Josh Lynch, of Boy Scout Troop 95 of Brazil, with the bat and wood duck houses and benches he and his team of volunteers built as his Eagle Scout project.

White Violet Center for Eco-Justice has some beautiful new bat and wood duck houses and benches along the nature trail at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods thanks to a member of Boy Scout Troop 95 of Brazil who is working on his Eagle Scout project.

Josh Lynch is closer to getting approved for his Eagle Scout rank after he and his team completed construction of three benches, three bat houses and three wood duck houses.

Josh met with Candace Minster, environmental education/volunteer coordinator, the fall of 2008 to learn about some of the needs of the center.

Since woodworking was an area in which he had some experience he thought he could fulfill a need along the nature trail. The trail is used during environmental education programs at White Violet Center when children and adult groups arrange guided nature hikes.Josh established a plan, got his team together, supervised the work and delivered the completed projects.

“The actual construction took one day,” Josh said. “And there was the planning before that.”

He was quick to share what he learned during this project.
“How to work with people as a team and on my time management,” he said.

This Northview High School senior hopes the animals and people are still enjoying the quality benches and houses 10 years from now.
“I’d definitely like to get out here later and see animals using it,” he said. “Hopefully other scouts will come out here and add on to this.”

Candace said White Violet Center appreciates the quality work.
“The benches are light weight which is more functional for us. We can move them around when we have groups,” she said. “I’m also excited about having bat houses out there. This is the first time to have them along the trail. We have quite a few shag bark hickory trees along there, which is habitat for the Indiana brown bats that are endangered.”

According to the Boy Scouts of America Web site two out of every 100 scouts achieve Eagle Scout honors.

“The maintenance of the nature trail is entirely done by volunteers,” Candace said. “The Boy Scouts of America have done so much of that work. It’s nice to continue to have them expanding the educational impact of the trail.”

Josh is the son of Mark and Pam Lynch. They live in Center Point, Ind.

To schedule a guided nature hike for children or adults at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, contact Candace Minster at 812-535-2935 or cminster@spsmw.org.