” and “do a good turn daily”.  Both are on display at Lums Pond in New Castle County thanks to one scout’s Eagle project.

Lars Jensen is a junior at William Penn High School.  He’s at the point where point where his next badge will be his last, the Eagle.  To do that he has earn a number of merit badges and perform a service project.  That’s where the ducks come in.

Lums Pond in Bear has a number of duck nesting boxes.  Many of them have grown old over time and can’t be used. This project was to build and install 15 new boxes. To do that Jensen needed supplies and he needed help.

Jensen was able to get 20 other scouts connected with his Boy Scout Troop 75 on December 18th to help him.  The old New Castle resident also had 10 adults helping them as well.  Many of them were with the Delaware Department of Transportation.  They donated some of the materials for the project.  The best part of that was the fact that the poles were once used as stop signs.  DelDot wasn’t able to use the metal poles for that purpose any longer. 

He was also assisted by naturlists from the park who helped him survey the frozen pond at Lums State Park on the best places to position the poles. It wasn’t easy as he and his team had to wade into 18 inches of water to put them in place.

The project was considered a success.  Troop 75 is a part of the Delmarva Boy Scout council.  When Jensen finishes all of the paperwork and his project is approved he’ll be near the final steps to receiving the Eagle badge. Only 4% of those who join scouts at age 11 go on to complete their Eagle badge.