Scouting, Volume 78, Number 4, September 1990 Page: 76
98, E1-E12, [8] p. : ill. (some col.) ; 28 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
Chris Jones, who found out.
Halusky and his colleagues not only
told BS A leaders how to position the trees
on the dune lines above normal high tide
marks, he conducted workshops to show
them how.
Point man for the council was Pat Shea.
When he agreed to oversee Dunes Day,
the troops and districts involved were al-
ready collecting trees, moving them to the
beaches, and lashing and staking them
down. But Shea expanded the project by
knocking on the right doors and talking
to important leaders in the Jacksonville
area.
Before long, school boards agreed to
permit families to deposit trees on school
grounds. From these ideal neighborhood
collection points, private and municipal
trash haulers picked up the trees and took
them to parking lots at state, federal, city,
and county parks—to beaches where
dunes were devastated or nonexistent.
Many municipalities were delighted to
discover that it cost fewer tax dollars to
haul trees to nearby beaches than to far-
off landfills. And since thousands of trees
were recycled into the beaches, the land-
fills didn't fill so quickly. More tax dollars
saved.
Every year the event captured more
support from newspapers and radio and
TV stations and the hearts of non-Scout
youth groups and adult organizations
such as the four-wheel-drive clubs. On
Dunes Day anyone was welcome who
wanted to help.
Over the years dunes have been created
or augmented at many sites between Fort
Clinch on the north and New Smyrna
Beach on the south. That's a distance of
about 90 miles. Not every one of those
miles received attention. Far from it. The
dunes builders concentrated where they
knew they could do the most good.
Some units worked for years at the
same beach site. One of these was ocean-
ology Post 414, chartered to the Orange
'We've got to do something about
your blood sugar level. "
Park Presbyterian Church. Advisor John
Hammond contacted Joe Halusky, look-
ing for a marine project for his Explorers.
Halusky recommended dunes restoration.
The post reported to a beach near St.
Augustine, just to learn how to lay the
trees. In mid-afternoon the work was
completed. So the post took about 300
extra trees to nearby Fort Matanzas Na-
tional Monument. A ranger said yes, the
monument really needed some dunes near
the inlet bridge on State Highway A1A.
But, unfortunately, there was no crew to
lay the trees.
So the eight Explorers rolled up their
sleeves. By sunset the trees were down.
Every January for the next seven years the
post returned. In 1989, their last year at
Matanzas, the Explorers supervised 250
workers from Orange Park's Black Creek
District who put down 5,000 trees.
It was a sad day for the Explorers for, in
a way, this was their beach. "Post 414
had to learn that there is an ending
point," said Joe Halusky. "You don't
place Christmas trees on top of living
vegetation. When the dunes become ve-
getated, that's the time to leave."
The dunes they had created had done
their job, protecting the beach and the
endangered bridge. And, the Explorers
believed, their labor provided better habi-
tat for two species at risk—a colony of
nesting least terns and the Anastasia Is-
land beach mouse, found nowhere else on
earth except at Matanzas and nearby An-
astasia Island.
Every agency associated with Dunes
Day over the years has basked in the re-
flected glory of a sure-fire SOAR project
where most of the hard work was done by
Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts directed by
dedicated leaders.
Not the least of the beneficiaries was
the Boy Scouts of America. The North
Florida Council has been showered with
awards from state, local, and federal
agencies. The ultimate recognition was
when Pat Shea accepted from President
Ronald Reagan the 1987 national Take
Pride in America Award in the youth
groups category.
Unaffected by the prestigious honor,
Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts continue to
lay down trees. Last January at Huguenot
Park and several other beach locations,
2,800 youths and adults handled 75,000
trees, a record number.
Much has been accomplished already
in this ongoing SOAR project. But the
real payoff may lie 20 years in the future
when the young conservationists are
grown. A knowledgeable legion of
SOAR-trained adults might demand laws
that will help protect the beaches for a
thousand years. ■
Alpha Phi Omega (from page 28)
they offer Scouting alumni at the 1988
National Scout Jamboree and at the Ex-
plorer conferences and Order of the
Arrow conference this year.
Because Alpha Phi Omega chapters
are autonomous and are not required to
report their activities to the national head-
quarters in Kansas City, it is not known
how many chapters currently are doing
service for Scouting. "Many chapters are
involved in sponsoring Scouting activi-
ties, and all chapters are required to have
Scouting advisers," said Patrick W.
Burke, the fraternity's executive director.
Typical short-term projects to aid
Scouting include work days at Scout
camps, providing service corps for cam-
porees, conducting activity days for Cub
Scouts, and running badge workshops.
Some APO chapters are in Scouting for
the long haul. They become chartered
organizations and provide the adult lead-
ership for packs and troops. "What's neat
about it," Chuck Bowen said, "is that
many of those that have packs and troops
are doing so in atypical situations like
public housing projects and institutions
for underprivileged and handicapped
kids."
Among them is the Iota Lambda Chap-
ter at North Carolina State University,
which holds the charter for a troop, a
pack, and two Girl Scout troops at the
Governor Morehead School for the Blind
in Raleigh.
"A Scout troop at the school was the
original service project when our chapter
was founded in 1950," Chapter Adviser
Greg Whitaker said. "We have done it
continuously since then."
When the troop had been operating for
several years at the school, Iota Lambda
branched out into Cub Scouting and Girl
Scouting. Sometimes it has an Explorer
post going, too, when there are enough
students of the right age. In addition, for
seven years the chapter sponsored an an-
nual spring camporee for troops of handi-
capped Scouts from all across North
Carolina.
The chapter's chartered organization
representative, Mike Snyder, a college ju-
nior and an Eagle Scout, said 50 blind
students are enrolled in the four units.
Besides operating them, Iota Lambda
provides Webelos den leaders for Pack
398, a mainstream unit at Western Boule-
vard Presbyterian Church in Raleigh.
The chapter's devotion to Scouting is
not surprising since nearly half of its male
members are Eagle Scouts. (It is a large
chapter with 87 active members, more
than half women.) But the chapter also
76
September 1990 *|? Scouting
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Periodical.
Boy Scouts of America. Scouting, Volume 78, Number 4, September 1990, periodical, September 1990; Irving, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth353668/m1/88/: accessed May 1, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Boy Scouts of America National Scouting Museum.