Bear Cub Pack 1723 members with the hockey goal and bags of other items pulled from the Frank & Poet drain.
BY ERIC HOSHAW
The third-grade Bear Cub Scouts, Pack 1723, and their den leader, Scott McMillan and parents performed a watershed trash clean-up on the Frank & Poet Water Shed from West Road to Fort Street. This neighborhood conservation project was part of a much larger project that occurred over several months, which earned the Bear Cubs their first-ever Cub Scout World Conservation Award.
The bear den is made up of third graders Harrison McMillan, Gage Pittman, Brady Tepper and Brody Thomson. McMillan has help from assistant leaders Karen Gorski, Pete Miller and Angela Tepper.
The boys pulled around 10 large trash bags full of paper, plastic, glass bottles, Styrofoam, metal, bottles, very large pieces of Styrofoam packing materials, and one full-sized hockey net from the Frank Poet. Additionally, while fishing, one Bear Scout caught a Salmon Fishing Rod and Reel and another caught a large nut with their grub jigs, “further driving home the lesson of the importance of the conservation of our amazing waterways here in Trenton,” McMillan said.
The Bears additionally cleaned up and rehabilitated the entrance and entire front to Hedke Elementary by weeding, leveling and graveling the landscaping, constructed bird houses that will be placed at the Trenton Cultural Center (motion approved at the May 7 Trenton City Council meeting), learned about animals that are extinct and endangered, planted mini herb gardens for their homes, took care of pets for a minimum of two weeks and logged their work, hiked, learned about composting and city/urban farming, went fishing at Elizabeth Park and learned about preserving our local streams, creeks and river waterways.
The Bear Cub Scouts also took a trip to the Trenton Fire Station to learn about chest compression CPR.
The Bear Cub Scouts of 1723 were honored by the Trenton City Council and Mayor Stack, who thanked them for their hard work performed during the cleanup. Each Scout received a City of Trenton certificate for their efforts.
The Scouts and their leaders also asked Trenton residents and guests help to keep our neighborhoods clean and our waterways free of trash and debris. You can help by taking part in conservation projects for our city, all in an effort to keep Trenton and Michigan clean.