LJWorld.com / Budding Eagle Scout builds wetlands 'rest stop'

Archive for Sunday, August 26, 2007

August 26, 2007

Roger Boyd, director of natural areas at Baker University, puts finishing touches on a pergola in the Baker Wetlands. The construction of the pergola is an attempt to encourage visitors to trek deeper into the wetlands.

New wetlands 'rest stop'

Eagle scout candidate Alex Coffey from Baldwin built a pergola with benches in the center of the Haskell-Baker Wetlands for visitor use. On Saturday afternoon, he and Roger Boyd, troop 65 leader and senior professor of biology at Baker University, removed braces and made finishing touches to the benches. Enlarge video

In the middle of the Baker Wetlands under a bright blue sky Saturday afternoon, Alex Coffey put the finishing touches on a project that will help him become an Eagle Scout, something he has waited seven years to become.

The 17-year-old Baldwin City Boy Scout, with help from his mother, Barb, and troop leader and biologist, Roger Boyd, removed braces on a pergola he built to provide a shady resting place for visitors to take in the scenery.

"It's a place for people to interact with nature and animals," Boyd said.

The Baker Wetlands, just south of Lawrence, is home to hundreds of species of plants and animals, including mink, beavers and muskrats.

The pergola is an open structure that will eventually be covered in wild grape vines. Two benches sit underneath it on the 10-square-foot space.

Boyd, who is also senior professor of biology and director of natural areas at Baker University, drilled a plaque with Coffey's name and donor's names into one of the benches. The plaque will forever be a mark of Coffey's accomplishment and the collaborative efforts of others.

Coffey researched the pergola design and materials that would be needed. He likes to build, he said. Several of his scout members helped him paint and construct the pergola earlier this month.

He was guided by Boyd, who has managed the wetlands since 1982. Boyd said the idea for a "rest stop" was originally spawned by Carey Maynard-Moody, who has worked with the Sierra Club to protect the 600 acres of habitat from being taken over by a proposed roadway on 31st Street.

Boyd said his goal is to steer people off the boardwalk on the perimeter of the wetlands, near 31st Street, and draw them inward, near the pergola and a kiosk.

He said he is creating a new map to post at the kiosk that will include the site of the pergola.

Coffey will have to present a reflection essay to his Boy Scout board before he is awarded the Eagle Scout badge. He said he plans to become a leader and help younger troops.