Graham Gorgas

My Eagle Scout Project took place at Beechwood Farms Nature Reserve, part of the Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania.  I was tasked with cleaning up an area behind the visitor center and installing two rain gardens there.  The idea being that run-off from the roof would feed into two gardens that were side-by-side and soak up the water.  I designed the gardens in a software made available to me by Beechwood Farms and order plants to be put into the gardens.  During the project weekend, I had around 15 volunteers between the two days and each day was about 7 hours of work totaling around 100 hours of labor.  Upon completing the rain gardens, we spread mulch in each one and also several other areas around Beechwood Farms.  We also were asked to plant a tree that had recently arrived.  Throughout the project and weekend, I planned and coordinated the project and volunteers to carry it out.  Due to the large amount of volunteers that signed up we were able to complete additional projects that were not in the original plan.  This experience proved to be challenging but rewarding, and I am a better leader because of it.  Below are some photos of the project.