Nicodemus Wilderness Project -- Global Registry of Apprentice Ecologists

After being in Boy Scouts for years and several attempts to find an Eagle Project, last fall I started one for Paws Animal Wildlife Sanctuary (PAWS). I had several choices in projects and after talking with my scout master, decided on building a enclosure to house a vulture. This enclosure had to be forty feet long, twelve feet wide, and nine feet high. Also the it had to be designed with quite carefully to prevent injury to the bird. This means there can be no gaps for the bird to get trapped in, special door placement, nothing that the bird can get cut on, a special type of high tension netting, and more. I also had to attach my building to the one adjacent to it, which was beginning to fall down. This meant that instead of using 4x4 post to hold up the two structures, we had to use a provided telephone poles. Luckily the hole were already dug for the telephone poles, however many were not in the right place and we had to adjust. This involved a whole day of adjusting holes, filling holes, removing weeds, cutting the poles, and then placing the poles in the ground. We then had to run wires from the falling building to the telephone poles. I now had to plan, fund, and build the building itself. This involved sitting down with engineers and figuring out a way to build my building so it would hold up the other one. After this a spent more hours than I care to count calling, and on a few occasions, going in person to stores looking for discounts and donations. I was successfully able to receive a donation of 7.5 cubic yards of sand, about three hundred dollars worth of sand, and a discount from Lowe's. With the discount my parents were able to loan me the money to do my project until I could finish fundraising. This meant that I could finally have my second workday, however due to setbacks due to weather, poor attendance, and busy schedules, my project was postponed a little over two months. Unfortunately due to some clerical error, and mistakes on my part, the netting for the top of the pen did not arrive in time. Not wanting to further postpone the project we held the second work weekend in which we built the sides, doors, floor, and put up most of the beams for the roof. Now just waiting for the netting to come in we plan to put the last beams up, the rest of the solid roof, and the netting. We also need to fund raise.