Jewel Cave National Monument hosted three Boy Scout troops on June 29, 2024, for a service project involving the pulling of invasive plants from the Monument.
Two of the troops were from Rapid City, and one from Casper, Wyoming. They worked with park staff members Christine Longenecker, Community Volunteer Ambassador, and Dylan Hansen, Lead Vegetation Technician. After a safety talk, the Scouts worked hard for the next two and a half hours in the Monument’s Historic Area and pulled an impressive half truckload of invasive plants. The invasive plants pulled included houndstongue, Canada thistle, and mullein.
Though the youth, who were between the ages of 8 and 14, did on occasion grow weary during this project, they overall had a great time and one youth quoted “this is actually really fun!” One of the troops had participated in an earlier education program at the Monument on Earth Day in April. That program combined with this service project gained those Scouts enough hours to receive their Scout Ranger patches.
If you would like information about future volunteer opportunities at Jewel Cave National Monument, please email jeca_vip@nps.gov.
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