Zachary St. Louis, age 13, organized fellow scouts to help in this service project as part of the requirements to earn his Life Scout rank, the step before Eagle Scout (the highest rank).

On October 14, 2006 seven members of Boy Scout Troop #271 and parents Anne St. Louis and Russ Vetter joined almost 30 REI employee volunteers hacking out non-native plants along the Regents trail into the canyon. This will make way for the planting of native plants, which benefit our local birds and other wildlife.

Ben Stevenson, Rose Canyon’s native plant restorer-in-chief, masterminded the project. He handed out the weapons (er, tools) to the scouts and managed to prevent them from hacking each other rather than the plants. The boys did a WONDERFUL job.